As Virtuality Seeps into Reality...
Something I've been coming across mentioned as a point of concern with social media a fair amount recently is attention algorithms. Social media companies get their income through advertising so algorithms are programmed to highlight content that garners the most attention and interaction. Unfortunately outrage and controversy are the things we find the hardest to ignore and not be pulled in by. Therefore we can easily end up in a snowballing, negative spiral where content creators are incentivised to create ever more controversial content in order to compete for views.
A practice that is becoming more and more common is taking other creator's content and posting it without credit to the original creator, an issue that Acidyo covered recently in more detail. Often when this content is stolen it's also cut into shorter form in such a way as to twist what was originally said into something more controversial and often completely different, casting the original creator in a bad light. Even if the original content were to be linked, few would likely bother to even watch that original to gain the truth because in their own mind they've already seen it and few have the attention span for the long form anyway, so they'll prefer what they believe to be a shorter summarised form, especially if it's reinforcing what they want to believe.
Image courtesy of @motionkapture777
The ease of getting caught up in the algorithm's gravitational pull.
The very nature of social media algorithms magnifies negatives and if most of your social life is focused there it can make you believe that it's a majority of people who are awful and not just the occasional highlighted cases that get spammed across the internet.
I post some videos of my climbing activities on Instagram and there's quite the community of climbers from across the world on there. It's generally acknowledged, even celebrated, that the recreational climbing community is positive, inclusive and supportive. Yes you do get the odd A-hole, just like in anything, but they are a minority. This is reflected for the most part on Instagram, but I've noticed some changes in the way some people post when they realise that controversial, negative content gets them more attention. People who are perfectly rational normally get caught up in the hype, whether it's just for the views or in hope of earning from social media.
As an example, a woman who just posted climbs started adding affiliate links on every post once she reached 1000 followers and now her content has changed towards complaining about sexism within the climbing community. When questioned about it she hasn't actually experienced that in reality, merely come across it in virtuality. It brings in a lot of likes and shares to her posts, though. I've noticed the interaction on her posts has dropped, however, so is it even converting to purchases from her affiliate links? I suspect not and it will likely be benefiting the platform monetarily far more than her.
What's particularly saddening is to read what I can only describe as anti male rhetoric coming from someone who seems like a perfectly lovely woman when talking one on one and who also has a husband. Many of the original people who used to interact on her posts have stopped and the few comments she gets now are from the ones who further beat down on men, perpetuating that negativity.
I also ended up connecting with a transgender woman climber who climbs at the same gym as me, but we haven't met in person. They are easy to talk to when talking about climbing and we can connect over this shared interest the same as with any other climber. However, they recently seem to have figured out that transgender based content gets more likes, which would make sense because it's certainly a highly controversial topic these days. So more of their recent content is becoming activism oriented, along the lines of how transgender climbers should be accepted, with a side of criticising the "bad behaviour" of men in climbing. Yet again when questioned about it they don't seem to have experienced the issues they're bemoaning in the gym. The gyms here are actually really inclusive and even do sessions especially for women including those identifying as women and none binary.
When the transgender climber shared a video of their kid climbing with the caption "trans kids belong in climbing" a local mother expressed concern and recommend a youth programme at a city gym which she found to be very inclusive, to which they responded that the kid was in a youth programme they were very happy with at another gym. I'm pleased that they were honest in this regard rather than trying to claim discrimination at that gym, but it highlights how easy it is to get the wrong impression. For example, the first Instagrammer I mentioned and this transgender climber have connected as well and bounce off each other on the issue of discrimination. You've got to wonder what impressions they must be giving each other on their home gyms and the people who go there.
I have never encountered any discriminatory behaviour at the gyms here and the supposed "men behaving badly" behaviour being complained about is more a lack of awareness that others might be waiting to get on a climb that they are hogging (easily done when you're engrossed). This is something I've also experienced from women and, not surprisingly, even more so from children. For some reason when it's coming from men it's interpreted by women that these men must think they're superior to us and maybe sometimes it is a bit of that, but mostly it's not.
The problem with social media algorithms is that they target what you respond to and magnify it. If you are someone who reacts and responds positive things then the algorithms will feed you more of that. It will even prioritise positive comments when you go to comments section. So for me I'll get positive and uplifting comments at the top then as I scroll down I'll see comments bemoaning how horrible the comments are on the post and wonder what they're talking about. I'll have to scroll much further down to find the negative ones. On the other hand, someone who responds and reacts to negative comments and posts will get those prioritised, probably get riled up by them and start responding back to them, signalling to the algorithms to increase that negative aspect. I fully understand how easy it is to get sucked into that cycle. It outrages me too, but I purposely avoid responding in order to stop my feed devolving into a negative doom scrolling spiral.
Immediacy and reaction
The issues with social media have a knock on effect in the real world. Everything online comes to us from across the world immediately and we can't help but to react immediately. It used to be that by the time news reached us we usually had a full story behind the events with a balanced viewpoint. Now a video is uploaded immediately after it's filmed, if not as it's being filmed, with no context and no back story. It often comes with a narrative that the poster wants to project as well, usually one that will elicit the most reactions.
When someone attacks us online our immediate reaction is to respond and defend ourselves, which usually only serves to escalate the situation, cause further animosity and division and give power to the one attacking. If we leave it for a day or two to assess more calmly whether it actually needs addressing then the chances are that it probably doesn't and people will have moved onto other things anyway. As Morgan Freeman suggested, the best way to get rid of racism is to “stop talking about it.”
Author and podcaster Coleman Hughes noted that racism had been declining for decades until 2013 when it began to increase again, coinciding with the start of social media and iPhone cameras. Being bombarded with division happening on social media day in day out it's no surprise that we can start to feel like this is the reality that surrounds us as well, even when we're not experiencing that. People can end up looking for discrimination or oppression in every little word or action around them. If you can't obviously see it then it must be in micro aggressions or it's subconscious, systemic discrimination.
It's happening in just about every environment too. I recently read an article from a Millennial woman about how Boomer parents "harmed" Millennials with what they thought were "well meaning" things they said which were actually "word violence". She listed and disected 10 things her parents said that caused her anxiety and I found myself giggling as I read through it, because she was reading far too much into everything and none of these things should have in any way been construed as negative by any emotionally balanced person. Although it's admittedly sad that her mental health has gotten her to the point of trying to find causes like this to blame for it.
This strange focus on dividing the generations does seem to have come in with the Millennials, which may explain why Gen X (many of whom also had Boomers parents) got overlooked if Millennials were just so focused on their own "traumatic" upbringings. I think most of Gen X were happy not to be dragged into it anyway. 🤣
What will our future look like?
Thankfully most Millennials straddled a world that was still mainly in reality with a door stepping into the digital realm, but for those born into this new millennium who haven't experienced a world without the digital world at their fingertips, will they be as able to separate the two? What does the future hold for our children and grandchildren? Will it be a world where everyone feels isolated and feeling fear or hatred towards everyone around them?
Hello, @minismallholding
Yes, it's unfortunate that some content creators, seeking to maximize their earnings on social media, try to exploit the algorithms with controversial, even immoral, material. Who is to blame for this? We could attack the pure algorithm and its creators, but where is the audience's morbid curiosity?
Of course, as you point out when referring to your community of climbers, there is sometimes a dissonance between the virtual and the real. I understand that there is no gender discrimination against women, as some people portray on social media.
I can understand the rational and cold-blooded act of wanting to exploit the algorithms that reward certain agendas, but I don't justify it, because it is detrimental to truth and human dignity.
In a way, these behaviors generate fake news, and I wonder: Why, and who does it benefit?
In a way, this is the tip of the iceberg. They want us to be fools by dint of our diminished attention span, a product of scrolling through so much toxic and fleeting content that it's based on exploiting the instinctual in human beings, unleashing emotions without first filtering them through calm, critical thinking.
What will all this lead to? I don't believe in a generational conflagration: X versus millennials and traumatized alphas. No. I hope that at the end of the road, common sense, good manners, and kindness will prevail over so much ineptitude and idiocy planned by a few who want to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority.
Greetings.
We are old enough to have known the real world without social media and can easily see the toxic nature of it and be able to choose not to add to it. I wonder how true that will be for our younger generations, though. Can we teach them the critical thinking to be able to see the duplicity or will they end up making the virtual world and the real world one and the same? I hope that I have been able to teach my daughters, but I still see a certain amount of it playing out where they feel like I should be aware of some reality that I haven't actually encountered outside of the internet.
@topcomment
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Oh! Your post has so many points. But what's the point of dividing us so much? When we weren't an algorithm, life was simpler. Now you even hear phrases like: I trust my algorithm to lead me to the next video. Social media divides us so much that we end up being nothing, tiny, essenceless beings looking for likes. At some point, we need to wake up and stop feeling that need to be on social media and do stupid things to be trending, and instead desire to be someone who contributes to humanity.
Absolutely! Although I think some people think that their social media contributions are contributing to humanity. 🤦♀️ They are on a crusade to alert us all to the injustices of the world for whichever crusade they have chosen.
I think a lot of this stems from the fact that we aren’t as supportive of each other as we could and probably should be in regular contexts.
Being seen as a victim is attractive because it leads to certain people blindly supporting you out of whatever insecurities they have about being a good person and not fitting their own standard.
Not saying victims don’t deserve the support, they totally do, but if people were a little more consistent with their decent gestures and support of friends and strangers, it might not make playing the victim such an attractive position.
So I guess what I’m saying is we need to fill the gap in decency given to regular people and victims, not by giving less decency to victims but more decency to EVERYONE.
Also it’s too big a topic for here, but if people learn to focus on what they can actually do in their lives rather than what other people are doing, the addiction to drama disappears. Drama is a big distraction from personal empowerment
And for what its worth, I think my boomer parents messed me up pretty bad but i don’t think complaining about boomers forever is the way to fix it….
Agreed. Instead it often ends up being a contest of who is the bigger victim and the more deserving of attention or who is the more oppressed, at least online, anyway. For the most part we are still surrounded by human decency in the real world. Social etiquette tends to keep us in check that way.
Yes, this is an entire post too! If you find time to write on it please let me know so I don't miss it.
Yes, parents from all generations have messed their kids up pretty bad, but it does none of us any good to blame one generation for it. Ultimately that helps none of us to heal and move on with our lives. I guess that's why I had to laugh at this woman's complaints, because I could talk about much bigger problems from my parents that weren't twisting what they said into what I thought they meant. Ultimately it's my choice as to whether I stay wallowing in victimhood and anxiety or do something about it.
Did you read @builderofcastles recent post on re-parenting the inner child? I thought that was very poignant.
@topcomment
Trying my best not to feel like a victim today and focus instead on having a good day and getting stuff done!
I’ll check the post out!
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So many good points made in your post. The "anti-male" rhetoric is one that I would like to focus on. Even as a well behaved male member of society (but saying it as a male feels suspicious) - my "fear" of this "fear" of the "male" in contemporary society by women makes me feel less and less able to interact with and participate in society.
And I am someone who is balanced, well-intentioned, married, and respect and appreciate every single woman in my life (in fact, I have more friends as women than men) - but this pervasive "fear" that is plastered on all the social networks and the news, is damaging to men.
Damaging to their confidence, damaging to their participation, to the their interaction in community events or just in the general public.
I am aware of the rhetoric that exists, and know that I am an untrue example of it, but it doesn't stop the perception of "oh look a man, run!", and I think this is doing untold damage to younger men, who then get sucked into their own algo-driven attention content farm (with affiliate links) for "courses" on how to be a better man - when all they need to do is set the example by simply just not being the stereotype.
Open-ness, honesty, stating intention, and being a nice person in general.
For example, there was an interaction I didn't have today, when I was walking back to the car after the gym today. A woman who had just gone into the supermarket was going back to her car (which was parked next to mine) - and it was a nice car. I wanted to say "nice car", but i didn't - I didn't want to be feared. It was simply a statement and an observation. She probably knew it was a nice car - and I did too..
But if this interaction that is innocuous is blocked by the rhetoric of man is bad - then what other interactions are as well?
This for certain. It's interesting to hear that it's also having that level of effect on older men such as yourself. I assumed that the older generations would be more immune to it, not having grown up in this environment. That said, I know my husband has started to become more defensive and less inclined to back women in general. When I first noticed it, it made me reflect on how this is getting to a point where it's driving away our allies.
What I really hate is the examples given are usually the worst kind of man, then they clump all men into it. The same is done with women when there's an example of them being toxic.
To be clear, I have experienced the bad men and most of the women I've come to know well have too. It only takes one of those to reach multiple women so just because many women have had these encounters it still doesn't make it all men or even most men. It's a minority and generally your instinct will let you know when you're dealing with one. Yet, ironically, we are taught to not assume they are bad out of politeness. Maybe not so much now if they are obviously a white, heterosexual male, but likely still if they're one of the designated minorities. It's like we've taken a step forward and two back. Most of the men I encounter I would actually trust to protect me from one who did intend me harm.
I was reading a poster one day at climbing with the title "BouldHer". A session for women, non binary and those identifying as women. I think they wanted it to feel inclusive, or maybe safe, but it felt like it was just excluding people. Even transgender men would be excluded here. Yet standard climbing hours keeps it inclusive for everyone and in all honesty I feel more comfortable in that kind of environment than one that's actively excluding people.
It's interesting that when I climb it's after work and mostly men are there. I know there are female climbers, but they seem to climb during the day more or on a day I can't get there. I find that the men are really easy to talk to and really encouraging. I often end up working on climbs with groups of them and I don't feel threatened at all, the opposite in fact. The younger men in particular are actually more open to asking advice and learning from a woman if they're newer to the sport, nothing like the men I grew up around who were "too tough" for that. I don't know if that's a more recent thing or just the area I grew up in. Possibly the latter as I have had similar experiences with men nearer my age at climbing.
In the past the way women were treated wasn't great, but we've reached the point of over correction. We're starting to do the very same things to men and not allowing them purpose and dignity in life. I could write a whole post on this and maybe will at one point. In short we need each other, we need to work together and accept and respect the strengths and weaknesses of both.
@topcomment
If we have to walk around saying we're not a threat, it gets a bit old. But the pre-judgement is there, and grows. I think that's the real flaw with all of this.
We get so little opportunity to allow someone's actions to establish the quality of their character, that sadly, people fall into "categories" that are whatever their own echo chamber determines.
I have started going to the gym later in the day now, and I notice the same thing - its mostly women. The earlier morning crowd is more balanced, but my local ends up being a social club with everyone getting roped into the conversation - and I just want to go in, do my thing, and get out, and not be waylaid by chit-chat.
I have a hard time saying "no", or disengaging from a conversation once I am engaged in it, so- so far, going a bit later is working, everyone leaves everyone alone.
I feel like that kind of thing would be more awkward at a normal gym. In the climbing gym environment it feels completely normal because you end up discussing the climbs even with strangers, but once you get up to the weights/gym area people just get on with their thing unless they're with friends. It would be weird to just start chatting with people you barely know.
Ditto! 😅 I'm not very good at social etiquette at the best of times, so struggle to know at what point I'm being rude to try and conclude the conversation.
I don't really see much of a separation, my online friends are just as much my friends as my meatspace ones.
I have kind of vaguely noticed a lot of the stuff you're talking about over time but they're also from the type of person I'll ignore (the brain glitches are occasionally useful either as is or if I've managed to hack them to be more useful). I have hopefully managed to get the kids to do likewise. Middle I think learned it best and quickest as she's on social media the most and has had to navigate a few online dramas with a number of petty children.
I do also believe that it's another algorithmic blowing up of things that don't actually happen as much as "everyone" thinks they do, and that it's mostly constantly shoved in our faces to ragebait.
Having said that I don't think not talking about problems like racism would make them go away (might in fact do the opposite which we absolutely do not want). But I do feel (possibly in agreement with you?) that sometimes a small but annoyingly shrill subset of people keep creating problems where none exist just so they have something to feel outraged/oppressed/victimised about (and that's assuming that they're not doing it literally to desperately grab at any scrap of attention they can which is even more pathetic).
Sounds like you've got it handled well. Best to keep it down to mostly meatspace friends online.
That possibly depends on how we're doing it. It's one thing to educate that you don't be disrespectful to others who are different to you, but another thing entirely to be continually bringing up bad encounters and past wrongs in an accusatory way.
Growing up I had no concept of the existence of racism. I watched things like Star Trek and it casually portrayed a normalisation of people from all cultures and countries working together and women in what would have been classed as male roles at the time. I never even heard the mention of racism until our teacher read us a story from America about it and even then I just thought how lovely it was that it no longer existed. The way we were approaching this as a culture could have had generations growing up accepting this as normal. Now we're talking about it so much that it's in your face constantly, we're defining each other by the colour of our skin instead of as people and some see racism in every small action. Someone white is not paying attention and let's the door go in a black person's face then it must be because they're racist not lost in their own thoughts or stresses.
Yes, I think it really is a small subset, but when it gets amplified it feels much larger. I don't think the victimhood environment is doing them a service either even if it is well meaning. When you label someone a victim and they take that label on then believe they can't do anything about it and find ever more ways to victimise themselves, whether it's looking for discrimination in every negative event they encounter or thinking they can't pull themselves out of their bad situation because of their race.
Have you heard of Steven Bartlett? He said that when he was first planning to start out in business he read that there was a grant available for black people wanting to start up a business. While he understands now that it was done with the best of intentions, at the time he felt like he was basically being told that he wasn't as capable because he was black. So it actually knocked his confidence rather than encouraged him.
@topcomment
But then I wouldn't have some of the friends I do now! :D
I grew up in systemic racism which apparently lasted into the 90s according to a timeline in the museum that claimed that Asians weren't allowed to own houses when I was 11 years old O_O
because I read the details first and then the date my thought process was along the lines of wow that's lame glad it's so far in the past WAIT I WAS ALIVE WHILE THAT WAS GOING ON?!
I did not pick up on any of it til basically adulthood because it was so very normal. When I was very young the "adults" (previous generation) would casually say stuff like "[ethnic group/skin colour] people [some broad sweeping thing not true for everyone but sounds like it is the way it's stated]" all the time. It only registered as "not quite right" because I had friends who were [ethnic group/skin colour] and they didn't/weren't [some broad sweeping thing not true for everyone but sounds like it is the way it's stated] (and also weren't adults being dicks), and the adults making these statements generally did too. Whether said friends were included in those broad sweeping things depended on the thing x_x
the "adults" in question were Asian, had to mention it because some people have the delusion that only white people can be racist and somehow racism directed at white people doesn't count
The only time "racism" directed at me has ever particularly stood out was extremely minor and more hilarious than anything else. When I was at uni and was getting food or coffee at some place where you can get these things, and uni life being what it was I was half dead plus didn't realise I had audio processing issues at the time (they weren't quite as bad then I don't think but still got worse when I was tired) so I didn't initially understand the (white) counter attendant who then brightly came up with "oh you don't speak English?". I relayed this exchange to an Indian friend who grew up in the UK and we had a giggle about people assuming based on appearances, apparently one of her favourite things to do was to dress full on Indian (sari and everything) and then shock people who expected that she might not speak English very well with her full on British accent.
I'm sure there will be people telling us that's terrible and that we should have been outraged about it and we only didn't notice coz we're so used to it but it was actually just really really funny and nowhere near the level of actually terrible that other people have experienced
A small handful of years ago one of my friends told me how at school the Asian kids were steered more towards the "blue collar"/labouring time jobs or what was seen as "lower level" office jobs (secretary etc) while the white kids were steered more towards the "white collar" type jobs which made a lot of things I do vaguely remember make more sense, though it also wasn't strictly true as I clearly remember when we were doing work experience one of the white boys toddled off to work with the heavy vehicle mechanics and two of the white girls were with me at Parks planting out rehab areas and looking after injured seabirds (I chose Parks because office jobs sounded incredibly boring, had more than enough of sitting around doing paperwork at school, was very definitely not steered there XD).
Everything evened out eventually (at least around my family), I'm not sure whether it was because "we" (our generation) pushed back or whether the "adults" mellowed out and stopped being so angry and learned to pick battles or whatever it is happens when you supposedly become older and wiser (I'm still waiting on the wiser part XD).
I have not heard of Steven Bartlett (though having said that the name does sound kind of familiar)(, but I do know of a similar-but-different situation with one of J's friends (can't remember if it was a uni friend or friend/colleague from previous workplace) who was "thrilled" to discover that he had been the "diversity hire".
And then you start to feel old! Also the 80s was only 20 years ago, right? 🤣
Then they say "obviously we don't mean everyone!" like you're the one taking it wrong and that's on you. (I hate that because really if you're just discussing one or two people you single them out for the problem behaviour rather than labelling them as asian/black/men or whatever group you've slotted them into.)
Dream work! I also dread paperwork from school days.
Me too. I'm suspicious that this is actually a lie to try and keep the respect of younger people while we try and remember what we were even doing or were about to do.
I think I'd be the same level of thrilled...
My daughter went into her mechanical engineering apprenticeship fully aware that she stood a better chance than most due to her gender and the diversity hire incentives companies get. She's proven herself fully capable since, but still hates being pointed out when staff show people around ("look at our female mechanic and look how good her work is too") so she feels like an exhibit.
Hubby grew up in an area that was very white at the time. His family ran a pub that the older people liked to gather in. One day a black guy walked in and every face turned to watch with suspicion as he walked up to the bar. Then the shock on those faces was apparently classic when he asked for a box of matches in well spoken English accent. He was better spoken than any of them. 🤣
I have a feeling that the people that are doing that are working the other way, where they think that most people exhibit a characteristic/behaviour and the "not everyone" is the select bunch of people they know which I think is how the "I'm not racist I have [in that category] friends!" card can be played with no inkling of the irony.
BAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAA XD meanwhile I'm cheerfully telling the younger people that I have no idea what I'm doing either so we can all muddle along and learn together or they can explain it to me if they have a clue XD
most of the time, every so often it's a ploy to see if the tiny children retain what they were told in training/were actually listening if I come across them mucking around while I'm crossing the floor in search of items or on the extremely rare occasions I get stuck on a girls' class
Ugh poor kid >_< other than that idiocy is/did she enjoy/ing it?
Right that's it I need to just not be drinking and reading at the same time I keep nearly drowning.
I don't do it nearly as often now (mostly because I'm much slower on vocabulary seeing as I don't read as much as I used to) but I did once derive perhaps too much pleasure from responding in purple prose when merely stating "I probably speak English better than you" didn't feel like it would be quite as satisfying XD
She is and the people on the shop floor who she's actually working with don't treat her like that. They've gotten to know her pretty well, tease her for her quietness and not liking attention and she also seems to have a calming effect on the older grumpy guys. 😆 There's a bit of a joke that she's mellowed out the guy training her so now they need to put her with the guy who loses his temper whenever things don't go right for him.
Aaaahhhh that's so cute XD
There might be some ingrained sexism/chivalry there where they feel like they can't swear/lose it in front of the little girl which in the case of the guy that loses his temper when things don't go right for him might not be the worst thing? XD
I'd say so. They'll swear and tell rude jokes in front of her, though. They were a bit cautious at first, forgetting there's a female there and then quickly checking, getting ready to apologise, but realising she's trying to suppress giggles too or not reacting to the swearing.
I'd say it's the calming effect of a woman, but I think there's also the mutual understanding and respect, because they aren't like that with the women in the offices and they only like one of the ones in inspection. That said, most of inspection is disliked for their incompetence regardless of sex, except for that one women. 😅
Humans are strange, some total parasites others follow my leader, blow their own horn after nicking an idea of others. Social platforms now a thing of the past, I appreciate those keeping a watchful eye on those who steal content.
We need to be honest about human nature, some are competitive irrespective of who they clamber over in their zeal to obtain the limelight, even for a short while.
They do say it takes all sorts to make the world go around. Thankfully, on the whole, most people are decent, even if they do get caught up following the wrong leader on occasion.
Currently feel like a stranger in our own country, hope matters change, again it is only in hope that we live. History shows us many reasons to avoid certain things yet people never appear to learn.
Individually we learn, as a group maybe not so much.
Majority should be wearing signs warning people of "stupid".
So many interesting points to address, to opine and to discuss, but I would like to focus on the increasingly accepted idea that man is an enemy. As a woman surrounded by beautiful, good, admirable gentlemen, I can only go against these ever more common precepts. I do not say that there are no bad men, but there are also very good men. To generalize that all men are bad is like saying that all women are good. It is false. Good and evil do not know gender. Likewise, I think that trying to have a place in our society by diminishing the presence of others, I know many heterosexuals who feel that they are oddities, is an abuse. I like social networks that serve to create bonds, communities, and knowledge, and not to denigrate and even promote consumerism. Excellent work and a very interesting topic. Best regards.
This should be the central ethos and goal of all social communities, whether online or off. With that as a base then it might be easier to bring them back on track when things go astray.
Excellent.
LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! …screams into void… OMG you looked at me
Click bait!! Darn you for making me look!
lol - actually your blogs are very thought provoking and one of the only things that bring me back now and then, this one kind of inspire me to blog about a subject of interest (just for the fun of it); but when I think about it I suspect its a bit boring.. BUT if i twisted the narrative just a little, maybe made it a bit controversial, maybe even just the title, I might click bait myself to it after a cup of red goon or two, forget i wrote it, click and get fired up.. hmmn .. where'd i put my cup.
I'm not sure whether to congratulate myself for inspiring you or to apologise to you for getting your brain caught up in this. 🤣
I probably overthink this stuff most of the time, so it helps to try and empty it out occasionally
in seriousness is good, i like to read the comments as well..
Gosh now I'll have to do something.; let's see. need something with some click bait title and/or shock value;...haha just make some notes as my brain leaks.. hmmn leaky brain, zombie licking.. err. no that's not it!. need something that's not real.
Something that will outrage people and make it sound like you're going to say something opposite to what you are. Keep them guessing
I'm a loser who's achieved nothing. I have no future and no ambition; this has to be somebody else's fault so I'll find a way I'm a victim. Then all that weight will fall from my shoulders. I can tell myself I never got a fair shot; that the game was rigged; that if I just had some basic level of support I'd have been a whole different, successful person by now.
Now let me find some more ways to victimise myself further.
Indeed telling people they are victims actually does then a disservice. It takes away their agency and makes them further victimise themselves, because we tend to believe what people tell us.
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