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Last thought of the night: “Don’t be tacky (unless you know why you’re doing it)” is a surprisingly powerful heuristic for me. Idk if anybody else will relate to it. It’s an aesthetic-grounded approach to peopling, related to “people are forgiving of most things if you’re classy” https://t.co/pUGPbY7Kpk
It’s kind of circular reasoning though. How do you even begin to explain what tacky is? The dictionary is useless here. It’s kind of like “rule 1: be attractive rule 2: don’t be unattractive” https://t.co/CkoeVNg3T8
But I find it to be a very refreshing way of reframing things. Let me try to explain, and I’m probably wrong, but hell: Aesthetics (or something close to it) might the fundamental currency of social capital Generally, Good aesthetics = gain capital Tacky = lose capital
Because different groups have different ideas of what good aesthetics are, what is aesthetic here is tacky there. That’s just how it is, you can’t escape this. But simply knowing this reality lets you play the game at a higher level than most people (who play by mimicking others) https://t.co/wJ06IJSOzg
Of course, at a meta level, all aesthetics are made up. Welcome to social reality!! The fact that money and laws and nations are all fictions does *not* change the fact that you can’t opt out; you will be evicted and jailed and pwned https://t.co/kMOxGdjNod
I think this is why I have always had a background fascination with fashion. Everything is fashion, everything is showbiz. You cannot opt out of this game so you might as well get good at it. 48 laws of fashion https://t.co/bNl2A0Sejl
Being fashionable does not guarantee you a fulfilling life; but it spares you the indignity of being ostracised by humans. IMO fashion is a vehicle of persuasion, it’s proof-of-work that you are sensitive to the interests and tastes of others https://t.co/HsfbYKqlVv
be fashionable, the world is not kind to those who are tacky https://t.co/XmIq2KgDkS
To be clear, I am not at all gleeful that the world is this way. It is what it is https://t.co/SE6Wh4p7fQ
I also think that wanting to be fashionable for its own sake - and I’m talking about my own experience - is a trap. It’s great to be likeable, but making likeability your goal is to be a performing monkey. Simultaneously possess the courage to be disliked https://t.co/8m8E5yXeSJ
Fashion is a great servant but a terrible master At this point you have to know yourself For some people a life yoked to a terrible master can be deeply fulfilling Just make sure that, if that’s you, that you chose that life for yourself and weren’t kicked around into it https://t.co/RHJhxpEVhA
I haven’t yet gotten to the thought I actually wanted to share when you see a take that you dislike, framing it as “that’s so tacky” is strangely liberating for me, anyway I think it has to do with the simplicity of it Bad takes are tacky You don’t really need to elaborate https://t.co/zLDvRvvm0m
Getting overly worked up by someone else’s tacky bad take is also tacky You see where I’m going with this? Which isn’t to say you should excuse cruelty or injustice But tackiness can be recognised & avoided while you focus on what matters you Ok night! May ur aesthetics shine https://t.co/DfE2Paaaaj
Additional closing thought: - when you deserve to get your ass kicked, accept it, defending yourself too much is tacky - when you need to kick someone’s ass, be swift (and kind if possible), overdoing it is tacky https://t.co/2fQqeMkizy
Visa’s rules for life [draft] 1. recognise when u get ur ass kicked, & accept it with grace 2. if u *have* to kick someone’s ass, be swift, don’t be a dick about it 3. if u can save an innocent ass from being kicked, do so 4. remember, life kicks everybody’s ass in the end https://t.co/Um8cpgnREB
And a thought to sleep on: Trump is soooo tacky in so many ways and yet he has gotten so far with it. Why is that? 🤔 I suppose it’s because lots of people have really bad taste / maybe even resent good aesthetics in their opponents,,,? Hillary was very tacky too though
Sexism definitely made things worse,,, and she was also tacky. It’s true that women get punished a lot worse for the crime of tackiness, which is unfair https://t.co/AaEwwXosZD
(This was in 2015) – asking elder public figures to do this sort of thing might seem fun, but honestly I think it’s probably counter-productive – it just makes them look like “they don’t get it”. If I were their PR/brand person I would hesitate to allow this https://t.co/RBygTKvq3z
This thread is very compelling in demonstrating how AOC has killer aesthetics while Warren and Booker are tacky. Warren used to be cooler than this, idk what happened https://t.co/EzpbSCLbRG
aesthetics rules everything* around me I am probably wrong about this but it’s a fun lens to play with https://t.co/plIVCma9WR
@sharanvkaur https://t.co/bl3cYL3S8A