I’m really scared for my generation, you know. The thing that scares me most is Tumblr. I hate what Tumblr has become. Because it like, it reminds me of those clique-y girls in high school that used to make fun of everyone and define what was cool, but in five years, when you all graduate, that shit doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck about that shit. Instead of kids going out and making their own moments, they’re just taking these images and living vicariously through other people’s moments. It just kills me. Then you’ll meet them and they’re just the biggest turkey in the world. They don’t actually embody any of those things. They just emulate. It’s scary man, simulation life that we’re living. It scares me.
—
Drake to Pitchfork re: tumblr [quote via somethingchanged]
As someone who’s met a fair amount of the people I spend time around on tumblr, I’m gonna go ahead and try to parse this for half a minute.
The only blogs he seems to be talking about are shitty fashion blogs or reblog tumblrs that aren’t generating original content. Like, obviously someone is going to be disappointing in person if your only understanding of them is via twee things pulled off Weheartit and photos of themself. Obviously they’re going to be a “turkey” if they’re relying on you to flesh out whatever their perspective on the world might be.
But there are a ton of really fucking talented people on here making things every single day just for the sake of making and sharing them. I’m talking about writers, photographers, cartoonists and just generally creative people who want the feedback of other generally creative people.
And in that case, I feel like the luckiest loser alive, because I have access to the smartest, funniest, most welcoming and supportive people in the game, and it’s just because I’m here and want to play. That’s all it takes, coach. And as long as you have something to say, as long as you have something to bring to the table and add and interject, you’re more than able to be part of the conversation and grow right along with them.
So like, sorry you’re butthurt about meeting one webcam girl too many IRL and finding out she doesn’t look the way you wished she did, but as with everything in this world, the internet is exactly as cool as you let it be, Drake.
(via drinkyourjuice)
This conversation is scary in that it shows clear bias and lack of serendipity within Tumblr. Don’t get me wrong, I heart Tumblr big time, but tell me how drinkyourjuice’s rebuttal can be justified without the insight that Drake simply doesn’t know about all the genius, creative Tumblr folk out there that drinkyourjuice follows? And why doesn’t he know? Partly because he’s not interested in those things, but, again if this rebuttal is at all justified, then it’s partly because he hasn’t discovered them, otherwise he would so totally agree that there are some amazing people doing amazing things out there on Tumblr. So that points to an issue with serendipity and discovery, but I think this will improve.
The other thing that is unsettling about this conversation is that drinkyourjuice thinks that the genius folks that she follows are what Tumblr stands for. I would love to know what percentage of Tumblrs are the “twee” “reblog” “shitty fashion” kind and what are “the kind” that drunkyourjuice follows? My gut tells me that most of them today, and down the road when the platform grows beyond the social media savvy, will be the former. So couldn’t one argue that that is what Tumblr stands for if that is the majority? And if so, that Drake’s high-level generalization of Tumblr holds true? Why does drinkyourjuice assume that her experience of Tumblr is the “real” one? Why can’t Tumblr be a place for both and all? That bias is what scares me.
(via drinkyourjuice)
