2x2 idea: weird/normal, optimist/pessimist.
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Normal Pessimist is like cops and soldiers: “life is harsh and dangerous so stay on the straight-and-narrow; individual whims are a luxury you can’t afford.”
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Normal Optimist is like superhero movies, upbeat pop songs, “Everything is fine, or would be if those damn malcontents didn’t make it DIFFICULT! Just like things and don’t dislike things, okay?!”
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Weird Pessimist is the malcontents. Edgy, nihilist, sarcastic, making art about how fucked up things are.
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Weird Optimist is absurdist whimsy. It seems kind of a missing affect these days, but I remember it from, say, Flaming Lips-era indie pop, or early BoingBoing. “Whee! So random and bizarre! I love it! The squares are missing out!”
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Today a lot of Weird Optimist stuff feels cringey and clueless. Sex-positive 2000’s blogs? Yikes, you can’t just talk about how great sex is, it *isn’t* great for rape victims. And that’s true, but...now there’s a positive side of the human experience you don’t hear from.
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Twee, poetic, absurdist aesthetics (think Decembrists or peak Wes Anderson)? They feel “pretentious” or “self-indulgent” today.
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Replying to @s_r_constantin
This makes me think
@rivatez@HipCityReg@webdevMason@visakanv They are resurrecting Weird Optimism!!!2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
Kinda, but it's hard to get the aesthetic quite right. Too much "anti-PC" stuff and you slip into Weird Pessimism; too much performative "mental health and emotional maturity" and you slip into Normal Optimism.
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Replying to @s_r_constantin @rivatez and
One of the most interesting combos of optimistic / pessimistic I’ve recently come across was
@aaronzlewis’s. He’s doing Hero’s Journey In VR basically. I’m fascinated with - exactly - that balance.0 replies 0 retweets 2 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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