Blog 05: Is "TikTokification" Real?

Warning!

This article will be a little controversial, but I've been wanting to write this for LITERAL YEARS so I don't really care. This article is also ginormous and I get embarassingly emotion on this subject and not professional or subtle at all. Buckle up!!!

The Term

I'm sure everyone using the internet has heard the term "TikTokification." You know, "Oh, I'm so upset that something I really like got super popular and now I look like I'm just following a trend." Those types of complaints. Most people say these claims are shallow and ridiculous, countering them with, "Everyone found their favorite thing somewhere! You can't be upset about that!" or, "That's such a stupid thing to complain about!" I do agree in the sense that all the people complaining about things getting popular on TikTok are usually pretentious, shallow freaks that just want to hoard everything for their own ego. However, I do really believe that TikTok is the sole cause for what you might've heard as the "rise of aesthetics and death of subcultures." So, basically a much more gentle way of saying that things go to die when they get popular on TikTok. Now, I know I sound like a chronically online loser right now, so please bear with me. The way I see it, everything happened somehow. Don't say, "It's not that deep," because it is. I think everything can be looked into, nothing happens for nothing. People have a reason for doing everything.

The Pandemic

If you're on the "alt" side of the internet, you've probably heard of kids complaining about how the pandemic introduced the internet into the everyday life of both alternative people and "average" people. These "average" people don't really have a reason to resort to the internet for community-related reasons. They have friends and people around them with all the same interests as them because their interests aren't all that rare. Lots of alternative people say fandom spaces are so shallow and everything is considered cringe because these "horrible normal people" are just bullies that "evilly invaded fandom spaces in 2020" and just "ruined everything." Now, this did happen, in a much less dramatic way. Everyone was using the internet because people weren't even allowed to go outside. That's why anime and stuff got so popular, 2020 marks the start of the extreme fetishization of east Asian culture that the western world is experiencing right now (more on that later, barely). We might've left 2020, but people didn't change. Everyone is exposed to internet jokes now. Everyone knows what's trending on TikTok. These online spaces aren't reserved for cosplayers and alternative people just trying to find some friends. The thing is, fandom spaces love placing all of the blame on "normal" people. The thing is (Yes, I know I sound like a broken record), the sort of short-formed content has driven such a pretentious nature out of everyone online. Alternative and "normal" people. Everyone is a pretentious jerk now. Alternative people used to be really nice because they understood what it meant to be different and bullied for it, but now alternative people are just as rude as "normal" people. What I'm getting at is: yes, more average people did sort of "invade" fandom and alternative spaces in 2020 and they never left and that's why communities suck. But it's not just them, it's everyone. Now, alternative people are just like "normal" people. They're just as big bullies, too. Everyone is the same. Now everyone is an attention seeking jerk. There are no spaces to run to because they're all flooded with unempathetic jerks who sees more use in ego than in humanity. The difference is that "average" people are still so often rude without a label while alternative spaces claim that they're "completely different" and "so much more authentic."

"Bringing ____ back"

I know what I'm saying is outlandish, but when you really think about it I'm completely right. Everyone has the same jokes, the same defensive nature. This brings me to the rise of aesthetics and loss of subcultures. When everything was mixed in 2020, people noticed that everyone was starting to be the same and lost their individuality. I think this is why everyone's obsessed with "bringing things back." Think about what trends are happening right now. Bringing back 2020, retro and hippie looks, do the makeup that was trending during your birthyear, etc. People don't have a sense of individuality anymore so they're desperately bringing back things. What sucks is they're just more trends. If you're just doing something to bring it back or because you miss a feeling, you're not actually doing it, if that makes sense. In 2020, we didn't do things because "it's 2020 and this will be so cool later." We did it because it was fun. Because we just wanted to do those things or because we thought it was cool in the moment. By bringing things back, it will never be the same because you're chasing a feeling that you can only gain from being authentic; doing something to bring it back directly contradicts that. It's just human nature.

This is a huge problem I have with alternative spaces in particular. It's all those same pretentious kids (I sound like some evil old guy that hates children but I swear I just hate short-formed content and only young people really use it. I don't have a problem with someone just because they're young). Every generation has their odd ones, people who are queer or something like that. There's always a "weird kid" group in every grade. The thing is, that generation of weird kids in the 80's might've grown up to be political activists because they were bullied and began to think for themselves and learned to empathize with others. That same group of weird kids now is just being fed whatever is currently trending in alternative spaces and is not, in fact, thinking for themselves, because being actually alternative (thinking for yourself and curating your own opinions) in an alternative space is just an evil abomination that must be ERADICATED!!!!! (/Sar obviously. But you get the point.). You'll notice that everything "weird" people say to sound smart now is just what everybody else is saying (and how they almost always get popular in mainstream spaces, proving my point). For example, physical media is getting popular again. I think physical media is great, having something tangible and more difficult to produce is amazing for community. Making something inconvenient means that you have to actually care about it to have it. Having something real to hold on to is good for you; it gives you not just something to have, but a memory for the future. The thing is, if you talk about vinyl or having CD's to anybody now, they praise physical media like they invented it themselves. It's funny to watch; people will get on the floor and pray and scream over these things even though the terminology they use makes it so obvious that they got all of these opinions from the internet. I can't even count how many alternative people I've talked to recently that just spit out crap like, "I LOVE PHYSICAL MEDIA IT'S THE BEST THING EVER AND IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME THEN YOU'RE STUPID!!!" People have zero humility. I'm sure you've noticed that all of this includes myself; I started valuing "physical media" when it got popular, too—dare I say it, but I think the difference is that I actually have a reason for loving it. I would never preach something if I don't have a reason to. And these trends do seep into mainstream culture. I've talked to several non-alternative people who have bought Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift CDs. It's a thing. (Personally, I prefer to buy DVDs or Blu-Ray's so I have both visual and audio. More content for my money; it's even better if it's a concert with multiple discs.). This is just one of many examples happening right now.

Edit (the whole paragraph): It's unforunate because queer/alternative/weird people in general have always used the internet to connect with each other since it came out. If you like things are connect with things that simply aren't easy to find in real life, the internet has always been an awesome place to find your community. Now, all those places have been invaded by these new people with no premise behind their beliefs and copy and paste each other. The nature of social media has absolutely ruined his type of thing. The internet was differnet when people were writing ginormous blogs about their interests and just sharing memes. People were on the internet because they cared about what they were saying. That's why I started this blog—the short-formed content of today has no meaning behind it; it's completely mindless and lacks passion. What's even more unfortunate is that queer and alternative spaces have always been extremely welcoming to anyone oppressed, marginalized, or simply seeking somewhere have a good time; these spaces have naturally always been very left-leaning. Now that these spaces have been overtaken by mindless people who SCREAM at the top of their lungs but beleive whatever they see, a lot of people tend to be really pretentious about politics and really give anyone left-leaning a horrible reputation. The two parties hate each other, but now the "evil right side" (I made a post about how much I hate the two party system, go read that for more detail) has fuel to make fun of their "opposers" for. Also, the kids that came around in 2020 obviously aren't evil or anything. Just susceptoible to change by nature and the environment they were engaging with was extrekmely arrogant and promoted screaming your name in an arugment more than it actually promoted critical thinking. These are kids at the end of the day—just children that wanted to explore and experiement with their identity. It's just unforunate that the circumstances of today and hatred for people that think for themselves (while still claiming that we all have well-rounded voice) led to this. I touch upon this later with how the same group of kids, if they had been kids in the 80's, would've much more likely turned out to be activists and creatives.

Why This is a Problem

In other words, people don't think for themselves. People have never really thought for themselves, the problem is that the few people that have always been known to stand out in the crowd are now saying they stand out in the crowd when they are, in fact, THE CROWD. It's disappointing. This is the problem I have with "TikTokification." Nobody is thinking for themselves. This means that when people that have always stood out and done great things get into things now, they're just more trends. And even worse, they're never new!! For years now, it's just been stealing old things. Nobody takes responsibility, nobody thinks. This is why I think the rise of aesthetics and the fall of subcultures is so aggravating. People take entire lifestyles and boil them down to trends for mindless teenagers to follow and glorify without every asking themselves why they like it. Everything is just "pretty" now. Japanese fashion is a huge victim of this, considering the fetishization of eastern Asia I mentioned earlier, especially Japan. Lolita, visual kei, gyaru... goth is also a big one right now. These are lifestyles that exist for political reasons and exist to be true to yourself and different from the masses. Now, they're all just "supa cute outfits to draw ur ocs in!!" "my favoriet vkei band is diru! kuchuu buranko!" "gyaru is poltiical oh my GAWSH!!!!" SHUT THE FREAK UPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It sucks because these beautiful ginormous subcultures with genuinely unique history are being destroyed by the second and if you saying ANYTHING negative about new fans you're an EVIL GATEKEEPER AND YOU NEED TO DIE!!!!! I'm getting dramatic but you get the gist. I'm trying to keep a grammatically proper format here but I fear I need to be ridiculous and incorrect to express my rage at this, as someone who cannot find a SINGLE freaking person with the same opinions as them when it comes to fashion and music cuz all alt people now are just "look at my pinterest board :333" like yes you can use your resources but as an alt person I expect you to think for yourself and acknowledge that all the sources you're using are shallow and offering you nothing.... I love the dramatic Pinterest/TikTok fashion aesthetics too with diy shirts and pins and everything with apples and buttons and blaj blah blah but I think it's SO FREAKING IMPORTANT to acknowledge that these are mere aesthetics with no lifestyles or politics or ANYTHING behind them other than "pretty" and "what aesthetic is this?" (please stop labeling everytnign. yes labels can be awesome when it comes to identity but if you NEED a label to feel special then you have already lost sight of WHY we have labels)

All in All...

All in all I think people need to get off their big butts and think for themselves and not be big phat posers stealing things that people dedicate their whole lives to for 3 seconds and deciding that if you still like something that was trendy (even though they are entire lifestyles) after the 3 seconds it was popular ur old and annoying and wrong and OH MY GODSHHH. its not gatekeeping is PRESERVING AUTHENTICITY. nobody likes a jerk that says "NOT TELLING YOU THE SONG NAME BC IM GATEKEEPING" but that just doesn't happen. people gatekeep cuz they want yo GRUBBY HANDS off their entire lifestyle that has been formed through perseverance and community and politics and love and not "omg this is so aesthetic"

I've only scratched the surface of this big pile of garbage having to do with aesthetics vs. subcultures, obsession and fetishization of eastern Asia (particularly Japan), only doing what you've been told and nothing thinking yourself making ANYTHING alt look bad (the 2 party system is already evil but the fact that alternative spaces, aka spaces that have always been extremely left-leaning, being overtaken by children who dont think for themselves makes anything "woke" look evil and extremist), etc. please take care and dont be a trendhopper

I also know I kind of sound like I hate non-alternative people AND alternative people but I swear I don't. In fact, I think we're all people are should get along just fine and that everyone on this Earth has the potential to be an amazing person. I'm just really mad when it comes to this sort of thing HELEPME and i understand that i am apart of the problem (i reufse to say "im victim of this" because nobody is the victim of something you purposefully and willingly subjected yourself to) by being hateful and using "tiktok terminology" and "brainrot texting style." not trying to say "im differient look at me!" just that self improvement is a journey and if i can kind of betray my internet roots for the sake of my own sanity and living a life i ACTUALLY want to live (not what tiktok says the subculture im def in should live) then you always can too

In the words of Imai from Buck-Tick:

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! PEACEEEE!!!!!!!

xavier OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!