I sometimes feel like paranormal investigation, cryptid hunting, ghost hunting etc was kind of ruined by the media/social media cycle of:
Sincere niche subculture -> gets discovered by the mainstream -> becomes extremely popular -> gets turned into a joke -> forgotten and discarded by the mainstream -> sincerity of the original forever tainted by jokes and ‘cringe’ reactions
Sucks because cryptids and ghosts and aliens were my special interest/hyperfixation for like more than a decade growing up.
It’s so crazy how “Don’t feed the trolls” was like the Motto of the internet & in forum culture of the 00s and early 10s and now you log onto a certain website and it’s just an endless sea of people pouring gruel into the troll trough day in day out and no one seems to realize or care that their internet experience being a constant deluge of misery and bad faith discussion might in fact be their own fault
“But if I don’t feed the trolls then they might not know that I disagree with them!”
the faded, once-beloved tumblr diva ushers you into her projection room and has her gay butler put on a reel of hit posts from days of yore. “look at me” she says, clutching your arm a little too tightly with her sharp sharp nails and puffing on a gold cigarette holder, hoping the smoke will hide the tears brimming in her eyes “wasnt i beautiful”