#anyway tbd bc this IS vagueblogging it's just like. very frustrating

[aeide-thea]

the thing abt this website (and really, every other website and also people irl) is that you'll be introduced to a new person who seems interesting (read: has some stuff to say that you agree with), and you'll think, ooh, maybe i should follow them! and then you'll check out their blog and realize, oh, fuck, right, they're the same person who was advocating 'systematic and targeted online harassment' of people who spread a message they dislike, as though that were either an acceptable way to behave or, for that matter, an effective way to convince anyone of anything—like, hello, if you harass your enemies they will shut their ears to you and become further entrenched in their current positions! also decent people will see what you're doing and distrust you even if your cause would otherwise earn their sympathy!

#and like. it's not a group or message i endorse either! that's not the point! #anyway tbd bc this IS vagueblogging it's just like. very frustrating #i very much want to like and respect people! wish they'd let me! #(a problem with the internet is that you run into dealbreakers much faster than you can build real bonds with people) #(and so you don't forge the kinds of relationships where you can say‚ hey‚ love you but that thing you said was pernicious actually!) #(so you just quietly unfollow‚ or don't follow in the first place‚ and no one learns anything from anyone else #that isn't already dreamt of in their existing philosophy) #(love my internet pals to bits but it really is like. in many cases we're not proper talk-things-out friends) #(and where we are‚ that's really developed in spite of the prevailing internet culture‚ i feel like‚ not because of it) #(like everyone talks this big dramatic game about Mutuals but so many of those [non-]relationships are really‚ like‚ mutually parasocial) #(they like your posts and you like theirs but nary a word is ever exchanged) #(so you don't get any practice at finding middle ground and figuring out what areas of disagreement you can push back at) #(you just either always-already-agree or silently part ways) #(anyway. these tags took a turn lmao) #(i'm just very conscious that this aspect of internet culture is not serving me) #(but like. what do you do about it?) #(still follow the person you think said something totally wrongheaded bc irl you wouldn't have been aware they'd said it?) #(maybe that IS where you start but like. then you end up with a dash that stresses you the fuck out‚ probably! so that's not the end of it. #(anyway.) #(sigh.)