32: Empath slander and the return of Tumblr-era Twee
New year, not so new trends
Welcome back and Happy New Year!
It’s been a minute. The tail end of 2021 was packed full of some personal events, life changes and of course anxiety about the pandemic / world at large. It became difficult to dedicate enough time to processing and writing about content for this newsletter in a way that I felt happy with.
BUT here we are! In case you are ever wondering “where the hell is Night School”, follow me on Twitter for updates.
A little cat
This video adequately captures the feeling of picking up a baby cat.
Tumblr-era Twee is back?
Okay I’ve been suspicious of the rise of 2010s hipster culture nostalgia on TikTok, I even mentioned it briefly in the previous issue of Night School. At the moment, a trend is going around where TikTok users are featuring photos of themselves in quintessential 2010s Twee outfits, as well as photos of celebrities, primarily Zooey Deschanel, who influenced the style set to Why Do You Let Me Stay Here by She & Him, Zooey Deschanel fronted music project.
Here are some videos to get you familiar with the TikTok video trend. Some showcase elements of the style that are more specific to “Indie Twee” vs. “Mainstream” fashion of the time (which was heavily influenced by “Indie Twee”):
While others show off personal photographs from the time. Below is just ONE example of many very similar videos on the platform:
A mention of 2010s male selfies:
An explanation of Twee from @oldloserinbrooklyn, a trend forecaster on TikTok:
@clinicallydilusional posted a video in March about 2010s twee and received backlash, which goes to show the rapid nature of trends on TikTok:
In December 2021 @oldloserinbrooklyn posted a video about the Indie Sleaze trend potentially making a comeback as well, which has been heavily associated with the current Twee conversation:
Styles outside of Twee from the 2010s have been brought up as well:
Rightfully so, there are also many critiques of the 2010s Tumblr Twee era using the trending audio:
Do I think Twee is actually back? No. I think this trend on TikTok is fueled by the excitement of Millennials revisiting the things they once liked. I would actually argue that TikTok Cottagecore is to Gen-Z what Tumblr Twee was to Millennials.
There are SO many more examples within this content trend, to find more simply scroll through #twee or the associated audio on TikTok.
Relevant articles:
Vogue- The 2014 Tumblr Girl is Back (2022)
Atlantic- The Twee Revolution (2014)
A cooking hack
Off the rails Twitter marketing
Ecosystems in a jar
Back in November, I kept seeing these videos of a jar full of water, plants and other living things. DIY biomes! I think it’s pretty cool, although equally unsettling. Apparently some of the content had originally been removed from the app..
Another from the same user as the above video:
Aaand another creator made this one:
Empath slander
So a trend has emerged, making fun of self-proclaimed “empaths” online. It is also known as the “empath slander” trend. Users have been creating videos that involve acting out scenarios with captions that act as simplified dialogue, paired with a popular audio clip that is typically used in videos with spooky or unsettling content, “The Time is Coming”.
From watching many similar videos, and reading through comment sections I learned a bit more context. Those playing into the trend are critiquing people online who will comment on videos or other media online with something along the lines of: “as an empath, this feels wrong.” The comments tend to be made in reference to very obviously tragic events, or in suspicion of a person in a video being disingenuous. Proclaiming oneself as an empath in these contexts, often gives the assertion of having a higher authority on basic human emotions, when the emotional nature of the content is clearly visible to most viewers. Simply experiencing empathy or recognizing another person’s mood or feelings does not equate to being empath.
The obsession with calling out empaths on TikTok is an extension of calling out Narcissists and Sociopaths, which is also rampant on the platform. Attempts to diagnose others as Narcissists and/or Sociopaths became common online back in 2018 after now cancelled YouTuber, Shane Dawson’s series on Jake Paul, a popular YouTuber among teenagers. The video series attempted to uncover whether or not Jake Paul is a sociopath.
Here are some videos from the “empath slander” trend but from the imagined narcissist’s perspective:
The trend has in some ways made the term empath synonymous with narcissism, at least within the world of TikTok.
Being an empath can mean different things depending on where you look. Within spiritual communities, empaths are associated with psychic or intuitive abilities and are sometimes referred to as “Psychic Empaths.”
From a psychological perspective I have come to understand empaths as having developed hyper-vigilance as a survival mechanism and low emotional boundaries, both as the result of abuse and/or trauma.
When struggling with hyper-vigilance, one may be highly sensitive to surroundings, which can lead to developing a skill for recognizing patterns in subtle facial expressions and body language as a survival mechanism to detect dishonesty in others or anticipate dangerous situations that may cause harm.
A person with low emotional boundaries may feel responsible for the emotions of others, take on the emotions of others or project anxieties onto the behavior of others.
I feel the TikTok trend is indicative of the conflict that can arise when words used within small or niche communities enter popular culture and in the process become removed from their original definition while taking on a new meaning.
To find more videos within this trend, scroll through the associated audio, “The Time is Coming” or the #empath hashtag.
How to make yourself appealing to crows
A Snickers BeansTok ad
So I see where they were trying to go with this ad… but it is not good. The comedic value of “Beans Tok” was relevant in 2020 and early 2021. I saw this ad in November/December 2021, far too late to be received well on the platform.
Survival
As a TikTok palette cleanse, here is a video of a man building a settlement over 365 days using his bare hands and occasional natural tools. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole of similar videos while stuck in my apartment for several days during the recent Seattle snow storm.
Thanks for reading! Stay safe!
That Pabst thing, gosh. Someone really came in hot from the holidays there. I wonder if they still work there.