the past 15 years has seen the almost complete landlordization of media and technology--- itunes was an early pioneer, making people think it was a privilege to rent music in perpetuity rather than own it, video games, farmers needing to hack John Deere tractors to repair them https://twitter.com/Iron_Spike/status/1253919323556581379

One of the most upsetting things about the anti-ao3 discussions is the suspicion and hostility these kids have towards the archive's choice to own and run their own servers, rather than rent them from Amazon or some other major corporate landlord

Kids raised in the fully implemented walled garden internet think any kind of self-ownership, anything less than complete participation in the surveillance/data/renting economy, is morally suspect-- often while tweeting "begone, brand" or other anti-capitalist memes

This inability to differentiate between self-ownership and actual malicious corporate or oligarchic ownership also feels like it’s behind the recent incidents of left twitter abusing 2 separate bereaved trans women for (assumed) home co-ownership after a parent’s death

I feel like I saw the same names and certainly the same attitudes in those insane dekulakization “if you or any family member ever owned a house you’re a landlord and a parasite” threads as in ao3 are capitalist overlords/landlords for raising $ for their own servers” complaints

This isn’t as clear but it’s part of the greater anti-recovery (mental health, trauma, addiction, etc) movement that started on tumblr in the 2nd Obama term— the idea that having or working towards any amount of agency in your own life makes you privileged or morally suspect

A broader subcultural blackpill narrative of anything but total, abject nihilism and helplessness being some privileged, malignant Karen pushing you to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps

Where being in recovery, seeking treatment, care, or some kinds of medication (oddly and thankfully HRT is not on the list of “ok Karen” meds) or working towards any kind of self or community empowerment was seen as being essentially a class traitor

So within this paradigm, it’s not enough to be aware of and to fight injustice— if your life isn’t completely owned and fettered by the powers that be, if you aren’t content with 4 sites everyone hates run by data oligarchs you must be one of the bad guys

Meanwhile, this mindset dovetails perfectly with the surveillance state and surveillance capitalism— “how dare you want more,” combined with “if you’re not doing something wrong, why would you want privacy/your own platform?” and turned into vicious inter-community policing

this thread is not about shaming people who aren't in a place where they have the resources to be in recovery, it's about a toxic community trend of stigmatizing and discouraging recovery or community mutual aid as "privileged," a betrayal of those who are still suffering