Post

More broadly, the defining character of our era is "person who chose 'Contrarian' as a career but is traumatised by people disagreeing with them"

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social

The thing I really hadn't expected was that racism's renaissance would be so....whiny.

Tony Hill

@tonyhill.bsky.social

21 Aug

I still have problems to believe the traumatised part. More like pretenders.

Tom Phillips

@tom-phillips.com

ehhhh yeah some people perform it for strategic reasons, but I do think a large number of people have become genuinely psychologically unmoored because their bold, iconoclastic provocations weren't met with universal acclaim

21/8/26, 6:18 pm0 reposts20 likes

Tom Phillips

@tom-phillips.com

21 Aug

I think this is A Type that occurs throughout history but the modern age provides a massively expanded field for people to become it

Stephen Bush

@stephenkb.bsky.social

21 Aug

Yeah, agree, so much of it is visibly sincere upset, they do the whining even privately.

Tom Phillips

@tom-phillips.com

21 Aug

among other things, I've been genuinely taken aback by how many accomplished, successful people apparently had "gets invited to talk to university students, receives praise" as a load-bearing part of their self-image

Stephen Bush

@stephenkb.bsky.social

21 Aug

Yeah, the students thing always baffles me. Has nobody read the Golden Notebook? The students are usually wrong!

M.B. Drapier

@mbdrapier.bsky.social

22 Aug

Remember back in the good old days* when actors and playwrights had a reputation as exceptionally thin-skinned people because they were so unable to give a hinged response to any criticism at all in a review. How little we knew.

Owen Michael

@owenwmichael.bsky.social

21 Aug

I think this is also especially the case with "the left left me" types (how much it started /before/ they started /saying that/ is I suspect a movable feast)