#culture of mediocrity

[nevermeyers]

Do you know the number of manga authors who have died in the last decade? Do you know the number of physical illnesses a mangaka can develop due to his work? Muscle and posture problems, kidney problems, circulation problems. Not to mention that in recent years it is also common to say “being sick” to have depression, something that many manga artists suffer from due to the media exposure of their works to hundreds of thousands of ungrateful people who constantly insult and harass them.

Some of y'all are disgusting.

I hope I don't see any of you posting ANYTHING about the importance of mental health on your shitty profiles after everything you're doing with Gege Akutami. You're so self-fucking-centered and ungrateful.

#authors being constantly sick sadly has been a tendency these last years #i'm really sorry for them #also hold my japanese labor expliotation normalization and work culture #you are SICK everyone #the things you're saying to justify your forced ideas of mediocrity have reach a certain point #where i wish not to breath the same air as you #dís-gus-ting #i hope you ever get to grow up #jujutsu kaisen #@meyers #jjk 262

[alwaysbewoke]

#Ncuti Gatwa #Black excellence #Hollywood diversity #racial bias #industry standards #white mediocrity #representation #cultural background #acting career #systemic racism #inclusion in media #breaking barriers #casting diversity #societal expectations #love and acceptance #shifting status quo #racial inequality #acting industry #pressure to excel #cultural representation #diversity in media #Hollywood inclusion #racial double standards #minority representation #Black actors #media stereotypes #equal opportunity #racial bias in casting #breaking stereotypes #cultural authenticity

[keyboard-worrier]

#bluesky #barbie #for real #haven't seen barbie yet but it looks like an interesting take on what the character means to American culture + what that says on gender et #literally no one gives a shit about the mattel cinematic universe and its various characters #but execs are gonna get paid $30 mil to try to turn mattel into marvel because capitalism rewards mediocrity!

[adamshallperish]

just saw a 54 minute video essay that was titled something like "i watched a ballad of songbirds and snakes so you don't have to." 54 minutes?? girl at that point i would just buckle down to watch the film because at least i'll get to see something that wasn't edited in imovie

#this youtube summary culture is getting out of hand #someone needs to stop these youtubers from creating these epidemic of mediocre content style choices a la contrapoints #mine

[daughterofsarenrae]

Love when a ts album comes out bc u get to see the swifties go insane, then u can pop over to the anti-swiftie tag and see them going equally insane, and then u leave both tags bc u have better things to do with your life

#its just very funny to me #love having absolutely zero opinion or interest in a Big Cultural Moment #watching the drama like it's a mediocre museum display and then moving on to something more interesting #bel speaks

[sbrown82]

STOP 👏🏿 REBRANDING 👏🏿  BLACK 👏🏿  BEAUTY 👏🏿  TRENDS!

#black people #black culture #black women #black girls #black beauty #black beauty trends #black hairstyles #black makeup #corny #non blacks #culture vultures #mediocre #white women #non black women

[all-thestories-aretrue]

Like i've lived in the czech republic before. But I didn't order packages a lot and my place had a place to put them onsite.

I don't have that anymore. So when I wasn't here yesterday when they delivered my packages (two hours early) they put them in a pick up location.

Said pick up location was a butcher/meat shop. Is this normal??? Do random shops double as postage pick up locations??

In other news i have an oven!!!

#studies in living abroad #i feel like i need some sort of tag #like the culture shock i dont really get bcuz ive been here so much #but there are some things that surprise me logistically like packages in meat shops #funnily enough there was a guy there who had the same code as me and she said my name and I was like ah Jsem!! me!! tady!! #and that guy spoke english thankfully but his czech was way better than mine #as soon as i start making money its over my czech will get so mediocre #i was like dva nebo jedna?? bcuz i had two packages #and she was like ješte jedna and i was like thank god i understand 😭😭 #minimal czech was needed thanks to the text message

[icedsodapop]

I swear, with the recent praise on Twitter towards Conan O'Brien just for not being Jimmy Fallon, White men get praised just for appearing to be a decent human being who do their job well. Peak white man mediocrity 🙄

#stan culture #celebrity worship #white mediocrity #white male mediocrity #white male privilege

[garbagequeer]

hate people who reach that level of insecure/trying to maintain their own ego where anything further than what they know is dismissed as weird or niche or unnecessary and not possibly part of knowledge they simply havent engaged in so far like 1 bitch 2 your lack of curiosity about the world around you is depressing 3 bitch

#personal #MANY such cases. i'll mention something that's fairly common knowledge or part of the culture and a certain subset of people #will act as if i made it up entirely that it's a relevant thing in the world no matter how much i can back it up as a thing #many other people know about and has been part of culture for decades #as if im like a dog doing a trick and not a person engaging with reality. while praising the smarts of mediocre men who know less than me #because a man being above you is normal but god forbid your lack of knowledge is pointed out to you by a woman. she must be crazy then #and because these mediocre men only flaunt their supposed understanding to look superior and not #to engage others in the subjects they 'know' about. which is business as usual #but worry not. i moved 350km away -> happy forever. eventually

[madfoxx]

#based on bobs very vocal admiration of peters athletic abilities in Fußballfieber i would basically classify this as canon #like i´m sorry but you´re gonna tell me that bob manwhore andrews is just gonna let peter himbo shaw jog past him without sneaking a peak #this is a man of culture he appreciates a piece of art when he sees one #tbh after over 200 episodes of this bullshit i´m just as tired and unimpressed as justus #its a shame there will never be any actual progression in their relationship because i´m pretty sure andreas and jensen wouldnt mind #but i guess germany isnt quite ready for that yet #maybe when they do a reboot in 100 years peter and bob are finally gonna allowed to french kiss on a stake-out. time will tell #until then i guess i´ll sporadically fall back into my first ever hyperfixation #and frustrate myself by creating mediocre fanart for a teensy-weensy fandom half my mutuals have never heard of #at least i know that these hyperfixations come in waves and i´ll be able to put those three idiots back in a drawer for a while soon #but until then its murder mayhem and gay pining i mean mysteries #die drei fragezeichen #??? #justus jonas #peter shaw #bob andrews #die drei fragezeichen fanart

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Je crois que le succès auprès des femmes est généralement une marque de médiocrité, et c'est celui-là pourtant que nous envions tous et qui couronne les autres.

- Gustave Flaubert

#flaubert #gustave flaubert #quote #femme #nobility #crown #society #culture #mediocrity #achievement

[undercat-overdog]

I’ve been thinking recently about all the comment culture discussions and the recent talk around authors’ archive-locking their fic and one of the things that bothers me is how I never really see those discussions centered around the author. The comment conversations are a mix of reasons why readers don’t comment, how to comment, and why comments are good, but I’m not sure I’ve seen something that centers the author as person. Instead it’s the broader community and its desire for “content” that’s centered: comments are good because they keep authors writing (which is, I think, broadly true though people vary in the particulars), but it’s hard to comment (also broadly true, also varies in the particulars), but lack of feedback means some authors stop writing (also also true). The goal seems to be to keep the fic flowing.

And no one is owed comments and no one is owed fic and if it’s harmful to your mental health to comment, or harmful to your mental health to keep your fic online, that’s far more important. Please, don’t take me as saying that you need to comment or that you need to keep making fic available. Reader and/or author, what is best for you comes first; what you are able to do or want to do comes first.

(As for the talk about how authors are bad for archive-locking fic and that they should be shamed and scolded for doing so? No sympathy. I have less than zero patience for that argument. It’s more than fine to feel sad or grieved that you have lost a story you loved or can no longer access it - it is sad! It’s why I download stories now. But an author can do as they wish with their creations; no one is owed fic.)

But none of this gets at the author as person. These discussions seem to return to the personal reasons why a reader wouldn’t comment and how the author as content producer is more likely to write if they get feedback, the goal to get people to comment so fic continues to be produced: put money in the vending machine so you can get a snack. But I think at least some of authorial angst is driven less by comments per se and more by the desire to be recognized and feel seen as people and not fic-producing machines. Authors have anxiety too. Oh, do some of us have anxiety!

To use me as an example, since I’m the only person I truly know: I have almost deleted fic or moved it to an unrevealed collection multiple times because of anxiety that is tied to feels of either not being seen or being seen and intentionally ignored; I almost did so yesterday. It hurts to be ignored, especially when you know that your fic was read and seen but ignored. And that would be one thing - no one’s required to like my work or my friends’ works but to pretend your story is unique when you’re clearly very, very influenced by those works to the point of rewriting dialogue and using the same plot points with the same plot items. It makes me as a person feel ignored and it is currently killing my motivation to write, because at times I am a fainting flower. (To be very clear, my reaction is me, and no one owes me feedback or whatever, or to listen to my navel-gazing.) And I don’t like when my friends and fellow authors are seen then ignored either: that very much makes me angry. But yes, anxiety. It's easy to feel invisible or to feel like you're not worth recognizing.

I do want to note that there are circumstances in which acknowledgement and recognition is owed. If you take direct inspiration from someone’s plot, or rewrite it, that needs to be acknowledged, and it bothers me when it’s not: it feels like being used. Likewise, one place readers do have an obligation to comment, barring extenuating circumstances, is if they are given a gift fic as part of an exchange or event that they signed up for.

So idk. I guess what I’m saying is that I often feel that people don’t see that there’s a person behind the ao3 author’s name and that person’s not recognized. It might be that which stings the most.

(While I used  “author” throughout, this applies to all people in fandom who create and share their works. I am an author, so that’s the perspective I’m speaking from, but there are many creative perspectives that are no less important. And of course, “writer” and “reader” are not exclusive categories and I’d guess that most of the former are also the latter. Likewise “artist” isn’t exclusive, nor “podcaster” or so on.)

One last point: I’m not sure it’s talked about how long it can take to write something? I’d guess that most of my one-shots have taken at least two or three dozen hours to write/edit/post and I’d say I’m probably of average speed (when I’m writing lol). For most authors, writing’s not quick; 5k isn’t dashed off in an afternoon but might take 40+ hours. It’s a labor and for most of us it takes time.

#discourse #comment culture #i hate the term 'content' #it feels like something mass-produced and disposable #our works are artisanal and crafted with love lol #but yeah i am really not feeling good or comfortable about some stuff right now #both angry and 'why bother' #and quite angry on another's behalf #at least drop a kudos on the fic whose plot you're using if you don't mention it in the author's notes! #or if you're making something based off a fic (or art! or other creation!) mention the title or author or link to it/them #anyways! feeling pretty mediocre!! #also while reddit's not the reason i'm feeling as i do i should stop arguing on it lol #that might help #i also think i'm going to stop checking tags on ao3 for a little bit

[fictionadventurer]

imaginary book: “The Ruined Idylls of Calomar”, low fantasy (quite obscure, authorship disputed; philologists suspect the first draft was written in a Celtic or Semitic language in the late 19th or early 20th century.)

The Ruined Idylls of Calomar by A.E. Mann

This haunting work of fantasy claims to be the journals of an unnamed scholar living in exile after the fall of the hidden lands of Calomar. Once a thriving, peaceful, highly civilized culture, its glory was brought low by the pride, greed, and wrath of kings, scholars, explorers and warriors who fought for glory, power, and honor, until its final destruction by a dark, nameless weapon left only a scant handful of survivors to escape and tell the tale. In haunting language, the narrator writes of Calomar's glory and intrigue, its final fall, and his irresistible yet doomed attempts to return to his lost homeland and learn what, if anything, has survived.

#imaginary book recs #answered asks #this one was recommended to me by a friend whose tastes are much more cultured than mine #as in she's reading gormenghast and lord dunsany while i read mediocre self-published fairy tale retellings #i read the gutenberg version right on my computer while procrastinating #the description sounds more generic than it actually is #it's like a bridge between those victorian explorer atlantis lost land tales and a more modern take on fantasy #i wouldn't be surprised if it was an influence on tolkien or at least i suspect they're drawing from similar traditions #these people are much less noble and the narrative rather sadder than tolkien's #but i was still enthralled #sometimes you need to read about people who are better than you #and sometimes you need to watch the intrigues of people who fight and fail #and this one fits well into the latter tradition without losing that sense of wonder and goodness that undergirds good fantasy #the language is kind of dense but once you get going i found it rather readable #you have to be in the right mood and fortunately i found it at the right time #i'd like to see if i could find an annotated version one day #i don't know as much as i'd like about the origins and authorship and all those things like that #and at the very least i suspect there are worlds of references that i'm missing

[mirror-ralsei]

man, half the stuff in undertale at this point... wait it was all deltarune references? always has been

gaster the CORE the memoryheads and reaper bird slash everyman the core mercenaries emerge from the shadows muffet’s rich employer the friend with a creepy smile the skeleton brothers and sans’ stupid door the whole entire asriel fight monsters humans everyone suzy and every single fun event three smiling people “don’t forget” the blueprints “neither of them could fix the machine. no one can” the trash zone and everything in it mettaton neo undyne the undying but the earth refused to die casino snowstorm no mayor of snowdin tall sink alphys' belief in alternate universes rooms the ancient artifact unexplained alphys and sans friendship rooms 123 and 321 kris reflection in the puddle the pain itself is reason why. ice-e

#we didn't start the fire. #(unironically this is great btw. more of this. every mediocre contemporary shock value culture series can be improved this way)

[infinitysisters]

Interesting and prescient insight from a 1992 essay written by distinguished professor of History at CUNY Graduate Center, John Patrick Diggins (b.1935 - d.2009)

“1990 marks a curious time when the Left in the United States has no political significance but considerable educational influence, no power to affect immediate events but considerable authority to shape the minds of the young. Having lost the class war in the factories and the fields, the American Left continues the battle for cultural hegemony in the classroom.”

#american society #culture wars #the left in America #cultural hegemony #John Patrick Diggins #cuny #insights #education #institutional capture #goofy shit #societal emasculation #intellectual constipation #identity politics #the long game #cultural shifts #authoritarian statism #mediocrity for the masses #wolf in sheep's clothing #trojan horse #social regression #luxury beliefs #ideology becomes religion

[icedsodapop]

Popular leftists on this site really worship Anthony Bourdain for doing the bare minimum of acknowledging the fact that Kissinger is a war criminal who should be charged for crimes against Southeast Asia. 😑

#like hes your typical milqetoast western leftist. #if you look at his actual statements on his shows his sympathies mainly lie with the Southern Vietnamese #anti white leftist #celebrity worship #white mediocrity #stan culture