I expected that to be a hit job but it's actually rather poignant.

▲ bummy_commenter an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Echoing another commenter: poignant? Reading the article, for me it was poignant, only mildly, in the archaic sense of the word (sorry! But seriously—dystopian is the first word I'd use.)

I'm interested in your interpretation and what you took away from reading that. Can you elaborate?

▲ Xmd5a 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

poignant?

> His next major growth spurt came when his university career ended. When Oxford University rejected his master’s application in 2020, Edwards posted a video of himself crying, entitled “oxford university rejected my masters application… (sorry this video is sad)”. Social media rewards confession. Authenticity, sincerity and vulnerability were important – more important than orthodox intellectual baubles.

It's literally pathetic.

    pathetic
    /pəˈθɛtɪk/
    arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness.
    "she looked so pathetic that I bent down to comfort her"

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huhkerrf an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I really have a hard time understanding why people post videos of themselves crying. Maybe I'm already old in my 30s, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around it.

Like, I get that at some level it's fishing for sympathy and pity, but your real friends are going to be there whether they have a video of you crying or not. Everyone else just... doesn't matter that much?

	▲	KittenInABox 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I disagree others don't matter that much. Attention means influence. If your tears garner attention, you prove your influence. Those seeking to influence to their benefit will see your proof and react accordingly.

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tolerance 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Please don't post snark to HN threads. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

(I felt the same way when I read this paragraph and the one about Jack being a target of abuse but I couldn’t resist an opportunity to ‘dang’ a ‘dang’ thread. At the same time it is touching how Jack has forged some semblance of a real world community out of this. I still can’t take what he does serious as a whole and I’m not warm to the idea that the “World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok” and I do have a sort of apathy toward the cultural intrigue borne from people in their twenties today. Like dang I was expecting a hit piece and was no less impressed to find it the opposite—fluff. Both poignant in some ways and pathetic in most per my own sensibilities.)

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direwolf20 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Backseat moderation is also against the guidelines.

	▲	Permit 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's always amusing that you cannot tell people this rule without in fact breaking it yourself.
	▲	sph 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Oh, the irony.

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2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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