I'm way too pissed for <html>, so I'm writing with WYSIWYG. What the funk kind of slackness is this?
Anyway.
Auspice, I feel you deeply. We could all do with this kind of self-reflection on a semi regular basis, particularly those of us who came of age in the Old Web, where trolling was acceptable. You know what I mean. I did mention the consumption of alcohol, yes?
Today I was reading about xenofeminism. As far as I could figure - in my then sober state, but allowing for the negative effects of two weeks of bushfire smoke (don't mention the war) straight to the lungs - the premise is that technology will fix all our problems by giving rise to a new, wonderful, utopic state of genderless anonymity in which humans (or cyborgs) can connect with other humans (or cyborgs) in a state of Miltonesque innocence, freed from the burdens of societal norms and chains.
Well fuck me sideways, sounds like gen Z has invented the fucking internet!
I came of age on the Old Web, in the days when sites like E2 were cutting edge, pushing the experimental envelope. We were all anonymous, and we thought that that anonymity was going to engender a new way of interacting, where things like race, gender, sexual orientation and physical attractiveness did not matter.
We were wrong. All it did was encourage the brave to adopt the norms of toxic (whiteness/masculinity/cisness). We trolled and thought it was fun. It wasn't.
Now, we're doing it the hard way. We have to find ways to put ourselves online honestly, and instead of expecting technology to do the hard work of dismantling the problematic parts of our society, we're doing it ourselves.
There's a point to be made here, and I'm too drunk to shout it. Fill it in for your fucking selves. You're all grownups.
did I mention the alcohol?
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.
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Show your love by making
reQuests. Off you go!
I will be deeply appreciative!
Update, March 2020: look I was really drunk and apparently some of the old turn-of-the-century troll slipped out. Sorry. The politer parts of my point still stand though.