Yeah, the part that really stuck out to me in the "Goblincore is anti-Semitic maybe?" quote was the part about people wanting to rename it "Gremlincore" as a less derogatory alternative because it feels like such a case of mistaking the map for the territory. Like, I can see a case being made to connect Goblins as portrayed in certain forms of media as being derived from anti-Semitic stereotypes, but if you're following that reasoning to its logical conclusion then the word "Goblin" isn't the aspect of Goblincore you should be taking issue with...KingKalamari, May 10, 2021, 10:43:39 pm
I think a lot of the issue is just that there are a lot of dogwhistle pitfalls that it's fairly reasonable most people wouldn't know about, but which might still cause some level of harm, and it can be easier and safer to just go, "Okay, someone who knows more than me said this is bad, let's avoid it," instead of spending time and energy thoroughly researching whether each individual point of contention is or is not valid. Like, that's time and energy you could be spending hanging out with snails and making them tiny hats.
It's a precarious balance to strike, especially given that if you
don't take the safe route (especially if you offer open criticism) you run the risk of getting the attention of people who feel that targeted harassment over extremely niche shit is praxis.
Also: I think about the only thing in this episode I thought was potentially concerning in this episode was the way some of the subject matter integrated mental health issues as a building block. It's part of a larger concern I've developed about the way people in some of the newer generations commiserate about things like anxiety and depression and whether it crosses the line from supportive to enabling. I don't think it's an actively malicious thing or a fault of the wiki itself though, just a case that when you get people into a group that's united by a common mental health issues, they're not necessarily going to create an environment conducive to dealing with that issue (If any of that makes sense).
Apparently this is a big issue in things like Borderline Personality Disorder, where even if you're in treatment it's a terrible idea to be part of a group of people with the same issue, because everyone just ends up constantly triggering each other inadvertently. (It's probably a bad idea for pretty much any personality disorder, really, because a big aspect of those is an incorrect set of core assumptions about reality, which need to
not be reinforced.)
There are plenty of mental health disorders that benefit greatly from a supportive group; the main issue is that mental health treatment has too many hurdles for a lot of people to clear, so it can be a coin toss of whether you're getting the equivalent of Sound Medical Advice from someone who got advice from a doctor, or "put crocodile dung and honey on it and bandage it, that'll fix your cancer right up!" (With the added issue that a lot of harmful stuff really does feel good in the moment, and the healthy stuff can feel like shit, so you can't even rely on intuition.
Anyone who claims exercising feels good is a dirty, dirty liar.)
