#gross consumerism

[glitterdustcyclops]

made the mistake of counting up all the nail polishes i have on display on my rotating stand thingie

the total is 189

i just bought 7 more....

[wingsdippedingold]

I cannot be the only one deeply uncomfortable with the rampant sexualization of religion and people who work in it within the only book sphere. I’m not even Catholic.

I understand a lot of dark romance has religious elements, that’s not what I’m complaining about… BUT WHEN THAT’S YOUR ENTIRE PREMISE

BROTHER (not father) EUGHHH

Like what on earth??? Not even mentioning how all the art used to promote it is AI

[loptrcoptr]

Social media ads today are all just fuckin

BLACK FRIDAY STARTS ✨TODAY✨

get ready, Black Friday deals ARE HERE!!!

It’s officially BLACK FRIDAY!!!!! 🦃🦃🦃🦃

And I just

[phregnancy]

i have so many interior decor ideas i should be given a lot of money to decorate Now instead of buying some pieces every month

[viderose]

post some itty titty

i have a problem. i like attention, love it even. and i sometimes think i should post some cute pics again, yk, because obviously i’d get a kick if people paid attention to and liked them. however, the problem you see, is that when i like someone i never want to post those pics. i just want to send them to the person i like :/ because i don’t want anyones attention bar theirs. so i’m sorry anon, but the only person seeing more itty titty pics from me atm is the guy i’m obsessed with 💔

[chumpy1012]

aggravated and greasy today

[mantarain]

this is def the most amt of books ive bought in a short amt of time... is this how booktokers feel cuz idk how anyone makes haul videos that often

[cosmogenous]

eww

[violetsandshrikes]

i wish there was a way to switch the toxic self care consumerism buy 100 products use 10 actives a day on your face eat random powders roll your skin 25x a day minimise pores trends to something more simple and real

because when i was 19-20, undiagnosed and untreated ptsd and mdd, out of control binge drinking, incredibly destructive lifestyle and habits, being able to slowly shift into those “self care” style habits really helped actually

like yeah. cleanse, moisturiser, sunscreen, so i feel like dried out and gross and im trying to be nice to my biggest organ. got blood tests from my doctor and got put on iron and vitamin b supplements. made sure i not only had a robust teeth brushing regime, but added in tongue scraping and flossing. like. these things have such potential to be actually good!! but have been morphed into some evil non-stop spending and publicly performing beast

[glitterdustcyclops]

i forgot to share since my brain is entirely zelda rn but i got my custom Xbox controller in the mail the other day & added the lil custom thumb grips i bought

looking pretty stinkin' cute if i may say so

[domiiomii]

your hexstrap is nothing but a gross display of piltover consumerism and exploitation of the undercity, while my humble shimmer strap is in line with the principles of liberation for Zaun, shows clear class consciousness and works as an homage to the ingenuity of the undercity!

[mikewheelersfanfic]

things i think people should know BEFORE entering or engaging in fandom:

old lingo and definitions: ship and let ship, don't like don't read, block and move on, your kink is not my kink and that's okay, you curate your own experience

the dead dove tag alone isn't enough

ao3 is made to house ANY fanfiction no matter how gross

know what is vent art/fic and how can fiction be cathartic

the basic beginning of fandom: thank the star trek housewives that created us (/hj but seriously, remember where we started and how far we've come)

fandom is considered cringe and embarrassing irl in a LOT of places and context matters, keep that in mind

know homophobic, puritan, conservative, fascist rhetoric (censorship and hatred is fandom's greatest enemy, and while knowing this won't prevent propaganda from working on you entirely, it can reduce your risk of indoctrination and make fandom spaces a hell of a lot more enjoyable)

paraphillias do not equal predators just as disorders like npd don't make you abusers. in fact, there's study that says childhood abuse can increase the chance of having a paraphillia and a study saying not all CSA offenders have pedophillia (this is mostly a current issue thing but still relevant) plus, P-OCD is a real subset of OCD, just as Moral OCD is, which censorship mindset can definitely exacerbate due to the nature of them.

FICTION IS NOT ONE TO ONE WITH REALITY. DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR UNCOMFORTABLENESS OR BEING UPSET WITH GENUINE HARM.

it is heavily encouraged to explore in fiction! make stuff bad, get constructive crit, work on your skills, put in the work to get good and leave! comments! everywhere! think you're annoying? NO! KEEP COMMENTING! CREATIVES LOVE KNOWING THE THOUGHTS OF THEIR AUDIENCE! can't think of anything? a smiley face or a heart is just as good! take ao3's "kudos"!

related; share, spread, talk about, make fan content of fan content, feed the fandom ecosystem!! this isn't a store, don't practice consumerism! anything is good enough! "oh but i can only make memes" amazing! "i can only make stick figures" that's great! "i'm not good at writing" that's okay! you can ask around for help! no man is an island and fandom should be a community that thrives on supporting creators and sharing the love for a media or anything else!

we should not be built on hate, there's too much of that in the world already. be kind, be nice, and if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.

[thedevilsrain]

western feminists: sex and the city is really funny and it was very important to hear women of the 1990s talking about sex and consumerism so openly 🥺

brazil 1970s: highest grossing movie in the history of the country is a sex comedy about a woman whose dead husband comes back to life only so that she can fuck him. also she's remarried so now she has two husbands, and every scene the ghost dead husband is in he's naked. also there's a hit song that ends with an all-female band screaming "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU CRAZY INSIDE ME" while they pant. we're in a military dictatorship btw

[ethereal-forest-furry]

subcultures are not aesthetics!!!

i keep seeing ppl treat scene like its just a look or whatever and i absolutely blame the shitty capitalistic social media algorithms we have on most sites for fooling everyone into thinking everything is shallow and superficial but its not its so much more!!!!!! theres the music ofc but also the beliefs are rlly important, when u dress scene ur making a statement abt how u see the world!!! so heres what that statement is:

anti consumerism, you dont give in to fast fashion you dont let some soulless corporation or influencer decide how u look u do it urself regardless of whats trendy bc being unique is better than fitting in and consumerism is literally the devil

acceptance of queer ppl acceptance of neurodivergent ppl acceptance of therians

destigmatizing mental illness. we can and should talk about it and be normal about ppl having it

it should be totally okay and not taboo at all to talk about (or do) sex, drugs, etc. openness abt that stuff is a big part of the culture

also u can be into whatever u want be kinky and a freak whatever

never let ur age or gender or anything else decide what ur allowed to enjoy. reject gender roles that shit is stupid

just generally as long as ur not hurting anyone do Whatever The Fuck You Want just have fun nobody has any right to judge you

its okay to be ugly and weird and gross and bad at what u do as long as ur having fun and being authentic, because thats what really matters

be loud and proud and above all be yourself :3

[ofmermaidstories]

“no, this is gross/this is a kink and it shouldn’t be allowed.” As if people don't turn into sniffy lil dogs the secod they catch a wonderful perfume in the air. As if the experience of breathing in an incredible scent that makes you go "hoooly shit that smells good" isn't a sensual and at times a little orgasmic experience 😞🌺

i genuinely wish that quote was like, me paraphrasing but it was an actual and direct sentiment expressed by someone in the community and like??? scent is all encompassing, sensual and repulsive both, like, congrats it comes with being a creature. it’s totally fine and normal to be like whoaaa no i don’t like that smell but once you start acting like it’s a moral failing for the bottling of it to exist then like idk. i think you’re actually lost to bubble bath clean girl consumerism and your opinion on anything doesn’t count anymore LMAOOO. like!! someone in the group actually made a fantastic point that they thought perfume overconsumption (a different argument that was happening at the same time LMAOOOO) was like, symptomatic of how sterile/lacking the west could be, in terms of sensory experience. like, their point specifically was that maybe it was a question of colder climates vs. warmer/more humid ones, but your point about like, scent being sensual made me think of it because it really is such a experience. being by the ocean and smelling the salt. getting nauseated when you’re on a dock and it smells like that salt and also hot fish guts. the pristine curated softness of a department store. a funky public toilet that’s seen more urine than bleach. like!! none of it is good or bad it’s just smell!!! people bottling it for whatever reason—because they can, because they wanna see if they can, because they get off on it—doesn’t make it any less so.

[stairset]

Aight now that I've slept a bit and am less tired and have had some time to think about it, here is my hopefully coherent enough attempt to get my thoughts across on the Degenerate video, because I'm The Starset Guy and this is like the first major controversy they've ever had and even I have concerns about it and thus feel the need to get my thoughts out there. Cut-off for those who don't wanna scroll past all this cause it ended up being kinda long:

So first off just to get it out of the way: the song itself is great, as is to be expected with Starset. Vocals great, lyrics great, etc. No surprises there. Now to the actually controversial part, the music video. If you even wanna call it a music video, the video title calls it a visualizer instead but whatever. Semantics. Not the point.

So yeah, to start, I'm not exactly a fan of AI "art" for well, all the reasons everyone else has already brought up about it. But as other people have pointed out, in the case of this video there ARE some nuances to its usage that are worth discussing before jumping the gun and canceling the band. So first I'm actually gonna defend it a bit by going over the artistic intention behind it, then also point out the reasonable concerns that people have with it in spite of that intention.

So, I know this band. I know the lore and the narrative and the central themes and all that. The band's story centers around how technology shouldn't be abused by greedy corporate shitheads lest it ruin our society. Literally just a few months ago they released a book where the main antagonist was an AI that gained sentience and tried to enslave humanity. I'm not parasocial enough to pretend that I Know Dustin, but I know what he's about. And he's smart enough that I have to believe he didn't just make a move like this for no reason with no self-awareness. So yeah, I 100% get what the intent is here. As Dustin has said and others have repeated, the AI usage is clearly meant to be "ironic" and satirical, which becomes pretty clear when you actually watch the full video. Essentially it's using AI imagery to make fun of AI images. Real "I used the stones to destroy the stones" moment I guess. Lyrically, the song itself isn't SPECIFICALLY about AI, but it definitely is a big criticism of modern consumerism and commercialism in general, essentially talking about how we feel the need to stuff our faces with corporate-produced shit while our society is slowly falling apart around us. And while AI certainly isn't the sole problem there, it has certainly become a notable aspect of that larger problem, so it makes sense to satirize it to get the larger point across. The visualizer is gross and uncanny to look at on purpose. And it's clearly not trying to trick you into thinking it's NOT AI or anything, not trying to pass as something an actual human made with their own hands. It doesn't want you to be impressed by the visuals, it wants you to be disturbed by them. I compared it to the video for Linkin Park's "Lost" from last year since that was also made with AI visuals and as much as I also love that band and that song I'm still not exactly a fan of that particular choice. But the reason I bring it up is because I do think there's an interesting contrast in how it's being used in these two videos, as with the video for Lost it really did feel like it was using AI just for the sake of using it, riding the current trend, whereas here with Degenerate there's at least an actual reason for it, a reason that one can at least understand even if they don't like or agree with it.

Apparently Dustin's also said that they did pay artists to make the images for the specific purpose of running them through the AI for the video, though didn't really elaborate beyond that. But just based on what we know it does sound like these were consenting artists who knew what they were getting into here and were compensated for it. So it's not like it's a case of just stealing art or trying to replace actual humans to save a few bucks or anything, which is good since that's obviously one of the main concerns with AI in general.

There's also the fact that, as much as I don't like AI shit, the harsh reality is it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Personally if I had a magic button that could indefinitely halt all development on AI stuff until I can be sure that everyone will use it ethically and not abuse it then I would definitely hit that button, but the fact of the matter is that, for better or worse, it's here, it exists, and it will continue to evolve and be used. We can't just un-invent what's already been invented. And I'd argue that specific, limited, one-off uses like this are probably just about the most ethical way to implement it. Though of course I personally would rather this STAY a one-off thing, I absolutely do not want this kind of thing to become like, a regular thing for them. Or a regular thing in general.

But of course this video doesn't exist in a vacuum, there are other nuances here. Because as still more people have pointed out, using AI to make fun of AI is still using it. It's not like the video is in a completely neutral position, just commentating on the situation from afar. Even if it's making fun of AI, the fact that it's using it to do so means it's still feeding that AI, it is now another step forward in the evolution and proliferation of the thing that it's criticizing. One could argue that they maybe could have found a way to poke fun at it without actually using it. There's definitely a certain irony to be discussed in Making Fun Of The Thing By Doing The Thing. Is it being clever and meta? Or is it lacking forethought? Or maybe it's a bit of both. I don't know. Either way it's not exactly the best look, regardless of the intention and thought process behind it. Insert Torment Nexus joke here.

And although I SAID earlier that the satirical intent is pretty clear, it might not be clear to everyone. Even if the video isn't MEANT to set a precedent, it could unintentionally set a precedent anyway by inspiring copycats. Because unfortunately some people are simply too stupid to get obvious satire, especially if they're the ones the satire is aimed at. So it's entirely possible certain people will just see the trippy weird AI visuals and either won't realize or won't care what the the purpose behind them is and will just want to do it themselves because they think it's cool. And then THAT raises the whole question of "how much should you blame the person who made the satire for people being too dumb to get it, especially in cases like this where the satire is incredibly unsubtle and on the nose?" But then that's getting into a whole 'nother topic entirely so I'm not gonna dive into that.

And then of course there's other concerns like how research has shown that AI has a negative effect on the environment. As far as I know THAT particular concern hasn't been addressed so I don't know if they even considered that, but if they didn't then yeah, that's pretty irresponsible and lacking forethought.

There's also just the matter of personal preference, like even if you get that it's satire you might just think that it's not very good satire which is a fair opinion to have. Like personally I just didn't even really enjoy watching the video despite knowing full-well what The Point of it was.

So, in summation, taking all these points into account, I don't think that this particular usage of AI tools is THAT bad. I might even go as far as to say that it's like, fine I guess, at least in isolation. I think many assumed the worst before it came out but I don't think it's worth suddenly denouncing the band or going all "well actually they sucked the whole time and I totally never liked them anyway" or anything like that. Though I'm sure some people will start doing that. I'd say this is a somewhat questionable but not-too-egregious move, that there are legitimate concerns to be had and that I do share those concerns, and as I said I don't want this kind of thing to become the norm for them or for any other band, but I also don't think we should immediately conclude that the band has been Ruined Forever or anything. This kind of thing is a slippery slope, so I guess all we can really do is hope that Dustin doesn't end up falling down it. But that's my take on the whole thing. Maybe I'm being fair and nuanced and unbiased. Or maybe I'm just a hypocrite who's bending over backwards to give my fav the benefit of a doubt. I don't know. All I know is I just wanted to get all this off my chest at once so I can hopefully stop thinking about it and just enjoy the song on its own.