There's a common joke/completely-accurate-observation that when you see that a celebrity is trending on social media for the first time in a while, it gives an instant sense of dread. This is because there are only two likely reasons for the trending: the celebrity has died, or some despicable past behaviour has come to light. So you find yourself in the weird situation of being relieved to find that the beloved star is dead.
A large part of Canada went through a variation on this process earlier this week, when — without warning — the CN Tower was trending on Twitter.
(Shame on my phone's Amero-centric autocomplete for suggesting CNN but not CN, and then not suggesting "tower" as the next word after CN. At least it didn't change "Amero-centric" to "Amero-centeric".)
Assuming the tower doesn't have some skeletons in its closet, people jumped to the “death” possibility, which would be rather alarming, as the demise of the tower would take a number of people with it. Personality, I didn't worry, as there are a lot of less-scary reasons the tower could be tending. A change in ownership, a really great practical joke on the EdgeWalk, or the return of the Tour of the Universe ride (fingers crossed.)
But here's the weird thing: as far as anyone can tell, it was nothing. There was just a random swell of people mentioning the tower on Twitter, and that got it on to the list of tending topics on a slow news day. Toronto being Toronto, this was more than enough encouragement to get them Tweeting about their city. And the Rest of the World being the Rest of the World, people said, hey, I haven't thought about Toronto in years, let's post that picture from our visit eight years ago. Then add in Drake fans finally understanding the Views album cover. That pushed it further up the trending charts, which lead to all the people tweeting about how worried they were that it was trending, and it was trending even more. And Bam!: Twitter inception.
So it wasn't really anything important, but it was a good example of the fickleness of the automated systems that bring things to our attention in the modern world.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Monday, August 5, 2019
Generation X-Wing And The Millennial Falcon
Generally, I’ve been sympathetic to millennials, arguing that generations have far more in common than different. However, some in my generation have enthusiastically jumped on the millennial-bashing bandwagon. One example was a meme I saw that tried to symbolize our generations by our Star Wars villains. Supposedly, Kylo Ren is a typical millennial, while Darth Vader is emblematic of Generation X.
Of course, it’s just listing positive and negative aspects of each character, arbitrarily assigning them to each generation as convenient, while overlooking the whole genocide thing. And misspelling “Millennial” was a bonus.
I don’t buy the idea that our Star Wars antagonists symbolize us.. For one thing, the ages don’t really line up: the original trilogy were made as the last few Gen-Xers were being born, and staring mostly Baby Boomers, while the new trilogy is mostly staring millennials, while that generation are in their twenties and thirties and a lot of the viewers are the next generation. Really, the Millennials would have been personified by Count Dooku in the prequels.
And wouldn’t Darth Vader act and talk differently if he were the personification of Generation X?
But more to the point, try to imagine the Gen-X Sith. I mean for those of us who lived through the worst of Generation X stereotypes, it’s pretty comical to imagine: Darth X’er, in his flannel robes, lazing on the couch in his parents’ house, using the force to grab pizza from across the room because he can’t be bothered to get up, listening to the Chemical Brothers’ remix of the Imperial March.
And that’s the biggest surprise to me about Millennial bashers from Gen-X: we lived through the vicious stereotypes of us — often the same ones now aimed at Millennials, often from the same Baby Boomers that are supplying most of the millennial-hate — all to blame us for problems that were really a product of our circumstances. That’s why I’ve been sympathetic to the Millennials, and willing to listen to them when they complain about their problems.
But some people prefer to take the anger once directed at themselves, and then push it back out at others. The problem is, that makes you no better than those who attacked you; you’re just continuing that same evil. If only someone had made a bunch of movies built around that same point.
I don’t buy the idea that our Star Wars antagonists symbolize us.. For one thing, the ages don’t really line up: the original trilogy were made as the last few Gen-Xers were being born, and staring mostly Baby Boomers, while the new trilogy is mostly staring millennials, while that generation are in their twenties and thirties and a lot of the viewers are the next generation. Really, the Millennials would have been personified by Count Dooku in the prequels.
And wouldn’t Darth Vader act and talk differently if he were the personification of Generation X?
- “I find your lack of irony disturbing.”
- “The Force is totally awesome with this one.”
- “Yeah, I killed your father...not!”
- “You’re, like, underestimating the power of the Dark Side.”
- “Just for once, let me see you with my old-school eyes instead of this bogus mask. You were right about me, Luke. My bad.”
But more to the point, try to imagine the Gen-X Sith. I mean for those of us who lived through the worst of Generation X stereotypes, it’s pretty comical to imagine: Darth X’er, in his flannel robes, lazing on the couch in his parents’ house, using the force to grab pizza from across the room because he can’t be bothered to get up, listening to the Chemical Brothers’ remix of the Imperial March.
And that’s the biggest surprise to me about Millennial bashers from Gen-X: we lived through the vicious stereotypes of us — often the same ones now aimed at Millennials, often from the same Baby Boomers that are supplying most of the millennial-hate — all to blame us for problems that were really a product of our circumstances. That’s why I’ve been sympathetic to the Millennials, and willing to listen to them when they complain about their problems.
But some people prefer to take the anger once directed at themselves, and then push it back out at others. The problem is, that makes you no better than those who attacked you; you’re just continuing that same evil. If only someone had made a bunch of movies built around that same point.
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