Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[CleverNickName]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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Many years ago, I was reading a guy’s retelling of how he survived a Darwin Award moment.

He was visiting the La Brea tar pits, and his hat got blown over the railing by a sudden gust of wind. He decided to try retrieving it himself, and- SURPRISE!- he got caught in some of the tar.

As he was waiting for staff to come save him, he said he heard one dad talking to his kid while pointing at him: “Look over there, Timmy, and you’ll see a man going down just like the dinosaurs used to!”

 

[Ryujin]

In other news: canada,mexico and Ukraine are sending help to deal with the wild fires in California.

South Africa as well. A bunch of their firefighters just passed through Canada on their way down.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

A huge number of people, famous and not, are much worse than you know.

...I don't know that I agree with this as phrased.

Look, I've written words. SO MANY WORDS .... about problematic faves, or how to interact with works when you've learned that the creator of the work has done bad things, or how to reconcile the good feelings you have about D&D with the knowledge that D&D contains things that aren't great (and was written by people that didn't always have good views).

But I've also written words. SO MANY WORDS ... about why we need to re-examine popular narratives that take hold about people; for example, I've written about why Lorraine Williams, while hardly perfect, was not deserving of the vitriol directed towards her.

Which means I have good news! I am not writing another giant essay in this thread. But I am going to say the following:

1. Parasocial relationships are a helluva drug.
2. You don't really know other people, even the ones you do know. And the ones you only know from their works or their PR images or a brief interaction? No, you absolutely do not know them.
3. Just like some people have certain "good" images that are not true, others can have "bad" images that aren't true either. Narratives get created- both because narratives are easy to tell, and because our brains want to create them. But people aren't narratives. They are messy, and complicated, and contradictory.
4. In addition, people can, and do, change depending on circumstances and over time.


In a perfect world, more people would understand that when it comes to people we don't actually know ... we don't actually know them. And for famous people, there is a whole industry devoted to building them up AND tearing them down (I assume you've been following the Lively-Baldoni battle, which has exposed how there are firms devoted to pushing good and bad narratives in media and through astroturfing about celebrities).

There are some genuinely good people that are celebrities. There are some genuinely bad people. But most of them are just people- with good and bad.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

As he was waiting for staff to come save him, he said he heard one dad talking to his kid while pointing at him: “Look over there, Timmy, and you’ll see a man going down just like the dinosaurs used to!”

... this would be the perfect opportunity to change the part after "just" to a "yo momma" joke, but I wouldn't do that.

 

[Umbran]

then it's all lines in the sand, shades of grey etc slippery slope and all that.

It is shades of grey, and personal lines in the sand. I don't see anyone arguing otherwise.

I don't see any slippery slope involved.

There's a tv series in the works, that will see the flare up of a very large fandom and those who decry the IP/creator, but for the vast majority of the population they will just shrug and enjoy the show or not.

Yes. Your point?

 

[Umbran]

If we're still talking about Gaiman, even prior to this article, both Netflix and Amazon have been wrapping up their relationships with him already, following the first hints of this last year. I don't think this is going to be something he can waltz away from.

I think this was referencing a series in the Potterverse.

 

[Umbran]

4. In addition, people can, and do, change depending on circumstances and over time.

There is at least one author who i look at and think, "Between this book and that book, you went through a bad divorce and went batstuff insane."

 

[Autumnal]

There is at least one author who i look at and think, "Between this book and that book, you went through a bad divorce and went batstuff insane."

Oh heck yes. Besides obvious cases like Steven Brust, there are so many somewhat less blatant ones. “Spot the post-breakup story” is a hardy perennial topic in various fandoms.

 

[Reynard]

As the tech world has so recently shown us, middle age can do some real damage to mens' minds.