#ehudposting

[ekurzweil]

[pretending to be sympathetic] oh, no, dude. I totally-- I totally get it, you know? That Mandate of Heaven stuff, yeah. I mean, I don't think it really matters, right? You just gotta reflect inward. [I bite my lip to keep from making a noise as I cultivate another level of enlightenment] No yeah, dude, it's overrated. I don't even think your karma is that bad

[ekurzweil]

that damn shake

Was watching "On Context" by Dan Olsen and a particular line stuck with me;

"In the context of Capitalism, is there any act of rebellion, or is it all just making the machines of Commerce work in favor of your interests?"

This made me think of that one Disco Elysium passage. "Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would *critique* capital end up *reinforcing* it instead."

Anyway, let me talk about furries and the Grimace Shake.

Some context - Before Twitter imploded, the Grimace Shake was a meme that was going around. McDonald's released a shake promoting the birthday of the chain's co-mascot, Grimace. I don't know how it tastes, and I don't think its quality really had a hand in its popularity. It swiftly became a meme when people started making absurdist tiktoks where things turn horrifying after they drink it. This is also largely from the perspective of someone viewing the memes on twitter, because twitter is my most used social platform.

As with anything that passes through popular culture, this eventually made its way into furry circles, because furries are people who live in society. There were plenty of fursonas keeling over in pain from drinking the Grimace Shake. There was some fetish art, too, of course. Overall it was just the effect of a meme propagating. Though eventually, this resulted in some backlash.

"Sure, keep furry weird until it's time to start doing free advertising for corporations."

That was sort of the general sentiment of the Furry Grimace Shake Counter-movement. It's not wrong, really - it is, in effect, free advertising. The Grimace Shake is a product being sold, currently. Making memes about the Grimace Shake - a product of McDonald's - increases their brand recognition.

Okay. Now what?

Furry, undeniably, is counterculture. It's one of the most diverse demographics out there. It's weird and hostile and toxic to most brands, sure, but furries are still people who live in society. For every furry who believes in the Furry Fandom being an independent ant-establishment movement there is another furry who is there for the aesthetics and the art. Critically, furry also exists under one big nation called capitalism. As much as it would be great if good art emerged fully formed out of the aether, furry artists are people who have bills to pay.

Furry brands exist, and though they might not have the weight of McDonald's swinging behind them, they are still brands. Hell, some furries even transform themselves into brands just to survive in the capitalist reality we all live in. As opposed as Furry is to capitalism, furry artists and creators and makers and artisans all have to participate in, learn the language of, and wear the skin of Capitalism to survive. There are the lucky ones who have the opportunity to live in relative safety from this great machine, but there are even more who don't.

I just see the sneering reaction towards other furries doing an absurdist McDonald's meme and get tired. I'm guilty of this too, of course - I've shown my disdain for people participating in or partaking of products that harm gay and trans people. But the Grimace Shake thing-- it's so far removed from the reality of any McDonald's branding except for the name. It is just the vehicle that people use for their own punchline, their own fetishes, their own subversion or adherence to the formula.

Oftentimes it is easy and incredibly seductive to look at anyone interacting with Capitalism and Brands and go "you are participating in the rot." And, strictly speaking, it's not wrong - it is, in effect, participating in capitalism. The Grimace Shake is a product being sold, currently. Making memes about the Grimace Shake - a product of McDonald's - increases their brand recognition.

Okay. Now what?

It's not like the Grimace Shake is the beachhead for a culture war against oppressed groups. It's not like people are buying the Grimace Shake to protest something. It's not like the Grimace Shake was created and owned by a transphobe who collects royalties on the success of their brand. It's a stupid meme where people die violently after drinking a branded shake.

(Even now I've had second thoughts about writing this out because god damn it's just so much nothing. There's nothing here to complain about. But hey, it's my blog, I might as well use it.)

I'm not dishonest enough to grab people by the shoulder and go "if you hate capitalism so much you should come up with a solution!" but there are definitely more worthwhile things to complain about. It would be easier to just say that you don't like the meme instead of trying to launder your feelings through progressive language. I do believe that these feelings of frustration are genuine - but at the same time it feels like the lowest hanging intellectual fruit. "You hate capitalism and yet you participate in it. Curious!"

I just look at those posts on a dying newsfeed and just feel tired.

[ekurzweil]

the next big fediverse twitter-like should call its posts "sharts". Sharing them to your followers is called "re-sharting"

[ekurzweil]

Watching a documentary about Warcraft 3 Reforged and the B-roll had the "Activate Windows" watermark in the corner and it was so hard to focus. It felt like this

[ekurzweil]

[7:41 AM] I was thinking-- there's a technique when you're making kimchi or any pickle, really, called 'burping' it [7:41 AM] because the fermentation causes a buildup of gas, you have to occasionally open the fermentation vessel in order to release the gas, otherwise eventually your jar or pot or whatever is going to explode [7:43 AM] but like. I was thinking, that's not what burps are, burps are when gas builds up in your stomach as a product of digestion or similar movements. Not the product of some sort of fauna chemically consuming matter [7:43 AM] so really, they should call it 'farting' instead of 'burping'