I have a habit of tracking social media trends and flavors of the week, mostly because I’m a festering ball of cynicism. So here is the shenanigans I witnessed over the last couple of weeks. The outrage machine was rocketing full speed down the tracks with a boiler threatening to explode, so it was good for some laughs.
Also for those of you that don’t know me, I hate hypocrisy, but I love chaos so clearly I’m a hypocrite myself.
The Princess Bride Meltdown
Last week the Sony Pictures CEO told Variety that they were considering a remake for the 1980s movie, The Princess Bride. My Facebook feed erupted like someone had split an atom. Folks were ranting about how it shouldn’t even be considered and that this was “Sacred Ground!” Now I should preface this by saying, it is one of my favorite movies, but I’m not opposed to Hollywood reviving old franchises. This is how we get new things to celebrate in Fandom, and I never quite understand the outrage surrounding these things.
What did entertain me though; the same people crying foul over The Princess Bride remake seemed to be the same people making fun of folks for disliking the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot. If I’m honest, I liked that Ghostbusters movie too even though people were losing their minds over it. I love delicious hypocrisy more though, and this stuff was so thick you could sip it on a winter morning, overlooking a snowy valley named “Indifference.”
During the midst of this, they announced a sequel to the Last Starfighter. No one was outraged, so someone needs to tell the Last Starfighter fans that they’re breaking protocol.
The Double-edged Sword of Greta Thunberg
This trend I did not understand. A young gal named Greta Thunberg appeared before the United Nations and delivered an impassioned speech on climate change, activism, and the failings of our world leaders. She was able to talk about cleaning up the environment AND rip on politicians. In my opinion, this is a win-win but oh lord, did social media lose its mind over this one.
Folks started posting that her parents were manipulating her. Grand assuming statements like, “There’s no way a kid who is 15 years old would be concerned about the environment.” Now, I have a 15-year-old stepdaughter, and she is actually concerned about the environment, along with eating healthy, and she’s just now getting interested in politics. Folks kept ripping on this poor kid like she was the second coming of Saddam Hussein and I could not figure out why.
The duplicity of it all was most of my friends who were taking part in this narrative were also the ones who championed Soph. She is another girl about the same age as Greta who says controversial stuff and favors most rhetoric of the right. I couldn’t figure out how the side in favor of helping the environment was seen as child abuse while the other side of the coin was “Oh, that’s just youtube comedy.” (Except Soph has since been tossed off Youtube.)
Look, even if you don’t agree with climate change, why would you be opposed to cleaning up our planet? Are you concerned that if we remove the floating great pacific garbage patch that we’ll have nowhere to live when the world floods? I always thought Captain Planet villains were cheesy in overly dramatic ways, but some of you are proving me wrong. Short of silly conspiracy theories, I can’t see anything wrong in wanting a cleaner world. Also, I love that she was able to rip on world leaders. I honestly think that part should be celebrated.
Tekashi69 Dimed out the Bloods.
Like all of them.It turns out 48 years in prison is the breaking point for a hard as nails, tattoo-faced rapper with multicolored chicklet gum for teeth as Tekashi69 dimed out everybody. Tekashi69 (just typing this name makes my eye twitch) named members of the media as Bloods. He named hip-hop artists I had never heard of before this event. He named neighborhoods for having ties to them. His testimony prompted a lot of folks to call him out for snitching. Even Snoop Dogg went out of his way to point out in a tweet that his superfriend Martha Stewart did time in prison and she never ratted anyone out.
Then to everyone’s utter amazement, Tekashi69 turned down witness protection. I mean, really, where is a guy with all those tattoos on his face going to hide, anyway? Post Malone’s house is the only place he could ever blend in. He plans on getting out and making more records. I think the only record in his future is the world record for quickest murder by a gang in prison.
Rest in peace Takeshi69. I’m sure heaven likes rainbow glitter teeth, but I think rats go to hell.
The Potential Impeachment of President Trump
This one wasn’t so much hypocrisy as it was pure flaming chaos. If you don’t know what is going down because you’ve been living on a desert island for the past 20 years, I’m sorry; welcome to 2019! No flying cars but, you can have Gamer Girl Bath Water delivered to your home.Anyways, there is an active inquiry into impeachment against President Trump. If you need a recap, I prefer Philip DeFranco:
Now look, I’m a fart smelling centrist because I hate everybody, so I don’t usually have a dog in this race. In fact, I hate discussing politics. However, I’ve seen some insane stuff from this administration — everything from the war on the media to fictional civil war battles. So, I’ve been over this President for a long time. I’d be perfectly happy to see him leave the Oval Office but, look, let’s be real a minute. President Trump creates controversies. He handcrafts them, almost hourly. He hands them to the media on ivory pedestals that are labeled “Serious madness within” and somehow he dodges every single event.
It would be nice to see him held accountable for anything, just once, but I’m not holding my breath. I think I have actual fatigue from watching this dance play out hundreds of times now so; I’m just going to wait and not be shocked in the least when he somehow ducks this mess.
Social media has been exploding over this scandal, and I don’t have anything negative to say about this trend. I have always felt that the people have to question the President and we shouldn’t blindly follow any leaders, ever. Some folks don’t agree, but that’s because some folks love political tribalism. They love dancing to politician’s fiddles and swallowing every morsel of dogshit the bi-partisan blaming media vomits down their throats. That’s not my jam, and clearly, I’m a little bitter about it.
Anyways, that’s your wrap up for social media shenanigans. If I missed anything, I’m sorry, but I’ve only got so much salty veteran in me that I notice the significant trends.
Awesome work, once again Steve.