Your bit about vigilantism was poignant after my recent watch of the anime film Perfect Blue, in which one of the antagonists becomes obsessed with a celebrity and has a breakdown when her career strays from his idealised perception of her image. That film was made in the lates during the late 90s during the nascent internet era and I wonder if the scriptwriters could have predicted how far down the rabbit hole that plot point would go...
Your instinct to call these people vigilantes is so poignant. Because you should imagine they are like Rorschach from Watchmen.
So while it might be flattering to see these vigilantes as having a parasocial relationship with you, it’s not about you. It’s about the way your influence deeply violates their naive view of the world. I’m speaking from personal experience as a recovering vigilante.
Vigilantes think influence is bestowed upon the sincere and truthful. The reality is that influence is bestowed upon people who reinforce what the most number of people already believe. I am not saying influential people are crafting their beliefs on the fly, but that their moral and political tastes have been so thoroughly polished by the world their audience inhabits that they become perfect mirrors of it.
When the vigilante encounters this, they can’t square it: Why would the universe bestow popularity and power on someone who doesn’t care whether their beliefs are perfectly aligned and logical?
Vigilantes don’t understand that most people aren’t actually consulting a ledger of transcendent rules and ethics before coming to conclusions about every single idea, like they do. Most people build worldviews through experience and resonance, which means some of their beliefs will be inconsistent since they were adopted to serve a function rather than align with a ledger of principles.
(Unfortunately, that means having an influential perspective that gets clicks is like being cool. It’s not something you can adopt, it’s something you are shaped into having.)
People don’t want truth. They want their tastes mirrored back at them. But Vigilantes think everyone wants creators who are philosophically consistent — that a creator who isn’t can only maintain their trust by lying or relying on their audiences gullibility.
So, the only way to rectify this dissonance is to cast the influential creator as a grifter, someone who knows they aren’t 100% consistent and doesn’t care.
Calvinists have named this state: “cage stage.” When the Calvinist first adopts the belief everything is predetermined by God, they are still unfortunately beholden to the view that people love the truth and will change their minds when they encounter it. They go out into the world trying to convince other Christians, who reject the idea wholesale, and that makes them almost rabid with incessant sincerity.
The story about r/NoSleep's moderators chiking out their own subreddit is unfortunately a common one in forum culture. It doesn't help that a handful of powermods control most of the big subs and delete anything they don't like. Not without its own problems, but I think the chans were correct to foster a culture that disrespected moderators and encouraged rule breaking.
I wish. The creative energy online in the late 2000s was incredible. Chan/Reddit/Tumblr complimented ecahother very well (even if they hated each other). Really miss how much fan art/participation the anime community had back then, which has steadily declined as viewers become less "weird."
Same about Halloween this year, probably just pick old ones waif and I have somewhere like Ancient Egyptians or Ghostbusters. Excited to dress up my 2 year old as Boo from Monsters Inc though 🎃
This year, I dressed up as Link from the Legend of Zelda.
Your bit about vigilantism was poignant after my recent watch of the anime film Perfect Blue, in which one of the antagonists becomes obsessed with a celebrity and has a breakdown when her career strays from his idealised perception of her image. That film was made in the lates during the late 90s during the nascent internet era and I wonder if the scriptwriters could have predicted how far down the rabbit hole that plot point would go...
RE VIGILANTISM:
Your instinct to call these people vigilantes is so poignant. Because you should imagine they are like Rorschach from Watchmen.
So while it might be flattering to see these vigilantes as having a parasocial relationship with you, it’s not about you. It’s about the way your influence deeply violates their naive view of the world. I’m speaking from personal experience as a recovering vigilante.
Vigilantes think influence is bestowed upon the sincere and truthful. The reality is that influence is bestowed upon people who reinforce what the most number of people already believe. I am not saying influential people are crafting their beliefs on the fly, but that their moral and political tastes have been so thoroughly polished by the world their audience inhabits that they become perfect mirrors of it.
When the vigilante encounters this, they can’t square it: Why would the universe bestow popularity and power on someone who doesn’t care whether their beliefs are perfectly aligned and logical?
Vigilantes don’t understand that most people aren’t actually consulting a ledger of transcendent rules and ethics before coming to conclusions about every single idea, like they do. Most people build worldviews through experience and resonance, which means some of their beliefs will be inconsistent since they were adopted to serve a function rather than align with a ledger of principles.
(Unfortunately, that means having an influential perspective that gets clicks is like being cool. It’s not something you can adopt, it’s something you are shaped into having.)
People don’t want truth. They want their tastes mirrored back at them. But Vigilantes think everyone wants creators who are philosophically consistent — that a creator who isn’t can only maintain their trust by lying or relying on their audiences gullibility.
So, the only way to rectify this dissonance is to cast the influential creator as a grifter, someone who knows they aren’t 100% consistent and doesn’t care.
Calvinists have named this state: “cage stage.” When the Calvinist first adopts the belief everything is predetermined by God, they are still unfortunately beholden to the view that people love the truth and will change their minds when they encounter it. They go out into the world trying to convince other Christians, who reject the idea wholesale, and that makes them almost rabid with incessant sincerity.
Hopefully we get a creepypasta revival on substack
Following you in the hope of building one
1 sentence horror
If you build it they will come…
That would rule
I get to be one of the Weird Sisters/Witches from that Scottish play...you know the one...the one with the curse...
Wonderful!
The story about r/NoSleep's moderators chiking out their own subreddit is unfortunately a common one in forum culture. It doesn't help that a handful of powermods control most of the big subs and delete anything they don't like. Not without its own problems, but I think the chans were correct to foster a culture that disrespected moderators and encouraged rule breaking.
Imagine how different the world would be if Reddit stayed frozen in amber c. 2012
I wish. The creative energy online in the late 2000s was incredible. Chan/Reddit/Tumblr complimented ecahother very well (even if they hated each other). Really miss how much fan art/participation the anime community had back then, which has steadily declined as viewers become less "weird."
My Tablet piece touches on this tangentially -- an interviewee beautifully described how the texture of weirdness has changed
Same about Halloween this year, probably just pick old ones waif and I have somewhere like Ancient Egyptians or Ghostbusters. Excited to dress up my 2 year old as Boo from Monsters Inc though 🎃
Good choice re costume for babette!
I gotta move out of my place by by the 31st, so I am going as "unhoused" 😅