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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   31253 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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The Beautiful People are in Charge Just Like Everywhere Else.

I don't have anything terribly insightful to say about any of this. It's just another entry in the ongoing process of what I've mentally termed internet gentrification or nerd cultural appropriation. I attempt not to get bent out of shape over these things, lest I tip over into the "ugh, normies..." nerd-hipster trope but this article resonated with me. I miss the pre-Dice CmdrTaco-era of Slashdot (fuck Beta!). I hate influencer culture and every YouTube video telling me to "like and subscribe". There used to be a commenter on SSC whose entire schtick was something like "Everything is a popularity contest and all is lost" and he's starting to make sense to me. Moloch will have his sacrifices.

Marie Le Conte, indie music blogger and BuzzFeed News’ media and politics correspondent, who was named one of Portland’s Rising Stars in 2016, and Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018...

Takes off problem glasses, stares directly into mirror: "who could have done this to the internet?! Where did all these clout-obsessed influencers come from?! And why is it all so tiresome now I'm no longer an Under 30?"

Yeah it's quite ironic seeing her complain about pretty people taking over the internet... then looking at a picture of her and realizing she's decently attractive. It's attention-seeking all the way down.

and realizing she's decently attractive

This is disproportionately the case.

I'll add that absolutely ugly people are also disproportionately underrepresented in terms of making arguments like this/being taken seriously.

yeah she embodies that which she opposes

Was compelled to check her background because indie music hipsters were the very first people I met on the internet who got into modern cancelling campaigns over IRL clout, using it to get jobs at... Places like buzzfeed.

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