✎ Like all of us, I've had countless conversations over the past few months about The Situation. I'm sharing my thoughts as a series of essays, starting with Part 1: The Shitball bradfrost.com/blog/post/pa... - ThreadSky

bradfrost.com • 20 days ago

✎ Like all of us, I've had countless conversations over the past few months about The Situation.

I'm sharing my thoughts as a series of essays, starting with Part 1: The Shitball https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/part-1-the-shitball/

Comments

guysegal.bsky.social•18 days ago

I totally get where you're coming from, and I'm curious to see where you're taking this in part 2. And at the same time, I feel an unease (that I think might be shared by others) with the advice to not pay attention to the shit. Not all of us (myself included) have that privilege, unfortunately.

bradfrost.com•18 days ago

Can't stress this part enough. In no way shape or form am I saying to not pay attention to the shitty _situation_. But I am saying to avoid paying attention to the shitty _people_ who want nothing more than to have all of our attention.

guysegal.bsky.social•18 days ago

I understand, and point taken. What I'm saying (and I accept that we might be talking about two different things) is that a) for some people it's not a matter of choice to pay attention to the shitty people–it's survival, and b) the shitty people might be doing it for more than just attention.

bradfrost.com•18 days ago

There's definitely a lot of nuance in A! And that nuance is what I'm trying to pick at here.

In no way am I trying to be dismissive of the real harm being done, or trying to diminish just how consequential The Shitball's actions are. It's critical to pay attention for survival and in order to help

bradfrost.com•18 days ago

What I see is The Shitball's words, actions, and spectacle completely dominating our collective attention. And The Shitball LOVES THAT. Our fixation on its ego energizes while depleting and disorienting us, preventing us from being more constructive with our attention.

bradfrost.com•18 days ago

Hopefully that helps clarify things a bit? I want to defang The Shitball by depriving it the attention it craves without taking the eye of the ball (real harm done to The Good).

wicky.nillia.ms•19 days ago

Something interesting and enlightening I came across recently was the effect of out-group animosity. Building up a strawman of the out-group to knock down leads to social media "success". It's one of those things, once you notice it, you notice it everywhere https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34162706/

bradfrost.com•19 days ago

Ooooo thanks for sharing. Yeah, I mean tribalism is EVERYWHERE. React! Anti-React! Tailwind! Anti-Tailwind! Pro Choice! Pro Life!

Reality is a muddy, nuanced, complicated gray, but our brains don't like that one bit.

samiamdesigns.bsky.social•19 days ago

I'm struggling with how to respond to this pro choice/life part of the comment based on the current state of women's rights in the country you live in. Can you explain?

wicky.nillia.ms•19 days ago

Can't speak for Brad, but I interpreted it as a list of prominent divides along which in-groups and out-groups are drawn

bradfrost.com•19 days ago

Right, it's the concept of "othering" https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-othering-5084425

bradfrost.com•19 days ago

And to speak to the pro life/choice topic directly, it's extraordinarily frustrating when people say things like "under no circumstances", ignoring the extraordinarily complicated medical, personal, and social circumstances.

My neighbor is a death doula for babies, and holy smokes reality is hard.

wicky.nillia.ms•19 days ago

What felt surprising is that it's instinctively (to me at least) backwards. If you have a pro-X audience, you'd assume X-related content would be best. But content about people who are anti-X performs better

wicky.nillia.ms•19 days ago

Knocking down some strawman caricature of the extreme end of the opposite side is very common once you notice it

amyhoy.bsky.social•18 days ago

don't "failure mode of clever" your way into believing that rightwingers aren't violent, bigoted, and fascistic by nature

wicky.nillia.ms•18 days ago

I was talking about social media dynamics not politics

joecianflone.bsky.social•20 days ago

1. Great article and I’m excited for the next part! This seems to be capturing something I’ve been thinking for a while too so I’m excited to see where it goes.
2. What the fuck is that picture actually
3. Never mind I don’t want to know

bradfrost.com•20 days ago

ACRYLIC PAINTS ACRYLIC PAINTS ACRYLIC PAINTS!

bradfrost.com•20 days ago

Added clarification 😂

uniondesign.bsky.social•18 days ago

I’m going to assume this is about Matt Mullenweg 🙃

nathanacurtis.bsky.social•20 days ago

Took me a moment to realize that, no, you aren't referring to Michael Sorrentino
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sorrentino

bradfrost.com•20 days ago

Same difference!

alanbsmith.bsky.social•19 days ago

Brad, I appreciate you writing this. It’s a sensitive and difficult topic you didn’t have to weigh in on. I think there’s something true about being conscious about the impact this has, and I mostly agree with your perspective. It’s good to know you’re thinking about this too.

That said,

alanbsmith.bsky.social•19 days ago

I understand people who can’t stand aside and can’t step away from what’s happening. They’ve been made the news by no fault of their own. Their rights are actively under threat, and there’s no way to ignore that.

That’s maybe the only nuance I’d add to that post. Thanks again for sharing. ❤️

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