I know that I ask that constantly, but for good reason. What is wrong with humans these days? I genuinely don’t understand!
So I just got mad at someone on Reddit, and it wasn’t that I was mad at them personally or anything, but that the whole of Reddit, and let’s be honest, social media everywhere, has taken complete and utter leave of its senses.
And I’m not going to stand for it anymore. I’m done.
Since when has absolutely everyone stopped being able to handle reality? Honestly, when was the turning point? Because people are terrified to use perfectly legitimate words because it might hurt someone’s feelings.
So the guy that I got “mad” at, which I didn’t even get mad at, I just used his post as a springboard, was someone who said something about people being “unalived”.
Fuck you. Or fuck that convention. Pick one. It’s not unalived. That’s not a word. It’s dead. They’re fucking dead. Deal with it. There are people out there, ostensible adults, who can’t even handle the concept of death. They break down in tears?
Can we just march those people off into a volcano or something? These are people too fucking dumb to be allowed to run free with the normal folks. There is no “unalive”. If you use that word, you are a moron. Fuck you.
The fact that these lunatics have turned the planet into a dystopian hellscape is disgusting. Why do we put up with this crap? So I’m not going to anymore. I’m done. I was about ready to leave Reddit anyhow, because the overwhelming majority of people there are too dumb to be dealt with. Hopefully they ban me permanently and I’m not going back if they do. In fact, I’m pretty much ready to walk away from social media entirely. It’s just not worth it. There are too many good books in my pile to read already, I’m fine giving up the daily grind of dealing with the terminally dumb.
So what do you think? I just want someone to stop the planet so I can get off. Most people are just too dumb to be dealt with and luckily, I don’t have to. I’ve got my small circle of friends with brains and I’m fine with that. It’s no wonder that smart people tend to walk away from the world. I’m really starting to understand that now. Maybe that’s why the world is as fucked up as it is. That’s beginning to make a lot of sense.
re: being “unalived”❌. . . .yeah, some users want to avoid triggering algorithms that flag and censor content related to death and violence.
There are too many good books in my pile to read already. . .✅ Oh, I’m sure.
My response to that was “fuck the algorithm”. Seriously, these people can pound sand.
. . . .You mentioned having a pile of good books to read. That’s a wonderful way to spend time and engage with new ideas. I have also found that sometimes -sometimes- authors will actually write back if I ask them questions. That may be a way to “level up?”
I’m friends with a ton of authors and always have been. Was good friends with Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury back in the day. It’s always fun to talk to people like that.
Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury. . .The City on the Edge of Forever || Fahrenheit 451. . .that’s cool. re: It’s always fun to talk to people like that. ✅Absolutely. Maybe cultivate more interactions like that -a much better use of your time?
I’ve got lots and lots and lots of stories, but I grew up at a time where “famous” people were pretty common and not hidden away at conventions behind security. Tons of well-known authors just walked around with the rest of us and getting to know them wasn’t that hard. When there was a local earthquake, I and a couple of other people went over to Harlan’s house in the Hollywood Hills and helped him clean up and rebuild the shelves in his library. I was Jerry Pournelle’s “official” beer caddy at conventions for years. My wife and I used to bump into Ray at the same place at San Diego Comicon every single year and then we’d go catch up. A friend and I got to be very good friends with Deforest Kelley after we took him out to lunch at a convention in the late 70s. Through him, I met pretty much the entire original Star Trek cast and Gene Roddenberry. Actors, writers, you name it, I’ve known a lot of people over the years that today, people just don’t get the opportunity to meet, except for 2 minutes in the autograph line at a convention.
It’s really too bad things don’t work that way anymore.
Wow, you have some incredible stories! It sounds like you had some amazing experiences and connections with some truly iconic figures. Meeting and spending time with people like Harlan Ellison, Jerry Pournelle, Ray Bradbury, DeForest Kelley, and the original Star Trek cast must have been unforgettable! S-w-e-e-t!
It’s true that the way we interact with famous people has changed a lot over the years. The personal, casual encounters you described are rare nowadays, with conventions often being more structured and heavily security-focused.
I lived in Solana Beach outside San Diego 2012-2016 went to lots of SD & LA conventions during that time and met no one like that. -Yeah, different world now.
I was just in the right place at the right time, I guess. I didn’t really do anything, I just fell into a lot of things. It was kind of a nerd utopia back then. I guess I got to know a lot of people because I didn’t treat them like they were heroes, but because they were people. The golden age of conventions was back in the early-to-mid 80s, after which they got too corporate. People just got too full of themselves. I retired from most conventions about a decade ago because there’s no real reason to go. There’s nothing there that you can see that isn’t already online, there’s no one there that you can meet and talk to, there’s nothing there that you can’t just buy online, so why bother? Once it became mainstream, it got boring. Too many people were involved and with too many people became too many security concerns and everything interesting got walled off. Luckily, I was always a pro so I had access to the pro lounges and stuff like that, so you could still get back to see some of the interesting people, but even that changed over time. People stopped thinking that we were all just fans and started thinking they were special and didn’t want to deal with the little people unless the little people were paying them. It’s really kind of a shame that’s the world that we live in today.
re: I didn’t treat them like they were heroes, but because they were people.✅
re: The golden age of conventions was back in the early-to-mid 80s, after which they got too corporate. People just got too full of themselves.✅
re: People stopped thinking that we were all just fans and started thinking they were special and didn’t want to deal with the little people unless the little people were paying them. It’s really kind of a shame that’s the world that we live in today.✅
. . .It’s unfortunate that the atmosphere changed over time, with people becoming more self-important and the events losing their original charm. Your perspective on treating everyone as people rather than heroes is refreshing and likely contributed to the meaningful connections you made, -absolutely.
To some degree, some celebrities were always that way, but now, we’ve got people telling them that they’re magical and a lot are believing their own hype because they don’t have a choice. I know a bunch of modern-day authors and actors who would love to just go out and have fun with their fans, but their studios and publishers won’t allow it because “it might be dangerous!” When did people stop having the right to make choices as adults? When did people stop being adults to begin with?
These are the questions that keep me up at night.