whenever i read a discussion or article about some thing nowadays, i swear 25% is about the thing and 75% is about the people who made the thing and the people who like the thing and why they might be good or bad people or not

maybe it's always been like this?? maybe???? maybe people are just worse at writing nowadays (uncharitable) more direct in the way they say things nowadays (neutral) or less constrained by outdated notions of decorum (charitable)

maybe, nowadays, when you hear about something, you mostly want to know what people think about it, so you can position yourself socially in regard to it, which is useful. knowing about the thing itself isn't as useful, and might even be a bad move socially if you end up knowing about things that are uncool to be interested in