Part 2

Obviously yesterday was focused on a couple of subjects that I felt pressing enough to be first up. And while I could spend today talking about Joss Wheadon, Jeremy Renner, and the amount of idiots on twitter I’m not. Besides you probably know how I feel about them and Eddie Huang already. But Twitter and internet actions are definitely not escaping today’s part of our multi-part note.

The only recognition you deserve is the recognition you get

Before the internet, and indeed before CNN’s 24 hour news channel, it was commonplace for a lot of interesting and cool stories to get glossed over. There were only so many new stations that could do puff pieces after all. But in 2015 the idea of you deserving recognition is absurd. Why? Because you can either make people pay attention to your achievement or get someone to do it. Let’s hone in on our buddy Twitter really briefly. And in the interest of being somewhat transparent(Amazingly so for a Super Villain), we’ll use my personal twitter as the focus. When I was studying for the bar I had a twitter, and basically didn’t use it. Having set the account up some time before I basically only used it to keep track of funny quotes from certain comedians, and reposting blog posts when WDDIJ opened. I didn’t care. I didn’t have a reason to. And I would go for months not posting anything or even checking it.

So what changed? Well I made a tweet via my facebook link to twitter about @Wrekonize‘s then yet to be released album The War Within. I had been up for some crazy hours studying for the bar exam, and his single Anxiety Attacks had been on repeat. It was just that day’s perfect groove to get the law in my head. But I’ve tweeted about stuff like that before. When Wrek responded I realized how instant the recognition can be. When I brought it up at a show while we got a pic and he remembered, well I figured out something that will b brought up later.

The other big instant AH-HA has been with The Young Turks’ Jayar Jackson(@JayarJackson) in a far more serious moment. Let’s not mince words here. I’m at 1800 followers I’m talking about people who start at 10k. I’m the most vicious pirana, but I’m still jUST a pirana. For all my teeth, one of me is just an annoyance not a threat. But did I pester Jayar, and everyone else at TYT about how lax their Ferguson coverage was? Of course. And the second AH-HA was because Jayar responded. Hell Ana Kasparian who has absolutely no reason to responded(No Cenk though, I’m just a baby pirana). And while I’m not going to say the reason Jayar stepped in to talk the next day on the show was me related, I take some pride knowing he at least maybe thought about it. And the coverage was overall better. Now months later, in prime position to, did he bring it up on Twitter and remind me who has the bigger account? yep. Was it like that moment Jay-Z “I’m all about dollars who the fuck is 50 Cent?” I wish I was that big. But close enough for a metaphor.

The reality of this social media, internet media, modern society of ours is you will only be praised by people if they know to do it. And you will only be recognized by them if you do something. For good or ill we don’t have the quiet pride of melancholy anymore. At various points before you folks have truly shown me that you like us and want more I’ve had our writers and myself submit pieces to bigger places. Why? Because if they or I do it would have made this place bigger regardless of whether or not the person could stay on here. This of course translates to everything in life. Despite people knowing full well how I’m likely to react or respond I’m still subjected to the whims of certain kinds of stupidity. “You should cover __________” is often brought up. Some expected me to talk about Mayweather and take a stand because of his domestic violence issues. Why? Because I’m the blogger they know. Which leads us to harsh truth 3.

You can either engage with people or not. But positive or negative the consequences are your fault.

There is something to be said for the nature of recognition, but you can’t complain about being under the public or your target’s eyes once you put yourself out there. It is why it is important to do things intentionally or not at all. Because the act of “I never wanted this attention” is hollow in modern society. Everyone is everyone not just big brother. So don’t be surprised when people come after you. It is why I often give out a nice warning about deletes from my personal facebook. Anyone can get deleted, at any time for any reason. That’s the price for getting me to pay attention. Negative or positive you engage and you are responsible. Celebrity, average person, or Super Villain blogger Deal with it. And while we’re on responsibility…

Being and idiot is not the default setting

You might say this particular part is all internet focused. But really it is about modern conventions versus the by-gone issues of yesteryear. I say that because the things that we look at now are all about the instant effect on us and society at large. That being the case it is extraordinarily silly that so much is missed by so many. Because even as late as the 80s you had some kind of excuse. Most folks know that the internet made information, both credible and not, more available. What you might not know is that as late as the 80s it could take months for a book not at your local library to be gotten to you from another on loan. Even now, library based learning is difficult. Not so with the web. What does that mean?

It means that there are universities with the entire catalog of their classes online to be taken. It means places like MIT can give away all the information used in every class on the web. It means you don’t have a reason to not know about many things. Let’s talk about a few of them. While most use the web for social purposes, you can easily learn the truth about all the crazy supposed science claims you see. And not by visiting Snopes. A quick google search by highlighting the claim, or the supposed source is there. A good test for more scientific studies is whether or not the person has made it available online. Most studies are in a journal easily accessible. In fact, if you can’t find the journal or study online, it is either brand new, not finished, or hilariously not credible. Why science journals are more credible than Jenny McCarthy’s insane ramblings is the process of peer review. That’s why you hear smart people blast psuedo-science all the time. It can devalue their work, and also without review you wouldn’t be able to trust other information.

I went with science first because for some reason we have been in the midst of a decline for trust in science for the last 15 years instead of increase. And I have a theory, internet bias. You hear enough times about crazy men inhabiting the abandoned gas station on the corner and you are going to at least assume that might have at one point been the case. Well you hear about enough scientists getting paid to come up with crazy results and you’re going to think more are than you are getting told about. Neil Degrasse Tyson recent had a bunch of people get mad all over again about his comment that whether or not you believe in science it is still true. The reason this can be true for science is that the point of science is to constantly attempt to understand the world around us by analyzing it.

But let’s talk about the less fluid. I am subjected to a lot of people who don’t get basic things about society. It is one thing when you have errant grammar. Obviously, I have the problem from time to time as well. But it is another thing entirely when “Who cares about x? You should care about y!” is responded to with “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Recently someone actively tried to avoid losing their position in a discussion by not knowing what “dearth” means. The person was so unwilling to look a word up that they assumed it meant the exact and entire opposite. Apparently reading comprehension is gone from all schools, and basic google searches are beyond people. And yes, while I do believe that having a wonderful book collection is a sign of class, and refuse to date women who don’t have a healthy reading habit as an adult, I don’t say you need to as steep in book tradition. the internet has literally every book to survive into the modern era available in digital format for a fraction of the original cost. There should be no excuse for at least catching the basic reference to things.

It is often like the person who reponds to you talking about a popular tv show or movie by smuggly saying that have better things to do instead of keep up. The last week I don’t care what you are into you knew Avengers Age Of Ultron was a thing that was likely to happen soon. Much of the information in the world is the same way. You may not know about Floyd Mayweather’s track record with women, but you can look it up. You may not know Joss Wheadon proudly calls himself a feminist, but it is easy to look it up. And the same goes for things like police brutality, the effect of abstinence-only education, and of course if there are statistics to back up the claims of the people you repost statuses and tweets from. Not knowing because you haven’t gotten to it yet isn’t bad, but claiming ignorance in discussions is. Which of course gets us to Harsh truth 4.

If you haven’t taken the effort to gain wisdom from all the places we have available, you’re an idiot. And if you get called it on the internet unless you have facts they’re right and you’re wrong.

Long and short, defending yourself from an onslaught in a facebook group or a twitter conversation is daunting, but you have to go get the data. If all you have is emotion and position to argue your point the other person has already won. Think I’m secretly atheist like a couple of weird emailers? Please have more than my clear ability to attack all groups I think are wrong about something at a given time. Think I’m parroting someone else’s work? Go get the piece you think I’m aping, and prove it. I’ve hit the home base communities of friends and fellow WDDIJ writers. You think Ronin likes when I hit his MGTOW buddies for their stupidity? How about Reign and the feminists and or liberals? Revanchist and soldiers or geo-political conflicts? I’m not just a villain I’m a Super Villain. I’m not just anti one group or another. I hate idiots, OPENLY! I go after anyone who is off. No one is safe because of their affiliation. I just don’t spend lots of time on some topics because why should I? Regardless today’s part has been focused on slower topics. And we’re done. Tomorrow is part 3. Because really you know the phrase already. Words Don’t Do It Justice!

-THE Ruthless Wonder

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