He Ain't Wrong

He ain't wrong

Atsushi: I don’t know what to do, Akutagawa hates me.

Kyouka: Maybe you should try being nice to him.

Atsushi: I did, I complimented his coat.

Kyouka: What did you say?

Atsushi: I said it looked like a trash bag.

Kyouka: …

Its The Book. Someone found The Book.

This submarine situation is so wild. I'm always morbidly fascinated by industrial disasters and shit, because as much as they're tragic, they're also...usually some incredible monuments to the hubris of the wealthy, and amazing cautionary tales, and this one...this one is one of the best at that purpose I've seen in my LIFE.

Three business moguls including the CEO of the company involved, one of their adult sons, and one researcher who is on the record saying that he'd be at peace dying on a dive, climbed aboard a cobbled-together submarine to go visit the wreckage of the Titanic - a ship all but synonymous with the hubris of man, the ship declared unsinkable, whose maiden voyage was packed with the highest of white high society (and that glamorous side that adorned the papers to drum up excitement was specifically white high society; this came decades before nondiscrimination laws, the first class tickets at the center of all this pomp and circumstance were restricted by racist policies typical of the time (*this has been edited for accuracy and clarity)). Of course, despite all claims to the contrary, this big metal behemoth was, in fact, no match for the might of the icy sea. The contrast of the celebration and the hype of the launch with the severity of the disaster in the end, the broken promises, it all feels almost too poetic to be real.

Someone looked at that wreckage and thought, "there's a market here." Seeing nothing but dollar signs resting on the graves of a thousand, he built a submarine. It looked lovely and polished and refined on the outside. On the inside, it had no seats, was visibly thrown together out of parts from camping stores and big box hardware stores, and was controlled with a video game controller and one button - a duty which was to fall to one of the passengers after a crash course, but today, fell to the CEO himself.

This man fired a whistle-blower during the construction. He complained about safety regulations. He built a submarine that was bolted closed from the outside. He came up with no emergency plans, despite the need being apparent. He charged a quarter of a million dollars to ride it.

He christened this glorified sardine can Titan.

And so, down these 5 went.

And, just like with the wreckage they were going to see, something went wrong.

And so they vanished.

It feels like a plot line that resulted from the writer's strike. It's so on the nose it feels like a story written by scab labor. And yet, and yet, much of this is common of industrial disasters. The Challenger disaster. Alaska Airlines flight 261. The ultra-wealthy choose spectacle and/or profit over safety, time and time again. It's the same story almost every time...though, this one certainly has its own unique twists. The purpose. The name. The man who organized this was not only staring down constant reminders that no man, no matter how wealthy, is any match for the sea - reminders of the awe-inspiring power of nature - and instead of seeing it as something to respect, he saw it as something to conquer, as a trivial matter.

And he, and those who trusted in him, are now paying the price, most likely with their lives.

Reality truly is stranger than fiction.

In regards to Tumblr's proposed changes: what you can do

Understandably, the vast majority of users are unhappy at best and furious at worst with all the changes that have been made and will be made to this platform. Tumblr has always been a very unique place, especially when compared to other social media platforms; we, as users, have (or at least, we used to have) an immense amount of control over our experience. We get to decide who we follow, what content we see, what tags we blacklist--we even get to customize our blogs with themes, essentially being able to create our own personal mini-websites.

I believe I speak for just about everyone when I say that we, as Tumblr users, love having this kind of control and curation.

However, it seems that Tumblr wants to take things in a direction that reduces the degree of control, curation, and customization that users have historically had. So what can we do?

As many other users have suggested, rate- and review-bomb the Tumblr app. Make it known that these changes are unwelcome and that it will impact Tumblr's performance and popularity.

Send feedback using the "contact support" function. Select the "feedback" category, and explain why you don't want these changes to be made. Emphasize that you don't want Tumblr to become like every other social media, especially in the wake of Twitter's and Reddit's respective downfalls. Emphasize that you want to keep blog themes. Emphasize that you like reblog chains, and that you don't want reblogs to look like Twitter threads. Emphasize that you like Tumblr because of what it currently and has historically offered. Emphasize that you like Tumblr for its unique features. Emphasize that if these changes are implemented, you will be leaving the platform. Also keep in mind that your feedback should be polite and professional. Hostility and insults will not help our cause. Make yourself firm and clear, but do not turn to profanity.

Make an impact on their profits. Stop blazing posts, stop buying digital trinkets such as checkmarks, stop buying merch, and unsubscribe from ad-free browsing. As all companies and corporations are, Tumblr is profit-driven. If their profits plummet as a direct result of these proposed changes, they're much more likely to reconsider and backpedal. (Remember how Discord backed down from crypto/NFT implementation after millions of users cancelled their Nitro subscriptions in retaliation?) Vote with your dollar.

I have hope that we can get them to listen. I think we have a fighting chance. The userbase is what keeps the platform alive, and if they realize that changes they make will seriously cause users to abandon ship en masse, taking their money and generated ad revenue with them, the people in charge may change their minds.

Reblog this. The more people who see this, the more people who do the things listed above, the better chance we have of making an impact. Fight for your online experience.

Atsushi the Hecker

Kunikida: What are you doing? Atsushi: I’m trying to hack into the Port Mafia’s database. Kunikida: And how are you doing that? Atsushi: I’m typing “password” over and over again.

Elon made a mistake and is covering up with a whole different shade of paint

Elon's really out there with his hand on the tweet spout like, "Do not, my friends, become addicted to Twitter. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence."

Was? Was ist dein problem?

no wayy i just saw a twitter thread complaining that tumblrs “algorithm” sucks and its too hard to get followers

boy do i have news for u angel