Buzzwords & Titles
Buzzwords
I often encounter incidents in forums where one person will say something, and another person will reply that what he said are just buzzwords with no meaning. For example, I often use the term “tasteless casuals” to describe those I consider incapable to appreciate good shows from bad shows, and I have found many who told me that it’s just a buzzword I am using all the time just for the heck of it, without actually proving or meaning anything with it.
Down to it, buzzwords are slang, in-jokes, catchphrases or plain one-liners that became popular amongst a certain group of people. They mean something but because people can use them all the time just for the heck of it, they usually lose their meaning and are eventually used out of context, or in many cases with no context at all.
Every term and word has the potential to become a buzzword if at any point it becomes popular and is used all the time because it attracts attention. And that also means that everything else that would normally be described by using the same term or word all of a sudden doesn’t mean anything. You either need to use different words to describe them, which increase the chance of paraphrasing, or you need to invent new terms which need to be established so everyone can understand their meaning.
And this happens to be a major problem when trying to have a discussion or to evaluate something. In order for such things to be done properly you have to know what words and terms you are supposed to use, as well as understanding the meaning of them. Before we can talk about something, we first need to define what that something is. And after so many years in the forums, I can tell you right now that a big part of drama, misunderstandings, miscalculations, and downright mistakes, are happening because people are not using the correct words, or are using them out of context. Semantics are so overlooked to the point you can’t make a point about anything.
Most will think you are using buzzwords, or will misunderstand what you are trying to say. Some of the most common mistakes I find while reading other peoples’ reviews, is how many confuse artwork with animation, or premise with plot, or character development with fleshing out. These are not minor mistakes that don’t affect the overall impression of a show. Using words out of context not only changes completely the scoring system, but also your perception of the show mutates completely to something entirely different.
And to further prove this to you I will show you this recent comment by someone on reddit, regarding my review Zankyou no Terror. You can find the link to it in the description if you want to read the whole thing.
http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2hip4c/spoilers_a_very_critical_review_for_zankyou_no/ckuhwwu
She defended the show in many ways. And I assume she’s a she, the damn thing reads too emotional to be by a guy. The part I want to focus on is right in the beginning, where she insists the main two guys are indeed terrorists and not hooligans. The reason being, hooligans are doing only small scale vandalism with no thought put into it, while these two did massive scale damage with a goal behind it. Now I am not sure if there is a different word than hooligan that defines the latter, but I am pretty sure lots of acts of vandalism have a political message behind them. What do you think the mass damages done by mobs during riots are all about? A message against the authorities. And that is exactly what the two protagonists were doing.
Then she goes on saying how these two are terrorists but not the typical kind. They are humane terrorists because they care about human lives. I am not sure if such a thing is even possible or if there is a better word for it but the way she phrased it makes no sense to me. Terrorists are supposed to inflict terror, they don’t care if someone dies while doing that. And since they were not inflicting terror how come they can even be called that?
From this very simple example you can see how many things change completely just because we weren’t using words in a way that make sense to both of us. They may seem minor at first but they end up changing completely the credibility of your claims in the eyes of others. They even change your own perception of a series by accepting or rejecting the way things are named or described by the show. Does Naruto really have ninjas? Is Mahouka really about meritocracy? Did Slaine do all that crap out of fear? Proper terminology is vital to how much you will like a show. Semantics are not there as an afterthought; they prove how much thought was put into the script and the setting. For purposes of entertainment, you can always accept everything they tell you at face value but that won’t negate the actual quality the creators put in the script and the research they did to make it all seem plausible.
And now I can only hope I used the proper terms to describe all that, otherwise some of you will have reached to some pretty weird conclusions by now.
Age Advisory because of the Title
Holy crap, what I am reading? Did we really reach to a point where we need age advisory because the title of a series is misleading? What comes next, Slayers is a misleading title because it doesn’t have gore, and Rokka Heroes of the Six Flowers is misleading because it’s not about floriculture? And since when is Gundam, of all things, a misleading title? We are talking about an iconic franchise everybody knows about, which begun by showing entire colonies going kamikaze on Earth and killing half of humanity in the first few minutes. Did the people who complained about this only knew about Build Fighters? Just because one Gundam universe was a stupid proxy battle show for kids, all Gundam thereafter need to be that? And holy mother of god, since when is this particular title misleading, when it’s called Iron Blooded Orphans? Since when are such words kid friendly? It’s fine if it has age advisory, but judging a show by the title is stupid. You should be judging it by the source material and if it has a school setting.
Right There on the Title
Many of complained about the recent video where I make fun of Chibi once again, and demand an explanation for why I keep attacking him. Since apparently it’s not obvious enough to need explaining and you are too stupid to get it, I will do you the favor and explain it like you are all mentally challenged.
Look at the title of the video I made fun of. It says “discussion”. So what do expect to see in a video titled like that? Two or more people discussing a show. Can you tell me where that discussion is? The only thing I saw was an autistic manchild overpraising a mediocrity. Or do you honestly think that by posing a question at the end of an 18 minute autistic monologue excuses the title of discussion? Because if you think that, you are idiots. This has nothing to do with the video, it is something that may or may not happen in the comments. And it’s also something that can happen in any video regardless of how you name it, therefore there is point naming it a discussion.
Now look at the title of the video I made. What do you expect to see in a video with cringe compilation in the title? A cringe compilation, which is exactly what it was. So why are you accusing me, for offering a video that is exactly what the title says it is, but you are perfectly fine with another video which is not what the title says it is?
Then you call me the cancer of the anime community for making fun of someone just because he is excited about a show. Really, is that the reason I’m making fun of him? Then why wasn’t he excited about any show when he was no longer making money out of his videos? Could it be because he is not really excited about the show but because he is making money out of acting like an autistic manchind?
So why are you accusing me for making a video named after what he is actually doing, but you are otherwise loving him for exploiting you with videos that have nothing to do with what he is doing in them? If his videos were named autistic impressions, I wouldn’t mind. Yet look at that, I have a channel dedicated to exposing the truth, so why are you complaining? That’s what I’m here to do. I am named That Anime Snob, I made a video titled Cringe Compilation. What is your problem when it’s all there in the title?
And it’s not just me. Recently, Digibro made a video where he didn’t circlejerk around Phantom World, something he openly admits in the title, and people attacked him for not praising the pretty colors. It’s not about what the video is about it’s simply about him not being an overpraising manwhore, like most channels are. This is the community we have created. You are not allowed to speak your mind if it’s not going to be positive.
My point is, you don’t care about what a video is telling you it’s about. You just want instant gratification by hearing only positive things. You can now imagine how worse thing are going to be when VR becomes commonplace. Retro wins and the future is only going to get worse.