:-(

This makes me terribly sad, as someone living in a place that lost its only equivalent “pop culture” store (mostly games, but comics and books, too), a few years ago, while I was away…

Oddly enough, the exact, mirror equivalent of what you mention in the nearest city also burned down, a few years ago. Though that was most likely insurance fraud and inadequate fire protection by the neighboring department store, which then burned down half the block of century-old buildings…

Anyway, I posted recently in the local sub that I missed that place, and the pubs we lost to (property) development corruption, and the various other venues that have been… Removed from public access (turned into shitty apartments, international student housing or luxury “private hotels” that you can’t even walk into, etc.).

The local sub treated me like I was absolute trash. Like, not just an idiot, or just “wrong”, but some Uber-conservative backward “NIMBY” standing in the way of “inevitable progress”, “a fairer society” and “what people (i.e. Reddit) akshually want”… Even though some of them admitted they didn’t even live here, or had only moved here recently.

Oh, and then they banned me. For “offensive language”, after I called out some of the commenters for vested interests (they were exposed as working for the University).

So… I feel that, and I really, really get it (even if the context isn’t quite the same), lol… Sadly.

Not as vitriolic of a topic, but I really noticed it with Net Neutrality. Because I actually knew what it was, I knew it was a stupid law to let law enforcement (further) through the door. But it didn't matter, because NN was the latest Thing™. Where once people were against shit like SOPA and PIPA, now they were shilling for government oversight.

It's only made me feel more vindicated since it got repealed and then literally none of the fearmongering the left went on about came to pass. It really does show how manufactured so much of this has become, and it makes me wary of any common internet belief, from "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" (which I do think was organic even with the doubt), to the sudden and rather overnight flip into hating cryptocurrency (I believe this is manufactured).

The worst part about it is how demoralising it is, and knowing that it's meant to be demoralising only makes it hit harder too.

I doubt the majority were even fans. I've seen pay ops on random forums in the 00's. I was about to correct it to psy, but that is also accurate. If Driver 3 can be outlawed off the internet, then the entire pay op network can do a lot.