Wow, the questions you pose here are so interesting to me. At the end of the day, attention is the goal, and sympathy is the path, and no one really cares how they get there.
I've felt this in the air for a little while now, too. You did a great job of laying this all out and pointing out the connections to popular culture. Great post!
Great read and breakdown. This makes me think of a related newsletter about the ridiculousness of this therapy era that I wish I could recall the author and title. The phenomenon of victimhood and i have it worse Olympics is directly attached to the hyper promotion of therapy and trauma through social media and public ads. It’s framing simple interactions as traumatic events needing professional help and/or diagnosis and/or meds. Creating disfunction allows for control. Like Benny’s character thrives on disfunction over simple interactions. It’s creating a culture of delusion. 8 years is WILD!! It’s absurd but people relate because of this “cut off” culture. It’s “I’m a victim you hurt my feelings you must go and i need therapy.” Putting people’s power into the hands of others keeps them complicit. Healing has taken on a whole new body and meaning.
But yea, I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of popular culture. I was eager for more!
Great piece! You synthesize trends and make sense of our slurry of media and how it affects us as a whole.
To me it seems that the idea of interactions between the Self and the Other seem to play into the phenomenon of this perpetual victimhood of the internet.
The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas talks about the relationship between the vulnerability of the human body and our day-to-day relationships, and the fact that our mere physical existence, is vulnerability towards other humans (a very vague and possibly inaccurate overview of his work– please forgive me– I am by no means a scholar). He hones in on the three dimensional aspect of the face’s depth which affects the vulnerability of physicality. However, he asserts the duality of this, and that we empathize with others because we are aware that we have the capacity to hurt them.
From the Levinasian argument, I’d say that because of the way the internet has decentralized the physical form, (and because the internet hater has been a thing since the dawn of time LOL) we become hyperaware of our capacity to hurt, and we are scared for ourselves, and we feign vulnerability and play our victimhood at the same time, which can also aid in explaining this phenomenon.
I was here for The Buccaneers content but stayed for the rest! I had no idea they remade that! Definitely check out the 1995 miniseries sometime because it was far less melodramatic than this current remake sounds. Plus it has Mira Sorvino which I think makes it worthwhile.
omg I saw this in my substack feed and was reading along and… I wrote the sore winners piece you talk about in your tiktok… nice to see it's had some legs! thank you for mentioning it in your tiktok!! (also i watched the first episode of the buccaneers and it was Terrible)
Omg!! You are a hero for writing that piece- you predicted so much of what current culture has become, and I cite it again and again. I'm so glad this found its way to you! I actually watched every episode of The Buccaneers and... I loved it, but my taste when it comes to period dramas can't be trusted. Thank you again!
Wow, the questions you pose here are so interesting to me. At the end of the day, attention is the goal, and sympathy is the path, and no one really cares how they get there.
wow love this
Wow. I was emphatically nodding along throughout this. You nailed it. Well done 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I've felt this in the air for a little while now, too. You did a great job of laying this all out and pointing out the connections to popular culture. Great post!
Great read and breakdown. This makes me think of a related newsletter about the ridiculousness of this therapy era that I wish I could recall the author and title. The phenomenon of victimhood and i have it worse Olympics is directly attached to the hyper promotion of therapy and trauma through social media and public ads. It’s framing simple interactions as traumatic events needing professional help and/or diagnosis and/or meds. Creating disfunction allows for control. Like Benny’s character thrives on disfunction over simple interactions. It’s creating a culture of delusion. 8 years is WILD!! It’s absurd but people relate because of this “cut off” culture. It’s “I’m a victim you hurt my feelings you must go and i need therapy.” Putting people’s power into the hands of others keeps them complicit. Healing has taken on a whole new body and meaning.
But yea, I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of popular culture. I was eager for more!
Found it!
https://www.freyaindia.co.uk/p/no-not-everyone-needs-therapy
Great piece! You synthesize trends and make sense of our slurry of media and how it affects us as a whole.
To me it seems that the idea of interactions between the Self and the Other seem to play into the phenomenon of this perpetual victimhood of the internet.
The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas talks about the relationship between the vulnerability of the human body and our day-to-day relationships, and the fact that our mere physical existence, is vulnerability towards other humans (a very vague and possibly inaccurate overview of his work– please forgive me– I am by no means a scholar). He hones in on the three dimensional aspect of the face’s depth which affects the vulnerability of physicality. However, he asserts the duality of this, and that we empathize with others because we are aware that we have the capacity to hurt them.
From the Levinasian argument, I’d say that because of the way the internet has decentralized the physical form, (and because the internet hater has been a thing since the dawn of time LOL) we become hyperaware of our capacity to hurt, and we are scared for ourselves, and we feign vulnerability and play our victimhood at the same time, which can also aid in explaining this phenomenon.
Once again I really enjoyed this read!
Thank you so much!
I was here for The Buccaneers content but stayed for the rest! I had no idea they remade that! Definitely check out the 1995 miniseries sometime because it was far less melodramatic than this current remake sounds. Plus it has Mira Sorvino which I think makes it worthwhile.
omg I saw this in my substack feed and was reading along and… I wrote the sore winners piece you talk about in your tiktok… nice to see it's had some legs! thank you for mentioning it in your tiktok!! (also i watched the first episode of the buccaneers and it was Terrible)
Omg!! You are a hero for writing that piece- you predicted so much of what current culture has become, and I cite it again and again. I'm so glad this found its way to you! I actually watched every episode of The Buccaneers and... I loved it, but my taste when it comes to period dramas can't be trusted. Thank you again!