Notices by Taran Rampersad (knowprose@mastodon.social), page 2

Ahh, I blocked my first person in the #fediverse It took a while.

I feel like I finally scratched the new car so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

@paninid

The source of it, with the context within which it was used in that editorial piece back in 2022.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/opinion/cancel-culture-free-speech-poll.html

@paninid I mean, we could cancel cancel culture... but then we wouldn't because we used it to cancel... I have a headache already.

But really, if people simply vote with their feet... boycotting...

But 'cancel culture' is different because... spontaneity and unpredictability. It tends to happen organically. Boycotting is more organized and defined.

The trouble is people conflate the two when they are separate.

@paninid Dunno where you dredged that up from.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cancel

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boycott

@paninid Oddly, you exemplified what you wrote. It's why I stick to a dictionary. Yes, language shifts and changes, but the dictionary is an agreed upon thing.

I dislike cancel culture myself. It's often used like a blunt instrument and can easily harm innocent people based on some opinion.

I'm of the firm belief that if you complain about a platform you gave someone, you're helping them because bad press is still press - like talking about a certain person with bad hair ALL THE TIME.

@paninid The reasons we have dictionaries is for this very purpose.

If people just make shit up, nothing has shared meaning and everything goes to shit.

@paninid I wouldn't cancel anyone based on a 'vibe' or feeling. As a trained mediator I try to balance my own biases.

Biases have their purpose. Sometimes they are intuitively right. Sometimes intuitively wrong.

@BeAware pull them over to the real fediverse!

@BeAware @bob Activism has it's place. Humanity needs saving. Leave 'em be.

They're gonna have to live with it, and when they realize it, they may change tack.

I don't think we #GenX had the hubris for the sort of activism we're seeing, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

I did as much as I could without doing harm. That's the line I think they haven't figured out.

@BeAware @bob If you're misinformed, you're normal now.

The media is doing it's job. 👀

But no, I've found that people who are really passionate about something don't worry about stuff they should worry about.

@bob @BeAware I was at the first MobileActive Convergence when they started talking about using stuff like that for activism and I thought, "Where is the weed and why didn't anyone share?"

Worse yet, at the time, it was pretty clear everything was gonna get tapped because of the Patriot Act. They were oblivious then.

Almost 2 decades later, here we are, still oblivious.

@BeAware @gimulnautti I'd have to look at the code to be able to say. 'Well funded code' does not mean 'good code', just like saying the government is spending $X doesn't mean one sees commensurate improvement.

What I can say is that startup code I have dealt with made me adopt the title of software archaeologist. .

@BeAware @gimulnautti I think you have it backwards. I have seen startup code. 😂

@BeAware @gimulnautti Well, those aren't *real* devs. Those are people copying and pasting code or crawling in dumpsters studying other people's code. 😂

@BeAware @gimulnautti I'd hate to think that's true. 👀

Two very, very different personality types I would hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp4-jacnyH4

@gimulnautti @BeAware Well, yes. Emotions are evolutionary shortcuts that often don't fit well into the world we live in.

Xenophobia is not dissimilar in that regard.

More than likely the people developing the stuff know, and the people marketing the stuff don't care to know or don't care to show they know.

@BeAware I guess it beats spoon.

because there is no spoon. 👀

@BeAware Sew a dress with a shovel?

😂

@BeAware I get it. I took yesterday and today off from writing about AI because there's more marketing than actual technology right now.

There's some good stuff on AI out there. The trick is finding it, thinking about it, and generally explaining why it's bs or explaining why present use of it is not sustainable.

@BeAware

"My AI disagrees with you!" 😂

Like yelling at a wall.