Performative Outrage + Philistines

"Critics" & The "Art" Of Not Giving AF

phil·is·tine (noun)
2. a: a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful
of intellectual or artistic values
2 b: one uninformed in a special area of knowledge

“The philistine provides the best definition of art.
Anything that makes him rage is first class.”
Louis Dudek

“Same as it ever was.”
David Byrne + Talking Heads
”Once In A Lifetime”

I continue to be shocked (though not surprised) at how bothered some people are about so much. Ironically, I’m rather bothered by all their negativity and vitriol.

From AI art to Zen meditation and literally any and every thing in between, too many are not content with just having their opinion but feel the need to defend their stan-ce…to death in some cases.

In real life and on social media, there are lots of folks across the gender and generational spectrums who cry wolf way too loudly and proudly for my taste.

Sadly, this kind of bullying has a growing list of real-world consequences.

From aggravating mental health issues to causing physical harm, the haters often don’t just hate anymore. They hack, harass, and a hellluva lot more.

“What do you despise? By this you are truly known.”
Michelangelo

I made the looping GIF above to illustrate how primitive (and somehow sexy?!) this performative outrage looks to me. And what a pointless circle jerk of misspent mental energy and time it all seems.

If Rage Against The Machine (+ The Man + The Media) is on repeat, maybe mix it up a bit? Here’s a playlist for your consideration:

As for all the arm-chair critics and keyboard crusaders, these social media posts by Oliver Marky Malloy and RuPaul sum up my feelings on the subject:

Don’t like something? Cool…scroll on until you find something you do.

IMO, there are definitely things worth disliking and fighting about.
These are the “good” fights.

The rest are just fights. (Note: ”Good” is subjective, so do you, boo.)

Life is hard enough without it turning into a real-life version of the Jerry Springer Show.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

P.S. I recommend this Jerry’s Final Thought from the start of the show’s 25th season.

P.P.S. As for not giving af, like most people, this is an on-going work-in-progress. Currently, I’ve chosen to restrict comments on most of my social media posts to those I at least follow. It’s an imperfect solution to performative outrage in the Internet Age.

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