Instead of being crotchety today (YET...lol), what art haven't I slapped up here? Let's see...oh hey, this one! Affectionately called Shotgun Sam. (And cheaply animated by yours truly)
#SamWinchester #Supernatural #SPNfanart
AO3 is GREAT - but open source means you can have your fics on more than one site. AND it means that right now, while AO3 is unstable... you can go there to get your fix! (PS: Squidge is also GREAT for storing fan art to insert in your fics.)
This bundle is an amazing deal if you like queer fiction and supporting trans folks and trans rights. (And who doesn't?)
So... OpenAI is getting sued for helping kids commit suicide, "mechahitler" Grok is created custom CSAM, companies are getting sued for using AI-gathered data illegally, newsfeeds overrun by inaccurate AI newslop, and Discord wants to know how we feel about AI. Yeah, I have a few thoughts on that.
Sen. Mark Kelly
@captmarkkelly.bsky.social blasts Pete Hegseth after censure over 'illegal orders' video youtu.be/hqabWkofrMk?...
THREAD: I'll fact-check all the viral misinformation about the US military operation in Venezuela in this thread
This image, purporting to show the US military arresting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, is AI-generated.
According to Google's SynthID detector, it was created using Google AI.
I've been tracking the spread of nonconsensual deepfakes on X for more than two years. Here's a timeline of how Musk's leadership allowed the practice to flourish from a once-underground market to a viral trend, with little recourse for victims or legal enforcement.
spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...
I know controlling hyperfixations isn't easy - that's like, the definition of what makes them a hyperfixation. But like a muscle, it IS possible to make our control over them stronger by flexing it. And I think fandom as a whole would be a lot healthier, and happier, if we do.
So maybe this year could be the year we treat our Ids the way we'd treat our kids or pets? Enjoy our hyperfixations but don't feed them 24/7. Don't let them take over running our whole dopamine engines. Don't let them become angry gods of destruction when our theories and ships don't pan out.
This is counterintuitive to The Algorithm on most social media sites, which can and will shove All The Content About Your Hyperfixation at you at the drop of a hat. Which makes it incredibly easy to facilitate this toxic engagement cycle. Twitter and TikTok make it even easier.
In my own personal consumption, I've noticed a direct correlation between how much I enjoy a movie and how much I've consumed about it beforehand. The more articles I've read about it, the more trailers and clips I've seen, the less I enjoy it when it arrives.
I see this pattern again and again. Johnlock didn't go canon, but D- will. D- went to turbohell without reciprocation, but Stucky will. Steddie will. Byler will. The ID wants, and rages, and gorges on that dopamine. It's crazy and unhealthy, and the Internet will feed it until we burst.
And the people who never liked the first show come out of the woodwork now to lovebomb you. "You're right, it's terrible, I never liked that guy." Your hyperfixation would have hated them before, but now they're its best friend because they've got that outrage dopamine hookup.
Meanwhile, a new hyperfixation pops up - but this one is safe because here, the subtext IS the text. The pirates were always gay, the hockey players fuck in episode 1, Venom really is in Eddie. The new hyperfixation is now solid-gold proof that the old show was Always Bad and Terrible and Awful.
This is, at its core level, your brain on drugs - all Id, no logic. The show has let you down, and now the hyperfixation is playing the part of the crazy, jilted ex. It needs hot chocolate, a hug and a good cry. But what it wants is for heads to roll.
This is especially true when - like with literally ALL works of fiction - the evidence itself is contradictory. One writer drops a nod, the other doesn't. Now, instead of the story's direct text, suddenly it's all about subtext - and the subtext is always given more importance than the actual text.
The other option is conspiratorial delusion - there are Forces Working Against the ship to keep it from happening. Charts and spreadsheets appear with all the fervor of a flat-earther. After all, anything can be proof that you are right if you ignore all the evidence that contradicts you.
The dopamine highway that has been being fed 24/7 is suddenly shut down. Now, the hyperfixation darkens, switching to a loud, public outrage rampage to get that dopamine fix. Suddenly, everything beloved about Show A is now terrible - even if the quality remains unchanged.
And then comes the moment of truth, where the theory or ship is definitively disproved - usually, to no surprise to anyone who HASN'T been hyperfixating on it. Stranger Things has been saying El is the love of Mike's life since S1. Jensen has said all along that he played Dean as straight.
And there's that hyperfixation feeding the dopamine again - I figured it out! I'm right! My spreadsheet proves it! People who disagree become the enemy because they are keeping the dopamine from flowing - not just the fans, but the actors, the showrunners, the writers.
-Supernatural's genpop fandom VASTLY outnumbers the shippers, and the real reason it went 15 seasons was that the head of the CW fucking loved the show and let the boys run as long as they wanted to. But it's natural to think that if you and everyone you know feel one way, that must be the majority.
Confirmation bias kicks in - everyone you talk to agrees with you, so your side of the fandom is not only Correct but in the majority - but statistics doesn't work that way. The vast majority of Supernatural D- shippers will argue that they are responsible for the show running 15 seasons, but-
Then, the conspiracy thinking takes hold. What if- the hyperfixation asks. What if this plot, this ship that I desperately want to be real could happen? So we dissect, analyze, speculate more. And the conspiracy thinking sets in - is this a sign? Is this a hint? WHAT DOES THIS BEER MEAN? THIS LAMP?
There's a pattern I see, where a show becomes popular, and everyone loves it, and everyone has fun talking about it, and ships emerge, and everyone gets along. It is new, it is shiny, and talking about it serves up heaps of dopamine, so talk about it we do - talk, analyze, dissect, speculate.
Is it possible, perhaps, that the obsessive consumption of All Things Hyperfixation, feeding the ID for hours upon hours a day, days upon days a month, isn't healthy for us? That doing this feeds the desperate need for dopamine, but in a way that is ultimately unhealthy?
As five seasons of one Shiny Thing come to an end divisively with some fans declaring it the worst ever now that their hyperfixations have moved to the new sHinieR thing (and before the cycle repeats anew when the next even shinier thing shows up), perhaps it is time for a little introspection.
Reposting because, and I say this with love, some of you are going to see this and go “oh shit, I need to check my bottle” and then immediately forget about it so if this could affect you, go check right now before you even scroll to the next post, I mean it.
Or you could just not use the site; I've found dissecting things for their tropes actually decreases my enjoyment in the end. But more importantly, decisions like these are good reminders that sites that won't let you in without demanding unnecessary data aren't to be trusted.
Tim Walz: "I always get in trouble for it and I'll continue to say it, I don't think we do any favors when we don't name it -- these are fascist policies."
Don't forget to vote if you qualify to do so!
