#social media silence

[tchouameninga]

SOMEONE CHECK UP ON FEDE

[callmeizukunotdeku]

I was a kid with a Hunger Games hyperfixation and, from time to time, I'll get reminded of the books. With Trump's inauguration and the TikTok ban and unban, I can't stop thinking about a political tactic called panem et circenses, or bread and circuses.

In Mockingjay, Collins writes "'It’s a saying from thousands of years ago, written in a language called Latin about a place called Rome,' he explains. 'Panem et Circenses translates into "Bread and Circuses." The writer was saying that in return for full bellies and entertainment, his people had given up their political responsibilities and therefore their power.'"

In Collins' world, the Hunger Games was the entertainment. In ours, it's social media. Twitter, Meta, TikTok, are all controlled by political powers. Musk, Zuckerberg. TikTok is owned by Yiming and Rubo, but with the ban and unban, the content it shows in America is filtered to fit Trump's political agenda.

It's entertainment at the cost of information.

[emcandon]

oh look, i have replied to an ask. there are more to reply to! i wish to say hello and thank you to everyone who has sent me one during these months when i have been AWOL.

tl;dr i was, i have since established, pretty burned out. not a shock! given that i spent the pandemic speed-writing a star war and finishing up Archive. and also given that publishing one's first book tends to put one through the brain wringer.

also i got a job at wotc (doing something very uncool but extremely satisfying for pattern brain), which means i am obligated to take their social media best practices into consideration, which specifically means not posting with your full government unless you've declared yourself an employee. so! i was kind of using that as an excuse to not post at all! haha! it was good for me though. and i am back here specifically (and mayyyyyy consider going back on bluesky, idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

although unforch i am here in part bc i am avoiding writing. oops!

(i am finishing up a commissioned short story and owe editor carl a couple outlines in feb. one of the outlines for a book that i will hopefully be co-writing with my much funnier wife. you guys will like it i think.)

[irisbellemoon]

so many indie audio dramas that were ongoing in 2019-20 and had second seasons in production really just disappeared by 2023, it makes me so sad

[aljardine]

i miss when stephen stills ran his own twitter account and not the Stpehen Stills Media Team because we've been missing out on more posts like this

[totallynotcensorship]

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A post shared by Guy Christensen (@guychristensen_)

2 two former IDK soldiers used chimecal weapons on a pro-palestine protest that consisted of over 300 college students in america...

HEY AMERICA, DO YOU CONDEMN ISRAEL YET?

[ipxakachi]

Guilty Challenge but he also got stuck

[vampmilf]

im so serious how hard can it be to at least not blog about eurovision when theres an official call for a boycott. if youre ignorant enough to still watch at least dont give it enough platform to get it to fucking trending

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

to that anon I got about my last posts: if you're hurt that I'm talking about antisemitism on tumblr rather than the Israel/Palestine conflict itself then you're going to have to make your peace with a star wars blog not being an effective platform for activism.

This is the point I've been trying to hammer home perfectly illustrated. I deviated ever so slightly from what's allowed on the subject to say that I can't participate in this website's idea of 'raising awareness' (distributing real facts and misinfo alike without a care and being a bunch of fanatic Jew haters in the process) and that I don't think I'm able to critically and accurately examine every piece of news that gets passed around here, and you're taking this to assume I don't care. So no, I'm not going to spend my time trying to prove that I do care to that particular crowd.

You're upset with me for not treating this like I did fandom and assuming I value fictional characters more than real people because of it, but it's precisely because this is infinitely more important that I'm not going to be doing real people the disrespect of giving my two cents on their suffering and deaths on the same platform I did STAR WARS.

[itspileofgoodthings]

when will Catholic Instagram influencers realize they can’t “sis you are infinitely worthy” their way out of everything

[sciderman]

How do you feel about the increase in really weird NSFW ads on here (advertising panels that look like sexual encounters, and AI art apps that pride themselves on porn) but will take down NSFW posts from their users, even if it isn't technically sexual.

i hate all social media and it's consistent prioritising the advertisers over the users and the internet simply was a better place before capitalism sunk its hooks into it

[nobodyexpectsthe]

if you add me on discord i regret to inform you all you're going to get is angst & links to musicals

[cads-the-cat]

It's been like 5 mins and I'm far from recovering from the graphic novel announcement. MY JAW DROPPED, I'M LOSING MY MIND, WHAT THE FUCK?? I think that's the end of my comprehensive thoughts

DO YOU EVEN UNDRSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS? WE MIGHT GET CONFIRMED LORE!!! LIKE ACTUAL CONFIRMED LORE BEYOND THE TINY BITS VESSEL GAVE US IN 2018 OR WHENEVER

IMAGINE WE MIGHT GET SPEECH BUBBLES! CHARACTERS TALKING! VESSEL TALKING AND SAYING THINGS

[antlered-vixen]

"The prevailing assumption that one’s online ‘silence’ also meant they are quiet in their everyday lives (at school, in the workplace, in the streets) was initially entirely incomprehensible. Unless, of course, one knew these people personally - an afterthought that in fact rendered the accusation worse. Why not confront them at that level? Opting for an online castigation of someone you know only reinforces the same logic of prioritising online (in)activity. Because, let’s face it: manifesting your moral indignation online means nothing. It only acquires meaning and consequence when it is nothing but an echo of some actual activity taking place. Curiously, people were not criticised for failing to organise a demo, a sit-down, an occupation or a blockade. They are being reprimanded for being ‘silent’." __

Intereting read, obviously spurred by online Gaza discourse, about social media, power/lessness, and activism. I don't agree with everything, or with so extreme a stance... but. BUT.....!!!! (Also me vagueblogging at someone who recently asked "why my blog is silent re: X political issue." Possibly 'cause my political life mostly happens outside tumblr. And I wouldn't tell you, a stranger, about it, because people can and do get arrested, harassed, fired and even, when they are immigrants or refugees, deported. A thing people don't truly grasp, if they have never truly dared to take risks and pay prices.)

[korppuhiiri]

uudestaanko uudestaanko uudestaanko uudestaan

[werepuppy-steve]

sometimes fandom is lonely