I was cringe before it was cool

It sometimes seems to me that my life is a really long Wishmaster movie. You know, that horror series where the bad news is that the genie actually grants your wishes. (It's certainly the case that my life has similarly low production values.) Point being, it seems that whatever I think should be cool becomes mainstream later, by which point I've had the time to look back at my former self and be properly horrified by what I thought should be cool.

For instance, comic book movies. I thought it would be cool if Hollywood actually took comic book movies seriously and gave them the "budgets they deserved." Now I get to be in a world wherein I can utter the phrase "they did my girl Harkness dirty" and my coworkers actually understand what I'm talking about. I kinda wish they didn't.

Lightning-ish edited in paragraph: I'm a former Magic the Gathering Pro Tour qualifying player. One of my sons, who live hundreds of miles away because divorce, has been introduced to the world of physical Magic cards. May God have mercy on his soul.

Another example: bombast. I remember when I used to like being the one who told you that your idea was arch-stupidity on the same level as, say, the concept of fate. I think sometimes I would be bombastic ironically and other times unironically, depending upon my level of narcissism that particular day, but looking back on it even I can't tell, which means the people I was replying to almost certainly couldn't. Well, now this form of plausibly deniable crypto-narcissism is just how people talk to each other online — and it's insufferable. I (genuinely!) don't want to delve into politics here any more than getting a toe wet, but I'm so tired of the moderate right being labeled [on second thought, I'll self censor the Bad Word] and the moderate left being labeled [this Bad Word too!], that I can't even look at the comment section of a YouTube video anymore without facing a feeling that is the demonic lovechild of analysis paralysis and seeing that the cat decided to shit outside the litter box.

This old boy, this old free speech defender, is starting to look at the GGG decision to ban political discussion and begrudgingly agree. Because it's all so tiresome.

Even here, looking back on what I had to say about buffing life while nerfing life nodes: that was a mistake. GGG, how dare you listen to me? Don't you know that Old Me was a fool?

So what I'm going to do now is go for humility. Maybe I'm not the smartest person in the world. Maybe what I want isn't the best answer. Maybe I should wait not just for more evidence, but more of the wisdom of age before I make up my mind about what's true and what isn't. Hopefully the Wishmaster curse doesn't run off too soon.

Excellent narrative, sibling.

But I think you've missed the really important lesson: cringe is never cool. It cannot become cool. Because cool is what remains when you boil off the cringe. Or: cringe is what happens when the tasty layer of cool goes cold and becomes gluggy, white lard. You don't have to dispose of it, but it takes work to make it palatable again.

Cringe is to cool what carob is to lindt. And so on.

Or, as I liked to say back in my less civilised bnet days, you can't ctrl-c style.

*Nerd* became cool, but mostly because nerds became adults with plenty of disposable income, media became much easier to share, and so did opinions. I don't think it's as cool anymore; no one's gushing over a GoT-alike these days, and even Disney were eyeing the small screen before covid as the next 'phase'. Nerd has settled.

But lets be clear here: PoE was never and will never be cool. And that was great when it wasn't also a Chinese-owned mtx mill. It wasn't cool but it was rad.

But if everyone's cringe doesn't it automatically become cool? Like a majority rules type of thing. I always thought of cool as likeable or popular stuff, cringe is pretty that lately.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

Excellent narrative, sibling.

But I think you've missed the really important lesson: cringe is never cool. It cannot become cool.

I don't know how to respond to this, but my impulse is to take the compliment as ironic and the "that's not how it works at all" as unironic.

"

CanHazName wrote:

I always thought of cool as likeable or popular stuff

Me too. Although I had some bad diction in the original OP

Dude. With as rarely as I post here now (I scored a ps5; I'm basically the fucking ubermensch!), my mere responding is a compliment.

This post was a lot longer, pages of shit, but I decided that wasn't cool. I may never not be cringe but I can be at least aware of it. I can change I can change, I won't remain a sandy little butthole!

MHWI time. Runs pretty damn good on the 5.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

Dude. With as rarely as I post here now (I scored a ps5; I'm basically the fucking ubermensch!), my mere responding is a compliment.

This post was a lot longer, pages of shit, but I decided that wasn't cool. I may never not be cringe but I can be at least aware of it. I can change I can change, I won't remain a sandy little butthole!

Imagine actually posting this in a thread about the banality of crypto-narcissism. Yes, yes, you are simultaneously a self-depreciating cringe normie and an e-celeb whose mere attention should be considered a recognition of achievement. Whatever you say, champ. We get it already.

That response is so over the top, it makes me wonder if it's bait. Is this supposed to be my predictable overreaction? I guess if I could escape what I was complaining about in the OP, wouldn't be much of a complaint, would it? How is it that I find myself surprised by a situation I just described as common? It is a critical error to assume that the elite are somehow magically immune to addiction to the opiates of the masses — assuming in arguendo that your confidence is unearned.

I imagine it is also a critical error to assume I'm immune as well. Well, let's not mince words — I know it is. To the extent that I trust myself (which is less than you might think), I didn't make this thread to puff up my chest — quite the opposite, actually. But is it even possible to be openly humble anymore without it being interpreted as a humblebrag? If not, to what extent was I subconsciously aware (if "subconsciously aware" is even a thing) of this before I clicked Submit?

I don't know. It may even be the case that I don't even really want to know — although if that's the case, why think the questions? It's become too convoluted for me to determine the how, such that I can do little more than recognize what is: Charan acting like he's the king of Off Topic deigning to grace me with his presence has trolled me pretty hard. If an overreaction on my part was the intended effect, well, look at the length of this goddamn post. Congratufuckinglations.

I guess I'll ask anyone else whether I'm right to feel as I do or not. Maybe someone knows how to untie one of these knots in my mind. Or maybe I'm just alone.

It´s okay scrootie, we are only 99%resistant which pretty much outrules any immunity.

For example my windows updated itself and i now have a pretty usefull weather-forecast app on my bottom right, but if i klick on it, it doesn´t show the weather and links to all the crappy newsarticles i don´t want to read, yes i could ban every newsprovider in the app, searching for the uninstall is faster.
A PS5 seems to work properly in this regard.
Billyboy propably thought i want a shepard.

Btw. have you tried putting Bio- infront of it ?
Apperently nowadays you can call "Bio-Biogas" Powerplants and other wordcreations acceptable.
Bio-cringe (i don´t even know what that means)
Bio-conspiracy theorist (mmmmh, ... tasty!)
Bio-humble
Bio-mainstream

People liking comicbooks that display a huge amount of raw violence and an idiotic classsification into two seperate archetypes like good or evil, is pretty much outside of your control. We call that surroundings or nature.
You shouldn´t be worried about the wishes of others.
Bio-comicbooks (degrades into compost after flipping through)

Here's my interpretation of most of Foreverhappychan's posts. He posts entertaining things but the main goal is generally to entertain himself. Although I must admit that my interpretation may be incorrectly and significantly colored by myself because that is my excuse for most of my posts.

I never know what mainstream is... never cared. God fam friends country and random ppl in that order for me. I wear literally all black because it hide dirt best. Plus matches everything. Don't even own a colored shirt or genes. Since HS ppls ask me abt sports or some movie. No clue what they talking about lol. I don't do passive entertainments/live vicariously. Ok I'll watch a little MMA and MX but rare and only bc im a doing MX and BJJ as a hobby now and again and want to watch the pros. Never understood football and stuff bc never played. i'll never get a tattoo despite 99% of friends having one, do drugs/alcohol or other stupid shit.

Well, that was a no-brainer