Stuff and also things. @therealanoobis - Tumblr Blog

oh fuck this is a really good hill i gotta die on this

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

hypokeimena

#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)

unalivejournal

always a little funny to me when filmbros are vehemently anti fanfiction but love to discuss film theories. Maybe my theory is that the 2 main guys sucked each other off. And swallowed

psykocharm

would you guys like to see a real illustration from an actual published scientific paper? of course you would

link to the paper

zordonmlw7

Hey op kinda buried the lead. This isn't just some illustration. ITS THE ABSTRACT.

stellanix

my mushoomb,, :D

chemkitt

one musruum..

glittervermin

whompthatsucker1981

a-substantial-trash-pile

the newest hit on my island

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

no more historic events this decade that is ENOUGH, i’m putting my foot down

alettertofutureme

History is not done with us yet my friend

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

I have received all manner of threat, up to and beyond “I will play a flute carved from your femur,” and yet this is the first time I’ve felt truly threatened

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

i knew posting this in 2022 was risky but holy fucking shit