#so i'm glad there's less of that but yall are now a different breed

[tiddiesoutwhenthetisout]

jokes i put in the comments aside, my observable inference on this places heavy blame on the prevalence of online methods of learning and quick searches. they have taken away largely from the critical thinking skills of gen alpha and some gen zs. they're used to taking things at face value and no longer have the mind to dig deeper, as AI does everything for them. it's a huge issue we face in uni (students love to generate their works with that shit) creating a need for stricter monitoring. and it's tbh just a lot of trouble for both the teacher and student population.

they also believe misinformation they see online, and these heartless content creators keep feeding them lies for likes instead of educating them. i don't want to be that kind of person, but i do believe being so chronically online is a huge contributor to these kids' absolute confidence in spouting things that are so wrong. they are enabled on the internet by like-minded peers, and unfortunately even grown-ups who just want to get in their good graces for revolting reasons.

freedom of speech and the euphoria of being validated in a place where it is so easy to be apathetic and horrible, secure behind the blessing of anonymity. the evolution of language and how the gravity of some words have become lighter and lighter the more they are used in the wrong context. empowerment being consumed by the wrong audience. they are definitely getting smarter than us in a way, but it feels like a soulless, automated version. their logic has no soul, no concern for others to the point that they think they have the right to bully (and they don't even think they're being mean). awareness of multiple issues we had not known before, and though i say knowledge is the key to everything, you cannot wield a sword well without experience.

i'm happy they're aware of the severity of war crimes, but these people have somehow gotten to a higher stair without stepping on the other ones. there's just so much information being shoved in their faces about good and evil in fiction and they haven't even completed 9th grade literature where they are aptly introduced to the types of characters. see what i'm getting at; a mismatch of their acquired knowledge, crystalized without a honed fluid intelligence. taking a spear to battle without the head.

just think about how this fares when they are dealing with actual people.

they've been so detached from concepts of strife (and i'm glad they're living peacefully) that they seem unable to comprehend its implications... which are, definitely, too complex for kids. sorry for assuming tiktok users are all children, but as far as i know, it's heavily populated with such. idk i don't use it. there's no more multidimensional thinking, no more appreciation of all things written within the context in which they had been, and it's ironic for me that this is being lost because of people who desperately want to think everything is related to them.

i can't explain it well in this language, but it's as if they seek refuge and companionship in media they consume because they can find it no longer in fellow human beings. what with the growing population of crooks and the accessibility of victims, i can't blame anyone. but it's giving the same vibes as this kinnie stuff, and people projecting their problems onto these characters so they can "kin" them. (seen this on twitter...) and then forcefeeding their headcanons to people as "canon".

it's like that, what they're doing to this book.

they are delusional in the negative way, the total opposite of what we were in the early days of the internet and fandoms. i appreciate that these children are aware of social issues and morals, but their perception is heavily skewed and self-centered. they tend to think that everything should be, and is, about them. they are wrestling more than their underdeveloped bones and muscles can handle, and though it is the fault largely of moneymaking agenda, it's still a disappointing result (so, see... i don't fault them but i'm still not happy about it. like me knowing achilles is a piece of shit in all sense of the word, but i still like him a lot because he's well-written and i know his complexes.)

i know i was supposed to just yap about critical thinking and analysis. but i can't help it 🤷‍♂️ anyway, these are my observations/opinions so they won't be correct for everyone. just have a lot of free time rn.

TikTok TSOA fans are so funny because they’ll swear up and down that they despise Achilles and “only read it for Patroclus who was sweet and innocent and did nothing wrong 🥹🥹” like ijbol u people are not serious. Hate Achilles all you want, he did do bad things, me personally I hate him for sacking certain Trojan cities and refusing the embassy, no one’s denying that he was wrong and that he was a bad person at times, but loving a character does not equal justifying their actions for one thing and to act like any character from the illiad was a paragon of perfect morality is fucking insane. ( Yes, even Hector, everyone’s favorite “🥺he was such a perfect husband🥺” man of the month ) It’s literally so crazy to say that Achilles was the only one of the two of them to actively commit bad deeds and war crimes during the WAR they were in. Just close the damn book I’m sorry but obviously a book with morally ambiguous and dark topics are not for you at this point. Like I get your point, what Achilles did was bad, it’s not like majority of people DONT agree with that point.

But characters are not supposed to be FLAT. They are not supposed to be all good or all bad. Your insistence that Patroclus was only a good person does not make him a good character. It actually makes him really fucking boring. I’m getting way too passionate about this but like I’m so over everyone acting like

1) Achilles was the worst person to exist in Greek mythology history when he’s not even the worst fucking person in the illiad itself 😭 ( that honor goes to Paris, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Agamemnon <3 )

2) A character can only be liked or appreciated or even just talked about if they fit modern ethical standards

Like every conversation I see about TSOA, any video on TikTok, there’s always a comment that has to bring it up like “I only liked Patroclus and he was an unreliable narrator so Achilles was actually much worse” Like okay we get it, God, fuck off please!

Also the whole thing between him and Apollo. PLEASE. Those two are two sides of the same exact coin. I think Apollo was justified in killing him but yall act like Apollo has not done the same if not worse than what he killed Achilles for. And that’s. FINE. I still love Apollo! For all the good and the bad that he does I think he’s the most interesting Greek God on the Pantheon and in the Illiad he’s actually one of my favorite characters to hear from. And I don’t expect the Greek god to act with good moral intentions. I expect him to act like a Greek god. I expect Achilles to act like a Greek demigod. Which is, exactly the way he acts. Maybe yall expected something different. If you wanted a short sweet story that happened to be queer with two perfectly acceptable, 100% goody two shoes main protagonists, please drop the classics inspired books and watch heartstopper.