From the comments in last night’s Darkstream in which the recent Voxiversity on Alpha was discussed:
Mister Sick O
so what are you?Mister Sick O
who am i listening to?Mister Sick O
tell us what you areMister Sick O
you’re just back in high school, trying to #*@! anything
Now, do you really still think these behavioral patterns are figments of my imagination? But wait, there’s more, from the comments here:
C1: Taleb blocked me, and I’m one of his biggest supporters, apparently for quibbling with his silly opinion that organized medicine is “science.”
C2: Have you considered the possibility he blocked you for the simple reason your quibbles don’t add anything of value to his life and he already has a bazillion people quibbling with him all the time?
C3: That’s what the mute button is for. Or notification filters. Or just accepting that not everyone is going to $*{65108b33d47dec3ed9356a280856d243f70f2cb9c21b43b9b4712c810a35415b}^ your #*#! over every opinion you put out. Blocking is the one option that makes it completely obvious that you did it, because then the person can’t see your content anymore. Brilliant plan, cutting off a follower who might have given you money in the future just because you were butthurt. I’m off Twitter for good now—it’s pure poison in more ways than one—but when I used it I was blocked by most of the e-celebs I ever engaged with, and it was almost always over something trivial like asking for clarification on a point or politely disagreeing with them. I’m not saying Taleb is a typical e-celeb (and he never blocked me) but *{65108b33d47dec3ed9356a280856d243f70f2cb9c21b43b9b4712c810a35415b}^! if there aren’t a lot of fragile {65108b33d47dec3ed9356a280856d243f70f2cb9c21b43b9b4712c810a35415b}*^($)#$ on Twitter.
Because they are both myopic and solipsistic, gammas never grasp that others readily recognize their pattern of behavior because they have seen it many times before. Because they are not, for the most part, much in demand themselves, gammas have no conception whatsoever of how annoying it is to have a thousand people all “respectfully offering a correction” or “politely asking you for clarification on a point”, usually in an obvious attempt to show you what Special Smart Boys they are, and how much you have in common, and how you should totally become best friends.
Even though the initial communication is usually innocuous in itself, the experienced e-celeb knows perfectly well that any response is only going to generate additional requests, demands, and eventually, drama. Even the most minor e-celeb has learned to dread answering an email and promptly receiving a gushing wall of text in response. This is why serious celebrities like Taleb preemptively block fans who show even the slightest sign of being a potential problem; they simply don’t have time to put up with the inevitable nonsense.
As for the assumptions of butthurt and fragility, that is nothing but emotional projection. In comparison to the average individual, most e-celebs are actually very psychologically hardened. They have to be or they could not endure the constant negativity they have to endure.