I can handle the flame wars. I can handle the trolls, and I can handle the circular firing squad that periodically seems to march out to eradicate unpopular opinions. I can handle what I often consider crappy diaries making it on to the recommended list. Hell, I can even handle Armando's insults. Why? Because I love this place, and I love what we are doing here. But the unending, unrelenting, boring, stupid, repetitive snark is really starting to get to me. How many times to I have to hear the exact same jokes made in the exact same snotty tone? How many ironic, self-referential
diaries and comments that don't actually say anything do we actually need in order to feel better about ourselves? I mean, I enjoy a good circle-jerk as much as the next guy... but come on. The snark is getting really, really old.
I'm drowning in the snark. It sucks.
Humor is important. We all know that, and I would never argue that humor doesn't have a place here in the land of blogofascism.
Hell, one of my few diaries is about penguins having group sex. I even thought it was sort of funny. But I've never been a huge fan of the ironic, holier-than-thou, self-reflexive type of humor that so many people around here find so appealing. I find it distancing and sort of off-putting, to be honest. And sort of sad. Its the comic equivalent of Thomas Frank: snotty, disaffected, hyper-sensitive of its own performativity. It mistakes being insulting with being witty. It mistakes group-think for analysis. Its embarrassing.
Or maybe not. What do I know? I'm just sick of it.
For fuck's sake... chill on the snark. Can't we find some other comic style to write in?