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Did you not like:
(a) my drawings of plants
(b) the cute animal illustrations
(c) the visual recreations of pre-Anthropocene landscapes
(d) the stylish lesbians in period clothing
(e) the sharks and/or Godzillas
I’ve recently been trying to keep my social media very chill and relaxing, with one or two daily links to free online lectures and digital comics from diverse voices, as well as biweekly tweets about indie-published books I enjoyed.
Based on my gradually declining follower count, people do not seem to like this.
I don’t want to leave Twitter, as it’s how I get most of my information about the world these days, but I’ve been trying to train myself not to be so angry all the time. And it’s hard! It’s easy and instantly gratifying to be angry and critical and mean, but it requires diligence, emotional discipline, and high-level mental gymnastics to be interesting and relevant without indulging in negativity. I think a lot of people equate kindness with a lack of intelligence, but this just isn’t true.
Even more distressing, I think a lot of people only value “diversity” inasmuch as it confers social clout. It’s a worthwhile project to express solidarity with groups of people who have suffered violence and systemic injustice, but I think it’s an even more worthwhile project to offer longterm support to individual members of minority groups and celebrate them when they’re actually doing okay, producing good work, and living their best lives. Social movements like #StopAsianHate and #BLM and #TransVisibility need to be an everyday sort of business, and there’s no reason why this business shouldn’t be pleasant and joyful.
The way social media commodifies identity in temporal units of “engagement” has become increasingly transparent as time goes on, and I think it’s only because anger is so privileged on social media platforms that people can’t see this exploitation for what it is.
(a) my drawings of plants
(b) the cute animal illustrations
(c) the visual recreations of pre-Anthropocene landscapes
(d) the stylish lesbians in period clothing
(e) the sharks and/or Godzillas
I’ve recently been trying to keep my social media very chill and relaxing, with one or two daily links to free online lectures and digital comics from diverse voices, as well as biweekly tweets about indie-published books I enjoyed.
Based on my gradually declining follower count, people do not seem to like this.
I don’t want to leave Twitter, as it’s how I get most of my information about the world these days, but I’ve been trying to train myself not to be so angry all the time. And it’s hard! It’s easy and instantly gratifying to be angry and critical and mean, but it requires diligence, emotional discipline, and high-level mental gymnastics to be interesting and relevant without indulging in negativity. I think a lot of people equate kindness with a lack of intelligence, but this just isn’t true.
Even more distressing, I think a lot of people only value “diversity” inasmuch as it confers social clout. It’s a worthwhile project to express solidarity with groups of people who have suffered violence and systemic injustice, but I think it’s an even more worthwhile project to offer longterm support to individual members of minority groups and celebrate them when they’re actually doing okay, producing good work, and living their best lives. Social movements like #StopAsianHate and #BLM and #TransVisibility need to be an everyday sort of business, and there’s no reason why this business shouldn’t be pleasant and joyful.
The way social media commodifies identity in temporal units of “engagement” has become increasingly transparent as time goes on, and I think it’s only because anger is so privileged on social media platforms that people can’t see this exploitation for what it is.
