A few weeks back, I ranted a bit about Twitter hashtags being mined for shitty “news” by shitty websites. It’s more than a pet peeve. Pet peeves are minor annoyances. This isn’t a minor annoyance. This is a form of Internet cancer.
Today, thanks to the wonders of Farking, I came across a great blog post by someone whose Tweet became the “THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!” social media story of the day, a minor nothing that was turned into yet another misleading and false tale of Internet anger thanks to shitty news on shitty websites.
You might remember a story from earlier in the year about a lipstick color that had people up in arms. This blogger saw a lipstick called “Underage Red,” Tweeted about it, and Twitter exploded with shock and outrage thanks to this person’s righteous anger.
At least, that’s what all the shitty news by shitty websites would have you believe. It even prompted a response by the C-list celebrity involved with selling the product.
Turns out, it didn’t happen like that until those shitty websites CREATED the outrage. From the blogger:
Emails, tweets, Facebook messages, blog posts about “outrage culture,” etc. were thrown my way. These people were very angry about how supposedly angry I was (which I wasn’t).
In this case, Kat Von D responded to the “controversy” on her Facebook page, vowing not to apologize (for something no one actually wanted an apology for).
Skim her full post for the details. The basic story is the same tale we’ve seen a million times before. A small handful of people say something. Lazy writers turn it into a Thing. Other lazy writers from other websites follow suit, because that’s what they do. Controversy is manufactured, people get clicks, and everyone feels some righteous indignation.
Yeah, well, screw that whole scene.
Hard. In the ear. With a cantaloupe.
Just sayin’.
This article is disgusting #cantalouperights
We should not be granting rights to cantaloupes while we still have underdeveloped honeydews in the garden!