BSD Fyodor fans reflect our sh1t media landscape (except I'm incoherent and tired)

I wanted to write this as a video essay but decided against it because I'm not particularly skilled at making people laugh whilst spewing my opinion online, so I decanted for the latter.

We live in something called a global village; this term was coined by Marshall McLuhan in the early to mid 20th Century. He predicted that the globalization of the media, as a result of the expansion and development/evolution of new technologies, would lead to us existing in a "global village" where we are always connected, closer than ever. The irony in this is that now that we're the most connected, we are the very loneliest.

We are at a loss of third places; since cost of living worldwide is almost impossible to reach for the average person and homelessness is a real possibility for all of us, we all compensate by overworking and spending time in our second places (workplaces), and resting in our first places (homes). Because of this, we don't have as much time to hang out with our friends, 1) because we're overworked and wish to rest at home, 2) bc third places are more expensive to exist in (cafes, restaurants, and free areas like parks are harder to inhabit due to hostile architecture and things like climate making going outside less enjoyable than so), and 3) being online is just so much easier. You can just text your friends, right? Gas is so expensive anyway... the next café is 30 minutes away and it's hard to walk on the highway for so long under the sun, plus I have to work overtime today...

What this has done is isolate us into our own online bubbles, within our own internet niches. This doesn't replace real connections, and actually just gives us dopamine bursts that upon stopping make us addicted to scrolling, arguing online, etc...

With less regard for communities and by treating people as content online rather than human beings, we have developed, or triggered an attitude already inherent (to an extent) in us called "self-will". We do as we please, when we please, to serve our own interests and no one else's.

I believe BSD Fyodor's character, among others, has led teens online to kind of fetishizing this type of behaviour: edgy narcissism, self-servicing, apathy towards others. It gives people the illusion of depth, greyness and moral ambiguity, nuance of character. Well, no, it just reveals your poor media literacy and inability to develop your own opinions.

I don't blame us. I think the internet's immediacy has made us addicted to getting stuff immediately, knowing instantly, being gratified within seconds, at all times. You may want to be an intellectual and mysterious scholar that dresses like a dandy, or a self-sacrificing martyr that presents themselves online with an angelic, Catholic vibe to them, but replacing the depth and sincerity, authenticity, genuine passion behind reading that Russian classic, believing in Christ, being truly moral, or not so but with a reason, being invested in philosophy... with aesthetics, superficial displays of intellect verbatim from a text you read online. These are false supplements for sentiments lost in an age of immediacy. Dark academia may seem to replicate the aesthetic of academia, but the time spent finding a trench coat that matches the hardcover you'll only read for the sake of telling others you have will not fulfil your desire to be *seen* whatever way.

I mention Fyodor from BSD because his character is terribly written. His character attempts to deal with complex topics such as religion, morality, LITERAL EUGENICS, the existence of God. His character is supposed to be a Christ allegory, and I understand the irony of his character being Christ-like but with evil intents, BUT THE DISSERVICE TO DOSTOEVSKY, who he is supposed to be inspired by! The superficial engagement of the media with these subjects leads to a surface-level understanding of these for the audience. Yeah, the show is for kids, but if you don't at least try a little bit you wouldn't end up with a trainwreck like BSD.

Think of Light Yagami, and the differences between his reception and that of Fyodor. You don't get that prioritization of appearance over genuine intellectual engagement at such a grand scope, appealing to those seeking to associate themselves with cultural and intellectual "sophistication" wuthout investing in the depth of knowledge. Of course the fandom adopts shallow understandings of the media! If the media doesn't even try to properly explore its themes, are you expecting 14-year-olds to do so? And because of the fanbase's young age range and internet addictions, plus propensity towards self-diagnosis and poor mental health, there's an inherent lack of individuality that leads users to adopt the edgy or provocative personas of the show (Fyodor, Dazai, to name a few...) cause they're so flat and one-dimensional you can project onto them your personality and self-identify without contradicting the character.

At a time where antiintellectualism is rampant and intellectual engagement is hard because it takes patience and media literacy and critical thinking skills, which TikTok will not grant you, adopting these personas as a way to express indiviuality, and embracing controversioal or extreme, edgy opinions help you differentiate yourself from the mainstream, globalized norms online and irl (i.e. Shein, it girl lulu lemon, whatever the fuck, y'know what I mean). THis leads to the obsession that surrounds Fyodor's character: a fetishization of evil and manipulative, edgy personas due to the appeal of breaking norms and challenging societal expectations, seeming deep and unique and "different", differetiating oneself from the same humming of expectation and nothingness that the internet has forced upon us when it robbed us from our attention spans and ability to enjoy things outside the TikTok 15 second format, all worsened by the perceived and very real sameness and lack of individuality caused by social media.

We all want to engage in serious topics, but many of us cannot despite our wishes to do so because instead of putting time in to learn and read we fetishize and make aesthetics out of intelligence, other cultures, class and elitism,... here comes the obsession with Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Russians, classical literature, without truly engaging with it because it gives the illusion of being deep and all that.

It'sthe same with Fyodor's charactaer! There's no deep discussion, so Asagiri makes up for it through poor imagery (chess, Jesus, EUGENICS C'MON.) and his dumb Slavophile aesthetoc, rides Fyodor's dick as if he were a well-constructed character and not an amalgamation of ideas and incomplete arguments about whatever the fuck. Like you can't make a smart character and just say "oh he just guessed this because he's smart!" (I'm looking at Ranpo as well but he'sso cute I want to eat him up..). THAT'S BAD WRITING. You can see how much Asagiri depends on the appeal of superifical engagement and his character's aesthetic by hoiw it's reflected on Fyodor's fans, who all read the same books and hardly engage in authetic, deep thought, it's always Christian roleplay and dark academia, dark is the night, THe Secret History, SO7 angel bullsh1t.

I have more to say about this so if anyone is interested I may continue talking, but for now I won't say more. This is an aimless rant, and I have more concrete ideas I wish to put in order but don't want to do unless it leads to conversation. ANyway, goodnight guys see you soon, happy yaoi and goodyuri.