#sorry for boomer posting

[blueberry-lemon]

"It's nice to be nice."

For a brief time after graduating from college, I worked at a before-school program at an elementary school.

While I don’t think I have the fortitude to work with kids in the long-term, it wasn’t so bad. At times, it was kind of relaxing. My supervisors were cool. Most of the kids were pretty chill.

Some of the kids were less chill. They would misbehave, in typical elementary school fashion. My supervisors had various different tactics for dealing with that, which worked pretty consistently. Usually it was a time-out, or a stern talking-to, or something similar.

One of my supervisors had a common refrain that she would try to teach the kids if they had done something mean to another: “It’s nice to be nice.”

She would say it loud and clear, for everyone in the room to hear. On its face, it was a bit corny and redundant. It didn’t really…convey much. It was a handy turn-of-phrase that was meant to instill a sense of compassion among the students. Be kind to each other. It’s a "good thing” to do!

Since a lot of the kids were already in 4th and 5th grade, I doubt that the phrase did much to change any behavior. It’s the exact kind of platitude that I would ignore at that age, given that it doesn’t sound like anything besides “stop breaking rules.”

For some reason, it did stick with me though.

It pops back up into my mind every so often. “It’s nice to be nice.” It lacks nuance or cleverness, which I think is maybe the best thing about it. Maybe it’s deceptively wise. Or maybe I’m overthinking things.

It’s possible that my level of social exposure is low, and that my expectations are lower, but I’m over-the-moon when a stranger is friendly to me. Even if they’re paid to be friendly, like a grocery cashier or a hotel clerk. I don’t really feel like they should feel obligated to do it, even if it is their job, so I still find it a flattering bonus when it happens. It puts a pep in my step.

The same goes online.

There’s something about a low-stakes, respectful, cordial interaction that just…[chef’s kiss]

So much on the internet is about being funny, or smart, or educational, or persuasive, or cruel.

The older I get the more I’m like…what about just being nice? Maybe it’s worth a shot.

And yes I can throw a million disclaimers here: I’m not talking about respectability politics, or pandering, or inappropriate levels of toxic positivity. I’m not talking about distracting from the real issues, or avoiding politics, or donating all of my time and energy on fixing depressed strangers. I’m not talking about being parasocial weirdos or overstepping our bounds with accounts I follow.

I just mean regular old, day-to-day, casual friendliness with peers.

It’s fun! Almost intoxicating!

There’s nothing more fun now than a quick, casual exchange with someone online where we respect each others’ boundaries and gush over a shared interest. Or reaching out to actually leave a nice comment on something instead of just scrolling by, etc. etc.

I’ll stop now before I sound like corny old internet boomer. You get the idea.

All of this is to say that when I make an effort to actually reshape the interactions I have online, it makes me feel like there was actually a point to this whole internet thing. It makes me feel slightly less alone, and less trapped in my own head.

Even though it’s easier now than ever, I really don’t want to streamline my online experience into a never-ending timeline scroll of “content.” An endless refreshing of things to make me laugh and things to make me mad. I want it to be an actual exchange of ideas, and of kindness and support. A place where I can show small kindnesses in the same way that I should try to small kindnesses to people in my real neighborhood.

That boss of mine might have been cooking. Maybe it really is nice to be nice, even just for its own sake.

[quinton-reviews]

I guess I'm a Tumblr man now

I quit Twitter a few days ago cold-turkey. I want to prove to myself I can go a full week without logging on. After that, I might go for a full month. So now when I check social media Tumblr is one of the only sites I actually visit. Hope you're all doing well!

[tobisaw]

i need uhhhh silly fucker coomed holding bubby over his head with one arm i just think it would be silly yeah thanks

I’ve drawn more sitting poses during my time as a hlvrai fan than I have in my entire life

[cherry-bomb1985]

I feel like The Father and Hell both understand and experience love in all the worst ways.

The Father sought to create a life form that would follow and love him unconditionally. It wasn't enough that he had a great cosmic kingdom of angels who are unquestioningly loyal, no, he needed something that knew suffering and mortality and the threat of oblivion, and would still find love at the end; love for him above all else. But after numerous implied failures at that, in his desperation, he instead created the threat of eternal damnation to force them to love him in order avert that fate. Lucifer's words must have been like a splash of cold water, but by the time he realized sheer magnitude of suffering he had unintentionally set into motion, it was too late. He could not destroy Hell; he could not stop the cycle of violence.

That guilt drove him to seek a death that, from the looks of it, eluded him in spite of the hollowness consuming him. And now he is... somewhere, helpless to stop his experiments from consuming one another and themselves in a glorious show of blood and violence.

And then there's Hell itself, who seems to recognize love as an act of violence and cruelty. It is something that derives joy only from the suffering of other living creatures. God gave it so many toys to hurt and break and reform, and Mankind gave it new ones. Why would it understand love as anything but? It gave Minos a facsimile of the son he is most ashamed of, and delighted when he cast it, once more, into a labyrinth. Gabriel flattened all the souls within it's confines beneath his heel and gave those that did bend false hopes.

Now there's V1, tearing its way through the remaining layers and creating a spectacle of violence like nothing Hell has ever witnessed before. How could it not love them all for all the entertainment they've provided?

But deep within its recesses, hidden away from the eyes of Heaven, there was a Gutterman. A machine built for war, who eventually came to love that which it gave it life at the cost of their own. Enough to give the human welded within their coffin the mercy that both Heaven and Hell had denied them; enough to write a single love letter to them, even knowing that it would never be read by its intended recipient.

So, as things turn out, you /can/ teach a machine to love. And they will understand and experience it more sincerely than God or Hell ever could.

[a2zillustration]

ive been playing modded minecraft and getting frustrated with not finding a good seed. i have my croissant sticker on my desk and i looked at them and went "croissant, pls help me find a good minecraft world to build a house in" and used their name as a seed and i got dropped near a bunch of strawberry bushes!! and a house!!! and a village!! idk what the rest of the world looks like, but croissant has given me a good start <3

I'm getting back to this so late and I'm not entirely sure how minecraft works but: I hope the world worked out! That sounds lovely!

[rivetgoth]

the amount of tme trans people who are very obviously deeply envious of trans women because they [very regressively] view them as like. "someone whose queerness™ [and specifically queer masculinity, effeminacy, 'faggotry'] is taken seriously ie. as a threat and an inescapable facet of their being" is so prevalent on here. many many tme trans folk on this site functionally pretend to be trans women up to (and sometimes including) just blatantly lying about their cagab, coopting language and aesthetics, identifying as characters that are very obvious transmisogynistic caricatures, etc. like its very obvious that a lot of the deeply transmisogynistic genderfuck dykefags on here with these hard red text on black background MCR horror gore aesthetic blogs truly just envy the fact that trans women face a specific kind of violence that (in the eyes of these people) validates their desire to be seen as Threatening and Tough and Legit and Masculine instead of like. an introverted brunette with short hair whose family misgenders them. they want to be able to wear eyeliner and look like gerard way and be he/him'd so they turn to trans women as this fetishistic "goal" because their perception of trans women is "someone who wears eyeliner but still gets he/him'd." this is of course aligned with the way so many of them make broad sweeping generalizations about how its impossible for GNC trans men to pass (untrue) and of course doubles back around to barefaced transmisogyny 100% of the time because the accepted normalized view of trans women in these spaces becomes "threatening scary failed man whose femininity is undermined by their scary threatening genderfuck masculinity." it is so incredibly prevalent and you will not be able to unsee it once you notice it.

[ollierachnid]

jack fiddler should have survived purely bc he was destined to have access to over-edited animal rescue videos by the dodo on facebook, which he shares with obnoxiously long comments. only sam likes any of them

[flying-cat]

Parents of Gen Z kids be like: I never taught you how to do any of this shit but YOU GO DO IT RIGHT NOW before I get ANGRY AT YOU for NOT KNOWING HOW TO DO SOMETHING WHEN I NEVER EVEN TAUGHT YOU HOW TO DO IT

[hjemne]

I don't really block people and it takes a lot to get me to finally unfollow someone, in part because it's just easier to keep following and in part because I don't want to just create an echo chamber and not think critically about my beliefs. However. Some people really are testing me. Some people seem to have been put on this earth with the sole purpose of making my blood pressure rise. I cannot tell how many of these guys are posting in bad faith or if they truly do think like that.

[transfemzedaph]

new ethubs just dropped.

[askvictor]

I heard through the grapevine of a wonderful, evil little website my beloved cursed boys were all flocking to! I simply had to join!

My name is Victor, head of Crown and Her Majesty's aide! I can't wait to indulge in wicked deeds with you all!

Everything is as Her Majesty desires. Now, let us give into the darkness of our wicked hearts!

Ask Box -> Open!!

[tvguts]

What scented product companies want you to think Summer smells like: Coconut, Citrus, Pineapple, Ocean Mist

What Summer really smells like: Hot Asphalt, Bug Spray, Chlorine, Garage Freezer

[craneboys]

Thoughts on the 2023 Frasier reboot?

I refuse to watch it lol. I don't really want to see Frasier be old, but also the original creators and basically none of the writing staff have any involvement. Unfortunately, my love for Frasier does not overpower my love for good writing. Also just not a fan of the general look of the thing: OG Frasier was lit very realistically and feels like a place you could actually visit. Everything I've seen of New Fras has that sterile modern sitcom look, often too brightly lit to be believable. I'm sure it's got some fun moments, but to me it just looks like an old man embarrassingly trying to relive the past (and dabble in nepotism, considering his irl kid was recently cast as Roz's daughter).

[noisytenant]

i feel like one of the biggest things the "all breakbeat hardcore can be called breakcore" crowd misses is that a lot of classic 2000s breakcore is fucking obnoxious as hell and that's part of what made it What It Was. it's not just like "rainbow scenecore" obnoxious, but "earsplitting noise kicks" obnoxious, "constantly interrupting itself before it reaches any peak" obnoxious, "these samples are too inappropriate to play out loud" obnoxious. it's a genre of irreverence and we love it for that

[fix-me-sixteen]

stop! telling! people! online! how! old! you! are!

like guys . . . i hope all of you that celebrate birthdays here have chosen fake birthdays or something because i get wanting your friends to wish you BUT GUYS INTERNET SAFETY. PLEASE. just pick a fake birthday. birthdays are pretty arbitrary anyway

and maybe stagger your age by a year or something. like if you're 16 say you're 15 or something

it's not about not trusting your friends! literally anyone that comes across your blog can find that information! including malicious strangers!!!!!!

[laroserie]

nah seeing grown ass men crying because they say 'xmen has gone woke' is the funniest shit ever, even me, that hasn't read any comics know that a shit ton of social issues are talked about in some way in the xmen, how do you miss such clear subtexts ... xmen has always been fucking woke ??