Attn: Fools! Jesters! Mockers!

[reenka]

I like being disagreed with-- it's a challenge, it's energizing and so on. I don't like being mocked or discounted as a person, because like, I'm sensitive like that, but again, I only really care if I care about you. I also tend to care a bit about the opinion of anyone I consider intelligent or funny or talented. I draw a line between mocking my personality or appearance (in a mean-spirited rather than teasing way) and mocking my beliefs or statements or actions (or fic! don't forget you're free to mock my fics!)-- you can go ahead and mock those. I'll mock them first, anyway. I believe self-mockery is essential for mental health, actually, ahahah. I mean, they used to call it "humility", but what it really is is self-mockery.

I mean, if you can't laugh at yourself, you're really in trouble, 'cause odds are other people are laughing at you anyway, and it hurts more that way.

I keep seeing people talk about the problems with a culture of agreement-- the Cult of Nice-- and then seeing the myriad problems that arise from the Cult of Mock. Both have their deep issues-- in that the nicey-nice people are basically often dishonest (if not blatantly hypocritical) and possibly unhelpful to one's possibilities of progress as a writer (in the case of fanfic crit, anyway), while the mockety-mock people are soooo obsessed with everything being superficially 'funny' that they wear it like a mask over their humanity the same way the nicey-nice people wear their niceness. So really, the hypocrisy cuts both ways, which a lot of the mockers realize, but that's not enough. If you realize you're basically bullshitting, that doesn't actually excuse you from it. There's the rub.

I think the reason so many people are leery of mass mockery is because it's too easy for human beings to get out of control. People forget why they do what they do-- they just do it by force of habit, and then random people join in because it's the 'Cool Now Thing', and then all hell breaks loose 'cause people think they have a free ticket to piss off whoever's closest. People in general are often vicious beasts when uncontrolled by their higher brains-- i.e., when they're not thinking. So a lot of people would rather the unthinking masses in question just nodded along and played nicely-- it's much easier to go along with one's business that way, isn't it?


It's funny because in the beginning, small, rebellious bands of people mock 'The Establishment' or whatever and it's a 'statement'-- and then the statement becomes too successful and edges into its own (stagnant & unquestioned) dogma and its own Establishment: witness the elite split-off faction of Fandom Wank, itself a former split-off faction of livejournal. Being popular is every intelligentsia's downfall.

I believe very strongly in the ideals behind intelligent disagreement-- whether it takes the form of debate, discussion or outright mockery. I believe it's kind of a process of sloughing off the dead meme-cells in your brain-- you end up cleaner and healthier with the mental scrubbing. But! When people hide behind the mockery (as I keep seeing anytime a little fandom culture of it puts down a few roots), they forget the 'intelligent' part of the mockery. If you're being 100% obsessed with 'Teh Funneh' to the point where you think -everything- is 'Teh Funneh' (as in the usual Fandom Wank refrain of "fandom is fucking funny"), you obliterate the actual intelligence (and the balls) involved in judging what's actually -worthy- of mockery.

I mean, if you mock things just because they're there, then what kind of idiot are -you-, basically? How are you different from the idiots that -worship- and accept things "just because it's there"??

It seems that most(?) people think that self-mockery and The Mockery Of The Stupid in general is basically a fun thing to do, no real emotion involved-- like a gesture you make, but it doesn't really mean anything. You can act like you're self-deprecating, but really you just keep on doing what you're doing (because it's easiest to shut up when among your own clique) and being a yes-man to whatever messed up conspiracy your Feared Leader springs up today. (And of course there's no "Feared Leader" of the Elite Wankers or whoever-- it's yet another 'funny little joke'). What I object to is not the unfunniness of this (as far as I can tell), but the sheer fakery involved.

And please, don't think I'm picking on some stupid recent example in particular-- there are so many vague examples of people who take the Cult of Mockery too seriously (in that they become utterly fake), in fandom and in the mass media in the US anyway.

This reminds me that the "intelligentsia" were always like this: sitting there and laughing like hyenas at the stupidity and decay of whatever society they're within, their anger ultimately ineffectual-- or rather, an affectation. "It was all a joke" is basically the credo of bored (often rich) Clubs Of Mock in boarding schools everywhere, I'm sure. It's a tradition! In fact, the Marauders, I think, are just sort of a smart-boy-group stereotype in this respect-- rich kids with passions and ideals with no real outlet, so they just pick on whatever's the easiest target to feel all Elite and Superior. And in the case of the Marauders, the irony is that their target grows up to out-mock the mockers as a lifestyle, even while the originals did get a clue, it seems. The cycle continues.

Mind you, I'm picking on the perpetually disaffected (in the case of Fandom Wank, I'd say 'dramatically disaffected') 'Mocking Intelligentsia' bit of the mini-society of 'Fandom' because for all intents and purposes? I'm part of it. I don't usually make a sport (so British!) of The Mock, though-- that's the only difference. Because goddammit, real mockery does in fact stem from real emotion-- from a real frustration at things, a hatred of stupid, a zeal for quality or whatever-- there's some sort of thwarted idealism there at heart, and I know it because I feel it. I'm one of 'Them' or 'You' or whatever you want to call it.

The nicey-nice masses of the Politically Correct, 'respect'-obsessed society -want- to be able to point fingers at the 'mocking fringe' and say, 'look! Look! They're fools! That's all they are! They eat their own young and they have nothing important to say; they don't have bloody -feelings-!' It makes it all right to revel in all their self-righteous back-patting and 'there there' cooing and all the rest of it! So we sit there and laugh because what do they know, but they're on to something! They may not see their own fakery, but they can see -ours-! And that's not funny!

Heyo, watch me take myself too seriously; the vital element, though, is that I'm just being sincere, so to mock me with insincerity would be to mock yourself. If you mock me, all I want is that you mock me and you mean it. If you do something that messes with people's feelings? You should mean it, that's all.

But then, I never cared much for sport of any kind, physical or intellectual-- perhaps that's it. I laugh, I write, I read and I play-- but 'sport' implies a sort of forced lightness that bothers me. It's premeditated-- and in terms of mockery, it's inherently wanky. Basically, if you consciously sit there and view the world through the Glasses of Mock, then you become a little bit like Kai, from The Snow Queen, with a tiny bit of the Magic Mirror of hatred and discontent and lies wedged in your eyes.

What I'm saying is, Jaded is a form of Stupid.

If you're not laughing at things with some center of you still grounded in actual understanding of the problem you're making light of, your mockery has no real validity, for one cannot truly speak of things one doesn't understand.

In the end, I believe that mockery shouldn't always have to be a superficial thing, forcibly divorced from empathy and higher feelings. I believe that the job of a Fool (or Jester) in society at large-- or in a mini-society like fandom-- is deeply essential. I respect people who can truly find a workable, intelligent balance between sharp, biting humor and compassion probably more than I respect any other quality in a human being. It just upsets me to see this ideal be completely missing in the Culture of Mock I see at large. It speaks of the same lack of intelligence the people are supposedly meant to mock. And that's all I have to say about that.

P.S. I wasn't -trying- to make this post funny, btw. Ahahaha, BUT I COULD IF I WANTED TO :P
    /immature
P.P.S. Aaaack!!1 ZS' Ronfic, aaaaaaack, the Ronlove, am dead <33333333333333333 (I seriously think I'm starting to resent H/D fluff or something, which is like resenting fluffy kittens-- which I -love-, btw-- but there you have it.... Can't seem to get away from the 'inner rage', heh. Good H/D angst, man. It's what's for dinner.)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

at the risk of sounding stupid again, i esp. like your imagery of the snowball/avalanche, because i observe that again and again.
re. what you asked for: i think sincerity is the easiest to mock, but people really do not do it the honour "to mock it and mean it", because that would seem cheesy to them.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heheh the fact that people mock sincerity itself is like a red flag to a bull, to me, because it just goes against my ideals like whoah. Heh. Just, people who're disconnected with (and in denial of) their feelings to the point where they become easy targets in others-- it's like Slytherins picking on Hufflepuffs. Without, like, realizing that we goddamn Hufflepuffs are they Slytherin's BIGGEST ALLIES.

*STEWS* heh

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

exactly. although you seem to see a positive solution in it? how the hell will slytherin ever see the value in hufflepuff?

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hmm... well, I see a solution on an individual level, as in, y'know, Mano Al Mano, where you'd have to 'convert' each particular person to seeing the value in... what?... emotional honesty, or something like that. Emotions aren't something you can influence en masse in a positive way unless you're like, a religious leader or something, I think, ahahaha. It's difficult-- societal change is rarely swift and incremental by necessity, with lots of sidetracking and reversals and such. Anytime something 'good' and progressive happens, you see it being challenged over and over and over and eventually it'll probably crack somewhat so that people will need to be vigilant and patch up their 'improvements' to keep them running and stuff. Heh.

I'm being so general.

No, I dunno how to make the 'Slytherin' types 'see the light'-- if anything, that would be against their nature. I do believe that jadedness isn't a necessary result of societal resentment-- I just think it's a common one. Bleh. Usually, I figure the only real solution is at the personal level, but that doesn't stop me from ranting~:)

i hate saying i told you

[malafede.livejournal.com]

*draws yellow and green hearts*

(Hufflepuff/Slytherin is like Draco masturbating thinking he's fucking Potter up the arse.)

(Except that after being reported to Hogwarts_wank for the 9580394853th time, Draco gets a clue and learns to take it and love it.)

Re: i hate saying i told you

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

(Except that after being reported to Hogwarts_wank for the 9580394853th time, Draco gets a clue and learns to take it and love it.)


.....god, you're Kool. can I hang out with joooo? *puppy eyes*

[t-winkle725.livejournal.com]

My own feeling is that the HP fandom is at least 80% Hufflepuff Nicey-Nice and 20% (N-17 Rated) Slytherin Mockety-Mock...The two houses feed off each other in a kind of symbiotic fusion - the Slytherins give the Hufflepuffs something to be *shocked* about(and HP slash fanfic would be no fun without its shock value) and the 'Happy Feedback For All' Hufflepuff element protects the shocking Slytherins from a) flames and b) legal action...

Because if anyone accuses the Slytherins of perpetrating dark deeds, they can say but look! I've used all the proper Hufflepuff-approved cut-tags and ratings and warnings on my fic/rant, so you wouldn't be reading it unless you were Not Very Nice to begin with, would you...?

I think I should shut up now.... *looks for the exit*

Wonderful essay, btw...(she says sincerely)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heheh, I hadn't considered the protection angle~:) It's true that like, Fandom Wank would probably face many more flames of various sorts if 'nice' (...um) people didn't protect it. Heheh, I love the idea of a symbiotic relationship-- I do think that all the different 'philosophies' people have do depend on one another, 'cause without one's opposite to stand against, we'd actually have to seriously question who we are and why we are the way we are, and so on :>

Ahh, labels. Gotta love 'em ^^;

I'm in the weird, semi-schizoid position of being a person who gets pissed off by both the 'Hufflepuffs' (whom I wish would tone it -down- already) and the 'Slytherins' (whom I wish would also... tone it down). I'd be most comfortable with the analyze-your-ass 'Ravenclaw' types if I didn't feel constantly paranoid they looked down on my extremely emotional self. And there are just not enough intelligent 'Gryffindor' types (who're not painfully self-righteous) worth talking to. Woe :D :D Apparently, I can't stand anyone :D :D

[malafede.livejournal.com]

You know, I am starting to suspect the drive behind defining oneself a Ravenclaw isn't very different from the drive behind defining oneself a Slytherin.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

ahahahah YOU ICON!!1 <3
There's something to that, btw, oh yes. There's a sort of 1337 superiority thang to being one of the uber-smarties, yes, y'know, looking down at the peons, all that. And also persecuted by the peons, ahahah. Although it's more the -drive behind the identification- rather than the actual canonical House identity, 'cause like... if you merely read the surface text, there seems little cool about Slytherin-- or Hufflepuff for that matter, unless you count Zacharias. And I only like Ravenclaw 'cause of Luna. Then again I like people more than concepts in terms of telling me where I want to hang out :>

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Word. And not just because any post that mentions Kai (who spelled his name "Kay" in my versions but you're probably right) and his mirror immediately gets my vote because I love that story so much.

Ahem. But yeah. I mean the niceness is just...as the song in "Into the Woods" says, "Nice is different than good." Sometimes nice is just fake--it leads to this idea that you can't disagree with somebody without disliking them, and then you wind up not being able to "like" people you really do like because liking somebody means smiling and nodding all the time.

But then on the other end of the spectrum...not only does it just become meaningless but sometimes it's just not funny. I don't mean "not funny" in a judgmental way, like telling somebody their tasteless joke is NOT FUNNY. I just mean, like, reaching. Like we're trying so hard to say we just find this so funny and we don't care even if we have to say it a thousand times after showing we do care by getting all serious about ourselves for a second. I mean, the whole point of a fandom is hey, here's this fictional thing that a lot of people at most will get some mild amusement out of before forgetting about it. We're going to talk about it for hours and maybe dress up as characters from it and make art about it and write stories about it. We've come together because we all have an interest in doing this." So while I know fandom produces some people who are strange enough to attract notice even from within, it's still like...people just behaving like fans isn't all that interesting. So often the mocking isn't just funny it's just that sort of, "I know you are but what am I" back and forth you get sometimes where everybody's trying to be more dismissive than the next person while getting into a flamewar: No, I care less. No I care less. You care more than me! Oh, you SO care more than me. Care much? You do! Nyuh-uh! So why are you replying? So why are you replying? So why are you replying? I asked you first. I asked you second. Wanker!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh man, like... people spell it 'Kai' & 'Kay' all over the place and I just picked one ^^; I did a little google search just now and apparently it's 'Kay' but it's all confusing to me 'cause originally I read it in Russian ><;; But. Yeah... it's like, my favorite fairy-tale :D I once tried doing a retelling but I don't think it fully makes sense, but. They're just something about it that reaches me on a more personal level than most fairy-tales, and almost -every- fairy tale touches me on a personal level :> I think I -was- Gerda before I ever even figured out much of the rest of what I thought of my identity :> (And OMG now I'm thinking of that "I would do anything for love, but" song by Meatloaf-- oh, the horror). Also, eeee, so happy you know the story-- most people don't ><

And OMG THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!!1 It's the caring badge-war!! This ties into the general internet '1337 H4x0r' culture that says that emotions are embarrassing & not to be displayed online unless you're a n00b or something. I've spent enough time on IRC that I just want to smack people who remind me of that attitude now, ahahaha. Ahahah omg, cracking up :D And a part of me is kind of afraid I'm being uncool by saying caring might not be a bad thing, 'cause of all the association with over-zealous 'let us all hold hands people'. I'm more like, 'well, okay, spit in each other's faces, but at least -mean- it or something' ahahah.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

it's all confusing to me 'cause originally I read it in Russi

Heh--I figured. But then, it's originally Danish, right? So neither of us had the original!

But omg that is my favorite fairy tale always! I had the best book of it when I was a kid where the pictures were like little models that were photographed and I would stare and stare at them all and want to climb into all the pictures, especially the one where Kay is at home and Gerda is waving from the next house in the window. I think I'm obsessed with stories about girls who go looking for lost boys or some twist on the girl/boy making their way out of the woods together.

Did you ever read, "Other Voices, Other Rooms?" It's by Truman Capote and is supposedly based somehow on it. I remember reading it in a Freshman Gothic Lit class and the teacher asked if anybody knew The Snow Queen. So of course I'm all, "That's my favorite fairy tale ever!!!" and she asked me to quickly tell it. You know, you can't really quickly tell it because it's very long with a million parts and people Gerda meets along the way. Anyway, so yeah, I have always had this secret idea that if I had a son I'd probably name him Kay.:-DDD

Oh--and I remember doing some big post comparing the X-files ep "Amor Fati" to it as well. Cause Scully searches for Mulder and he's locked inside a dream and she wakes him up with a tear! Damn, I love that mirror.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I love the metaphor of the mirror, 'cause it can be used for so many different things, and jadedness/loss of childhood/hope/redemption are just things I'm always obsessing over in one way or another, y'know. There are just so many powerful themese you can work through the story and kind of... look at. Also, I've always loved girls being the rescuers, the doers-- like also `Beauty & the Beast' & `The Little Mermaid' & `The Handless Maiden'-- all these have the girl be the one who -does- things and the boy be the object & I thought that was a great change of pace when I was growing up >:D!

And no, I haven't read that book, but now I want to. Also, I'm totally fascinated with the idea of fairy-tales illustrated with photographs(!!!)-- that seems delightful. My book (I think I still have it!) was just... illustrated, heh, but not memorably. I remember seeing the Russian movie based on it when I was little, though. The Lapland woman & the little Robber Girl stick out in my mind. Oh, and of course Gerda crying on Kai (which I was absolutely obsessed with-- obsessed with). That was the sexiest thing I'd ever read-- like, at age 9, ehehehe. Oh man, I just remembered, I think I've actually began -two- retellings at different points. My first one was from the robber girl's pov :>

Y'know, I think rescue-fics are like, a subgenre of fantasy in and of itself, and it's sad that few fanfics get written in that style (I mean, there's hurt/comfort but it's not the same 'cause it focuses more on the tortures than on the rescue process). There's just something so empowering and old-style adventurific about going on a quest to like... grow up & also save the one you love. Ahhhhh. It's a button :>

[malafede.livejournal.com]

"Nice is different than good."

I think there's nice and there's kind and there's honest. If you manage honest, especially honest with yourself, then it's the best kind of good.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

Being popular is every intelligentsia's downfall.

So like punks wanted to stick it to the Man, along comes MTV that transform punk into the Man. Eh. I totally plagiarised this, but it was worth it.

If you're being 100% obsessed with 'Teh Funneh' to the point where you think -everything- is 'Teh Funneh'

Eh. Coping mechanism. Like, okay, so you were funny. So, I guess, ah ah? But being funny doesn't really give you any sort of moral high-ground. They are separate matters. And while I love snarky, I also love fair.

Btw, you liked this fic that I disliked (saw you left a comment) and now my heart is all broken. There's nobody left that I can trust to be nice to me and only like the things I like.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I dunno if I love fair (I'm just so wibbly about that), but I do love honesty with oneself which often involves the eradication of coping mechanisms :>
Hehehe if you mean the one I linked to above, I imagine you disliked it at least partly 'cause it had an aggressive-type topping Draco? But like, he was so lost and confused and everything. But it was so well-written & sparse & Draco was so... wah, denial!Draco <3 hehehe I probably have a greater range of tolerance on Draco characterization, maybe possibly, but like, a lesser-or-equal range on overall fic quality, y'know, 'cause I'm a style h0r :>

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

REENA, I MISSED YOUR BIRTHDAY. I AM SO SO SORRY. I WAS NOT NEAR THE COMPUTER FOR A WEEK.
PLEASE DO CONSIDER UL18 BELATEDLY DEDICATED TO YOU, UNTIL I CAN WRITE YOU SOMETHING BETTER.
MY DARLING, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! *hugs*
p.s. like, happy belated birthday, dude.

!!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh dude!! ♥♥♥♥ *feels all happy and stuff*
Heheh I was afraid (slightly) when you said you don't know when you'll next be near a computer 'cause suddenly I had this vision of the whole summer stretching out without Maya. wah. But. *hugs!*

And also, since I'm now home & have access to my print-out of your fic & like, my notes & such I was worried you wouldn't get to email either and. Stuff. But now it seems... not so bad~:))

...I should be all humble and be like, OMG IT IS ENOUGH THAT YOU'RE THERE (and it -is-) but like... MAYA!FIC!!1....


....*wants!* heheh

[ashjay.livejournal.com]

*yawns* And even when I'm not talking to you, I'm still up late enough to hear these damn birds. Rrr.

But it's all okay now, because I made you a picture (http://xanadu-dreams.com/drawings/nolosers.jpg), and am fairly certain at this point that there are no pictures of rapiers out there that I haven't seen yet. *grins* Think of it as a concept piece for the animation, because that's what the last frame will probably be. Er, except maybe with a bit less blood. Yeah. Or possibly more. ;)

Okay, and sleeping now. Mmm.

...oh, and for mentioning Kai? I love you forever and a day. *hugs reference like a teddy bear as she falls asleep*

!!!!!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

OMG I AM DEAD FROM SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!fljas;kfs;afka
nolikereallytherearenowords ack!!1 *gerkles and dies. again.*
THE PRETTY SWORD!! WITH THE SWIRLIES!!
AND THOSE EV0L EYEBROWS OF DOOM AGAIN!!
AND THE BLOOOOOOOoooooooD!!1 *pants*
*cries*


...it's just so...... beautiful. wah. OMG TEH BLEEDING FROM TEH MOUTH HOLY COW o_0

*pets them*
they are so pretty when they bleed. *tear*
<33333333333333333333 YOU ARE TOO COOL FOR MORTAL BEINGS, HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU THAT?? BECAUSE YOU ARE. oh man!!1!!11!
THE UP-TILTED HEAD!! AND THAT SMIRK!! Just.
kink like whoah o_0

Re: !!!!!

[ashjay.livejournal.com]

...

Rrr. Capricious livejournal, not sending me a notification... Rrr.

*moves on*

I'm so glad that you like it! Isn't Draco's sword pretty? There's a snake on it, if you look closely... *cuddles* Harry's sword too, for that matter - the lion's head on the bottom is both symbolic *and* handy for bashing Draco on the head! Who could aks for more? They're going to be a pain to animate, but what the heck. *grins*

Draco's eyebrows are now becoming a permanent feature, since I like your name for them just so so much. Hee. And the blood, as always, makes me happy. For reasons I choose not to examine too closely. Yes. (Also, kink? No kink here, man. Just a good old fashion fight to the death... and if I spent a good half hour trying to put a smudge of blood on Draco's mouth to match the one on Harry's, nobody has to know that. ;)

*bounces* So pleased that you like it.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

oooh, and I just looked at your Tim/Maurice comic, right, and it occurred to me that we could do an H/D swordfighting comic-- like I could write that ficlet you wanted & you could draw it, so that it'd have like... the stuff you & I both wanted and you wouldn't need voices and IT WOULD BE SO HOT.
...Not that I wouldn't/don't want it animated, BECAUSE I DO, but it would still be fun, no?

*evil cackling*

[ashjay.livejournal.com]

And also much, much easier! Which I'm also all for. But you know that I have no, how do you say, idea how to do a comic, right? Because that would be my only qualm there. Well, that and the sad fact that I think I'd probably be better at animating action than capturing it in snapshot frames.

That said, why the heck not? *grins* You write that ficlet in script form, with appropriate stage directions, and I'll do my best. *rubs hands together with anticipation*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

But like, you really did well, I thought, with the Tim/Maurice one. And stuff :D Hehehehe! And we all know you love a challenge >:D The thing about comics is that you don't have to capture continuous action-- only the 'important' bits :D :D And you could have dramatic poses! And lighting! And in general it'd be more story-like. An animation of sword-fighting would be interesting 'cause.... of that moment of seeing their swords (......) actually -clash- (again, ......), but. :D :D!!

I dunno if I can write it in script form to start with. I think we'd have to collaborate on turning it into a script 'cause I've never actually written a script before, either. *coughs* :D :D!!!1 *GLEE*