Today’s Blaugust prompt is from the blog Azerothian Life:
What is some popular piece of content/media that seems to be universally loved that you have never been able to understand?
I think it takes a very small person to judge what someone else likes. Everyone is different, and this difference, this diversity, is part of what makes us special. This whole social media phenomenon is so transformative because it allows people to connect in ways impossible in any other era of human history.
But in this post, I am that small person.
Twitch
I just read a story this morning about some twitcher ranking up a million views in a couple hours because he insisted some other twitcher had a boyfriend. This other twitcher apparently has a channel where she films herself reacting to videos, and she also plays a shooter. I had no idea who any of these people are. I just don’t get how people can sit down at their computers and just watch other people play games – or just watch other people watch other people play games. And then send them money. I don’t get it.
Twitch is owned by Amazon.com, which is mostly owned by Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world. When you watch, or create content for Twitch, you are giving this guy more money. Here’s a visualization as to just how much money he has. Take a look. I am serious.
Disney
I don’t hate Disney. I’ve been to Disneyland – twice. I sub to Disney Plus. Growing up, we had a lot of Disney movies on VHS and the kids would watch and watch them. I’ve read Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I’ve read Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold!. I’ve read the Reddit posts from Disney park cast members who almost always tell stories about how much they loved working there. I don’t hate any of that.
I hate what Disney has become. Here’s a partial list of the properties that are now Disney:
- Lucasfilms (Star Wars, etc.)- The Muppets- Pixar- Marvel- 21st Century Fox (I guess they did change their name?)- Miramax Films
What they’ve done with these things, once they acquired them, is to package these things and focus test these things so that they have the widest possible appeal. Back when movie theaters were something you could go to, Disney controlled a large portion of what you could see in those theaters. If someone could manage to break themselves away from sitting passively in front of their computer watching someone else play a game on Twitch, they could sit in front of another screen and passively watch some polished entertainment designed to make them happy and content.
I am not immune. I am not better than this.
I found out through Facebook that my uncle hates me and that several of my cousins hold views I find abhorrent. I dearly love my sisters, but I just couldn’t deal with the soul destroying website that just made me feel like crap every time I logged into it. I got tired of blocking family members and just decided that maybe I didn’t need to know quite that much about people.
I removed the apps from my phone, blocked Facebook’s trackers in my browsers, and only bring down the barriers and log on through an incognito window once every couple of months just to see if my sisters are okay.
Facebook, btw, tracks everything you do online, if you don’t block it. Even if you aren’t logged in. Even if you aren’t even a member. It tracks everything you do. The company where I work has trackers embedded in its software. I’ve looked for the place in our code where we call them and have not found it, but looking at the network traffic, it is calling home to Facebook somewhere.
Facebook knows everything about you. It knows everything about me. You can find out what it knows about you by following that link. I had to remove tracking code from that link. This stuff is pervasive.
That’s it. I’m done.
Okay, writing about Facebook made me angry all over again. If you like it, and other manufactured experiences designed to keep you passive and spending, more power to you. I do the same things.