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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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Tiktok manipulator follow up

Okay!

It’s time again to talk about mnpltd.

This account, much like Winwithpsychology, posts videos describing ways to use psychology to get what you want out of life, and people.

Unlike Winwithpsychology, however, mnpltd does not seem to be trying to hide the darkness inherent in what they post.

This almost seems worse, in a way. That means that they know to some extent just how toxic and harmful their content is, but they make it anyway.

Another thing, mnpltd doesn’t seem to have done much in the way of research before making their videos.

In one, posted June third or fourth, they describe Cognitive Dissonance.

The definition of cognitive dissonance is “the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.

Mnpltd’s example, however, of someone assuming they like you once they’ve done a favour for you, doesn’t really fit the bill.

Cognitive dissonance, in terms of liking someone, would be more along the lines of liking someone even though they haven’t been nice to you.

Part of you knows that there is no reason to like this person, but you do anyway.

Bad research is hardly the worst thing mnpltd has posted, but it doesn’t help.

If anything it makes things worse. Now you could have a bunch of kids (because remember, Tiktok is an app mainly used by younger people) running around manipulating people and being stupid.

Another Tiktok, posted the day before the one I just talked about, is blatantly encouraging people to be suspicious of even their closest friends. It says that even your closest friends could “quickly turn on you out of envy.”

The video says that in our society, there is no such thing as unconditional friendship. That no one wants a friendship that has no advantages.

And hey! That’s just not true.

While it’s true that some people might only want to get closer to someone because they stand to gain something, and some people can be toxic and cruel, it is not helpful to say that all people are like that.

Going through life paranoid that everyone who wants to be your friend is just trying to get something out of you would seriously suck.

Something else worth mentioning here.

Mnpltd, in all of their videos, uses clips and screenshots of manga and anime. These clips are edited in ways that are very popular among teens online within anime communities.

That, combined with the name of the anime used in the video always being in the tags, suggests that mnpltd is specifically targeting a younger and more easily influenced demographic on Tiktok.

Yet another example of how people like this become so popular, and so dangerous.

Trust me, there are people out there who will want to be your friend simply because they like you.

There are people who will love and support you unconditionally.

You just have to be patient until you find them.

Don’t shut the world out, afraid of that one person in a thousand that might hurt you.

Don’t let one video from a person like mnpltd blind you to the genuinely good people out there.

I know I may not be the most qualified person to be giving this kind of advice.

And I know I’m just another faceless block of text to most people, rather than a person.

But I really do mean it when I say this: There is someone out there for everyone, you just have to find them.

Aaand my tea is ice cold.

That’s all for now,

Tyr

#tiktok #manipulative

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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On to new content

Okay!

That was the last of my previously created posts. Anything after this is officially new content. Here's hoping that Tumblr turns out better.

I look forward to seeing how this all develops!

That's all for now,

Tyr

#blogger

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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Manipulation on Tiktok

Okay!

Today is a little different from my previous posts.

I am not talking about something silly.

I am not talking about something small and personal.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered from the title, I will be talking about emotional manipulation.

Specifically, I will be talking about two TikTok users I came across the other day:

@mnpltd

And

@winwithpsychology https://www.tiktok.com/@winwithpsychology/video/7236940462702234926

As one might expect, these accounts are centred around psychology. More specifically, they focus on the use of psychology to manipulate people into doing what you want or acting how you want them to.

Already, this doesn’t sound good, but it gets worse!

@winwithpsychology posted a video on May 24th about “dark manipulation tactics.”

In the video they suggest that, to “take over someone’s confidence,” you should bombard them with compliments to break down any barriers they might have put up.

If I’m being honest, I don’t exactly know what this tip is suggesting. It’s confusingly worded and the grammar is just awful.

The next tip, however, is far clearer in its meaning.

The next tip suggests love bombing someone, showing high levels of affection and interest in someone, only to do a complete 180 the next day and ignore them, acting like you want nothing to do with them.

The goal of this is almost certainly to make the unfortunate victim desperate to please you, doing anything if it means they regain your affection.

This is textbook emotional manipulation, used by abusers to maintain control over people.

I have been the victim of this kind of manipulation myself, as have many people I’ve known.

This kind of manipulation leaves wounds, scars that never truly heal.

I won’t mince words here.

I will be completely transparent and say this: If you do this to someone, you are an abuser.

There is no scenario in which this is okay.

There is nothing you can say to justify it.

And @winwithpsychology?

I think you know what you’re doing.

If you ever see this, and you have anything to say for yourself, be my guest.

Moving on to @mnpltd.

Their video that I first came across covers something called “The white knight technique.”

The technique boils down to secretly creating problems for people that you can then “fix” publicly for them, or even just offer them support.

The example given in the video is spreading rumours about a person before comforting them, essentially offering a shoulder to cry on about a problem you created.

Once again, this is unacceptable.

It’s disgusting, and if you do this intentionally, so are you.

I don’t care if that sounds harsh.

I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m overreacting.

I have seen people do this kind of thing to others.

I’ve experienced it myself.

I know what it does to someone to go through this.

It isn’t pretty.

Unsurprisingly, both of the people have links in their bios advertising books that supposedly golf the keys to their success.

This is the link in @winwithpsychology’s bio: https://www.winwithpsychology.com/psychmeup21

This is @mnpltd’s:

As I said, both of these advertise books on psychology tips to help people succeed, or manipulate people.

Interestingly though, @mnpltd’s link has two paid ebooks on it as well. One on “influencer secrets,” and the other on “side hustle secrets.”

@mnpltd also has options on their link to pay them to promote your account.

This illustrates a very interesting overlap with various social media “entrepreneurs.”

In fact, @winwithpsychology uses the tags #entrepreneur and #alphamale.

Because of course this person thinks they’re an alpha male!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, right?

That’s about all I can take of these fuckers right now. I’ll update if anything comes of this.

That’s all for now,

Tyr

#blogger #tiktok #manipulative #alpha man #entrepreneur

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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Mythology in media

Okay!

Obviously I have been struggling to think of something new to post for the past few days, but that ends now.

Various mythologies have been represented in media for as long as media has existed, and even before.

Plays like the Illiad and the Odyssey are fictional works based on the mythology of the people who created them. The main difference with those plays is of course the fact that the myths covered in them was still widely known and the religion attached to to it was still practised, unlike most mythologies today.

Certainly the most popular depictions of ancient mythology in modern media are Marvel's Thor movies. They take key figures from Norse mythology and put them into a modern day sci-fi type setting, often putting a modern spin on the old stories. In theory this is great, as it brings those older stories into the public eye. In practise however, it's more like taking the original stories and twisting them until they are almost unrecognizable. In Norse mythology, Thor is very much not a blond-haired blue-eyed supermodel who always puts the greater good before his own wants and needs. The real Thor is a violent, angry drunk, who tends to just start fights for an excuse to end them. I understand why Marvel might want to steer clear of an attitude like this for one of their main characters, but they still shouldn't have changed it so drastically. The real Loki is neither pure evil, comparable to certain depictions of the devil, or simply an angsty young adult with a penchant for mischief. Loki is a trickster, much like Odin. As a result, he tends to lie and manipulate to get what he wants. Loki is also responsible for fixing the mistakes of other gods, usually solving a problem that someone else created while being blamed for it himself. Gods are always morally grey, never truly good or evil. Loki, Thor, and Odin are all perfect examples of this fact, but it can be seen in cultures all around the world. However, I'm getting off topic.

Neil Gaiman's series American Gods does a good job of exploring the gods as they were more often depicted and thought of back when they were more actively worshipped. Odin (Mr.Wednesday) in this series does not exactly come across as a heroic figure, doing the right thing purely because it's right. He lies to and manipulates people to get what he wants. He's a con artist and a trickster, which is not uncommon in myths about him. Thor and Loki also appear in this series but...I haven't finished it yet, so I won't talk about their characterization here and now.

The Percy Jackson series, as poorly researched as it is at times, also does a reasonably good job of portraying the gods in a realistic way. In Percy Jackson, the Greek gods follow "Western civilization", whatever that means. In practise this means that they started out in Greece, migrated to Rome when they took over, and then followed rising civilizations all the way to the modern day United States of America, where they have remained for however long they've been there. The gods are obviously not depicted in a traditional way, but still a way that makes sense when you consider the context. The Percy Jackson series depicts the gods as being heavily influenced by their host civilization, and changing to fit it's culture. Ancient Greece is popularly depicted as being all about art, science, and philosophy, so the gods were as well. Rome is depicted as aggressive and warlike, so the Roman forms of the gods reflect that. The modern forms of the gods, though using their Greek names, are fundamentally American in their visual representation and attitudes.

One problem with all three of these examples is how difficult it becomes to research the mythologies they pull from. You can't look up Loki and actually find any helpful information without scrolling through a dozen pages about Marvel. You can't hunt for information on a more obscure Greek god like Moros without spending twenty minutes on a "Fandom Amino" page before realizing it's not even canon! And you will especially have no luck finding good or accurate information on the gods or beliefs of a culture that isn't either: Greek, Roman, Norse, or Egyptian. Using mythology as inspiration for your fictional work is perfectly fine, and makes for some very compelling stories, but if you don't do it properly you run the risk of making it harder for people after you to write accurate stories themselves. It's important when writing anything with culturally significant stories at it's centre to remember that it's not pure fiction. It's somebody's culture, and it matters to someone.

If every individual thinks, "Somebody else will do their research, so I don't have to," then nobody will actually do it.

That's all for now,

Tyr

#blogger #greek mythology #norse mythology #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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The dangers of AI

Okay!

AI is becoming a very popular topic recently as it improves and becomes more widespread.

As such, I wanted to make my thoughts about it known.

Personally, I think AI is dangerous. Not necessarily in a Sci-Fi "taking over the world" way, but dangerous nonetheless.

AI generated artwork is fast becoming a real problem, with many people trying to pass it off as their own.

Even among AI artists who acknowledge that the art they post is made by a robot, there are still those who charge people to view "their" art.

Having a Patreon where you just so happen to post AI art is one thing, but there are also people who accept comissions to make art that they themselves aren't actually making!

I don't mean to be rude, or to put anyone down, but I do not think it's fair to artists who put in real work to produce their art.

It is unfair to those who spend hours, or even days, working on a piece of custom art, when someone can just ask a robot to make them a picture instead.

Art isn't the only area that is being threatened by AI either.

Writers are also at risk of being made obsolete, or at least being buried under mountains of other works, made quicker than a human can work.

Even if these AI generated stories aren't good, (And trust me, they're not) They could still be a huge problem just do the sheer volume of them.

Personally, I don't want my writing career to be over before it even begins. To me, AI is terrifying, not because of movies like The Matrix, but because it has the potential to destroy everything I, and many others, are working towards.

I don't mean to portray AI as fully negative, there are good things about it as well.

For one, there's Character AI, which can be very fun to talk to.

There's also potential for using AI in medicine, though admittedly that's beyond my ability to talk about much. All I really know is that their are doctors and clinics that are considering using ChatGPT for triage.

I'm sure there are other benefits to AI, but...I can't think of any right now.

Haha whoops.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on any developments in AI and keep you posted.

That's all for now,

Tyr

#blogger #artificial intelligence art

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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Creepy romance books

Okay!

So I didn't expect to be posting again so soon, but I have something I wanna say to more than just my family.

So as I might have mentioned...literally like two minutes ago, I am trying to write.

I do not plan to write romance novels, but I might still want to include relationships in my work.

For that reason, and that reason alone, I went to look for some romance books that include a trope I like.

In doing so I stumbled upon a video of books that use that particular trope.

"Huzzah!" I thought. "At last, a source of bountiful knowledge on this somehow niche topic!"

Imagine my disappointment when the very first book of the video completely bastardizes the trope I was looking into.

It didn't even just do it poorly, it totally corrupted it.

Which is a very funny joke...to me.

The book is called "Corrupt", okay?

What do you want from me, I'm not a comedian.

Anyway, the synopsis of the book is as follows:

Erika I was told that dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession. His name is Michael Crist. My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me. But I noticed him. I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away. Now, I’ve graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t stopped watching Michael. He’s bad, and the dirt I’ve seen isn’t content to stay in my head anymore. Because he’s finally noticed me. Michael Her name is Erika Fane, but everyone calls her Rika. My brother’s girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her mind. That’s all I really want anyway. Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college. In my city. Unprotected. The opportunity is too good to be true as well as the timing. Because you see, three years ago she put a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they’re out. We’ve waited. We’ve been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come true.

Already sounds pretty gross, right? But it gets worse!

Apparently Michael is planning to harm, or even kill Erika, because she somehow got some of his friends arrested?!

Hey dude, hey Michael. Fucking how? Okay? How are you and your buddies, all grown adults by now, gonna hold an 18 or 19 year old girl respnsible for their arrests? Is she a teenage detective? Did I miss that part of the summary or something?

Regardless, Michael gets close to Erika, intending to gain her trust before betraying her to his friends.

But uh oh! Michael falls for her! So now, he has to protect this girl from a situation HE put her in!

Honestly, I feel like a title like "Corrupt", coupled with it's description of "dark romance" perfectly encapsulates the nightmare that must lie between the covers of this book.

I hope to anything that might be listening that people stop feeling the need to write books like this.

Like seriously, just write likeable characters, okay?

I know it's not that hard to write characters that aren't either total dumbasses or awful people!

Just write about two decent people who have a healthy relationship, and let any drama you need to be able to, you know, have a plot, come from other people or situations.

Hell, you could have a romance that fits into another genre!

Superhero romance? Sure, maybe a pair of vigilantes are into each other and their relationship is the focus of the story rather than the crime fighting.

Fantasy romance? Great! Two characters in a magical setting with cool magical crap going on who also love each other, write about that!

Why does every "romance" book have to be a toxic or even abusive relationship, huh?

It's gross, yucky.

Anyway, I think I've gotten that out of my system.

That's all for now,

Tyr

#blogger #books & libraries #romance #toxic

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the-alconbury-chronicle · 1 year

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Re-upload of my old blog's first post

Okay!

I've never done this before, so who knows how this'll work or if anyone will actually even see this?

I guess I should give some kind of intro.

Hi, my name is Tyr, and I will be using this blog to talk about goings on in my daily life.

A few details, you say?

Very well.

I am going to college in the fall, and basically just biding my time until then.

I live in a, shall we say, not so good neighbourhood. I know that covers basically all of Toronto, but shush, it's my blog and I'll say what I want.

I'm an aspiring writer who seems to make almost no progress when it comes to actually writing.

I like fantasy books, getting surface deep into various hobbies, and "video games." I put video games in quotation marks because I almost exclusivle play Pokemon. Please don't be mean to me about it.

Beyond that, there's not much to say.

I'm a little edgy. In, like, the lamest way possible.

I write shitty poetry, which I will not be sharing on here.

And I think that's all I have to say right now.

I don't know how often I'll post here. Maybe every day, maybe weekly, maybe just whenever I have something worth sharing. We'll see.

That's all for now,

Tyr.

#blogger

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