the secret history is a satire

don't romanticize this kids. started out as da, now intent on tearing down pretentiousness in this aesthetic with humor and small anecdotes of real college life.

[ayliffe]

Are you a Dark Academia blog?

you’ve caught me at the perfect time. i am in a Ranting Mood.

disclaimer: anon, this isn’t aimed at you in particular. if DA is what you enjoy, that’s fine! don’t let me shame you for it. i do enjoy the aesthetics associated with it, after all.

having said that, you can probably tell where this is going.

a while back, somebody else asked me the same question, and here’s how i answered -- tl;dr: eeehhh, people take it and themselves too seriously, but maybe? i guess?

my opinion has since changed. i now think that the DA fandom is a hellhole filled with some of the most pretentious, irritating, shallow people on this site. and shallowness in itself isn’t necessarily a problem -- shit, i’m shallow all the time -- but these same people treat themselves with such seriousness, like they’re the next cicero or who the fuck ever, like everything they say is so deep and meaningful but for fuck’s sake, you’re just reblogging photos of tweed and jerking yourselves off about how you enjoy poetry when your ~idiot peers~ are only listening to megan thee sodding stallion. i am so, so tired of superiority complexes from people who say shit like “academia is an aesthetic” rather than an actual job. for fuck’s sake, listen to yourselves. appreciating art and writing poetry makes you better than everyone else how, exactly?

and i’m saying this as someone who actually enjoys the aesthetics associated with it -- i’m a slut for oxbridge and tweed and illicit activities -- so i can’t even imagine how fucking insufferable DA bloggers are to people who don’t care about any of that.

which is all very funny, yes, because my gripe is still with these people taking themselves too seriously and here i am doing the same thing, but good god. stop wanking yourselves off about how clever you are and how well you know wilde and how wearing turtlenecks is a substitute for having a fucking personality. i cannot understand how anyone over the age of about 15 would be able to give a single solitary shit about this ridiculous culture DA’s turned into. (yes, i know. shut up.)

incidentally, this also includes l*ght acad*mia/gr*y acad*mia/rom*ntic acad*mia/gr**n acad*mia/whatever the actual fuck acad*mia. don’t try and turn this into some sort of in-fighting bullshit. you are all just as obnoxious as each other.

so, anon, i think that roughly sums it up. you may ask me why i am so bothered over all this. a fair question! like i say, i think it’s mostly just the hypocrisy, you know? like if you’re going to act like this, at least have a modicum of self-awareness about it.

whew. i need a cigarette.

[decadeance]

https://youtu.be/Q6L1CRP5AKw

Sorry for the late reply! College has been hectic (and not the aesthetic kind of hectic, mind you).

This person makes several points, but it alarms me that he tries to deconstruct DA through a philosophical, and notably politic-less (he makes a point to say that journalists with political agendas call out the subgenre for its glorification of academia and its worship of European education and figures, which was my first big red flag) perspective. And he seems to really limit himself by considering the modern dark academia definition, and not the original one that spawned on this site.

Every day I wonder if this is to be my and many other users' legacy, just from our stupid 2017 blogging. A subgenre meant to criticize and condemn academia has turned into a worship of its most toxic traits. I wonder how Donna Tartt is faring right now.

[exitwound]

college is so STUPID why can’t i go 5 times and major in 10 different things for $999 total and then do like, 3 MFAs on the house

[internet-sentences]

College admissions sound insane nowadays wtf

[infectedwithnyanites]

Absolutely insane acceptance boards should be punished for behaving like this like seriously someone please electroshock these assholes till they're less pretentious make them write multiparagraph essays proving what an interesting person they are over and over and everytime you aren't sufficiently moved just zap em again.

[scallioncreamcheesebagel]

wtf “activities related to premed” is a teenager supposed to be doing anyway?? especially one who’s already spending all her time going to school, studying hard enough to achieve perfect grades, tutoring other students, and playing in band / practicing her instrument?

[decadeance]

dec, i know that tiktok and tumblr won't credit you for it, i know you said you don't care...but i've followed you from the start, and i REMEMBER when you made the term dark academia. you were literally the start of the term, and i kind of wish people would know that :(

First of all, I'm very flattered, thank you so much anon.

Second of all, I may or may not have created this phrase (I truly don't remember because it was a long time ago), but if I did, I really have no intentions of reclaiming it, because it has turned into a meaning and has attached itself to a community that I refuse to partake in. Back in 2017 to 2018, I was amongst several other Tumblr blogs promoting DA, and the mood around it was hopeful. We all knew "dark academia" meant "dark things happening in academia". We knew that this subgenre was a direct critique of academic institutions, which uphold racist, classist, and sexist standards that DA works highlighted and condemned. We were ecstatic that we finally had a term for these particular works, but we weren't careful enough to emphasize that people shouldn't idolize academia.

Because of that, the DA community is now a glorification of academia, with racist, classist, and sexist standards. There is little to no critical thought. Creators of color in that community get shunned and isolated in it. Most people now consider DA more of an aesthetic than a genre. There's also the harmful idea that you have to buy 19th century-esque European materials to be a "proper DA person".

It does not matter to me whether I created the phrase "dark academia", because the phrase no longer conjures up the ideas nor the community that I and several others on Tumblr thought for it in 2017. I truly want nothing to do with it.

[the2headedcalf-archive]

look. when someone has wealthy parents, private tutors, a warm house, a quiet environment for studying, a comfortable environment for studying and plenty of room for "failure" because they always have their parents' money as an option.......i just don't think the academic achievements of such a person are all that impressive. sorry :/

[gothsbian]

i just watched legally blonde

#dark academia #light academia #aesthetic #the secret history #law school #chaotic academia #donna tartt #studyblr #studyspo #books

[butternaan]

[draculasdaughter]

This is about Sci-Hub. yeah we get it.. gatekeep knowledge and protect the interests of capital…

[three-blogs-in-a-trenchcoat]

Listen, this is serious.

Do not use the website called Sci-Hub!

It lets people access scientific articles for free. This is dangerous. It helps the free flow of knowledge and reduces the competitive edge of all the people who worked really hard to have been born into a wealth.

Like, it’s literally a website where you can type in the DOI of an article and read it, without ever having to pay the publisher who exploited the author.

So, again, do not, under any circumstance, use Sci-Hub. I mean, can you imagine a world where knowledge is free and easily accessible to everyone? Even, y'know, poor people?

[whateverthebeeswant]

Libgen also has many books online, including textbooks, searchable by name, author, and ISBN. Can you imagine textbook companies not getting their hard-earned income from poor college students? Here is the link just so you make sure that you never accidentally stumble across this horrible, unethical website.

[three-blogs-in-a-trenchcoat]

Oh, and while we’re talking about books, if you’ve managed to stay clear from Libgen, definitely don’t go to zlibrary, where you can also find a lot of textbooks, but unfortunately they’re completely free.

[trzpiotka]

nooo don’t use sites that make academic papers accessible to everyone, why would you do such a terrible thing

[kyidyl]

If you really want to avoid knowledge, don’t use researchgate. It allows the dangerous practice of allowing you to ask the writer directly for a paper behind a paywall, if perchance the communist author hasn’t already posted it themselves. Definitely stay away from academia.edu, they are of a similar ilk.

[dankmemeuniversity]

[jawnkeets]

[gaysie]

devils advocate annoying men in classes are the backbone of our society. i will never be able to thank you enough for wasting 20 minutes of class time in pointless dialogue with the professor while i go on my phone

[handsomeboymodelingschool]

There's no such thing as a closed book test in online school. For real. Cheat.

[insomniac-arrest]

there’s only two ways to email professors properly: 

[halfdevilstill]

Source since the screenshot isn't mine

You ever read something so disgusting and abhorrent that you want so desperately to force your soul out of your body, never to return, because existing on the same planet as some people is just that painful? Yeah, fuck whoever wrote this.

[turnpikeghosts]

on all levels but physical i am these banana cats

[cundtcake]