Thread by @GenreResearch

This is your daily reminder that you have millions of friends and allies in the EU.

Also, for you reading enjoyment; below a thread about the #genre ”daily reminder”. Because a born-and-bred nerd like me just has to go and over-explain stuff.

https://twitter.com/GenreResearch/status/1172793832787890176

A ”reminder”, @MerriamWebster usefully reminds us, is “something that calls a memory or thought to the mind”. Our spouse can remind us to remember the car keys, or we can remind ourselves to call the mayor before sunset. 1/

@MerriamWebster The reminder, thus has a clear social and cognitive function, it returns information to us that we might need for one reason or another. 2/

@MerriamWebster The reminder also has a negative side of course, it can bring back memories we’d rather keep away. “The sight of Marie in the crowd was an unwelcome reminder to Lucy of love lost”. 3/

@MerriamWebster However, there is a recurrent element between the two: the reminder aligns the mind with reality; brings back something that for whatever reason, had been pushed in the background. That is the function of the genre. 4/

@MerriamWebster How about the daily reminder? Well, going by what has already been said it must be something important that tends to get lost, or steps into the background every day, and which therefore must be brought to the foreground recurrently. 5/

@MerriamWebster (BTW: I DuckDuckGo’ed “daily reminder”; there’s a lot of motivational claptrap coming up; stay on this channel – don't google it either; it’s probably even worse.) 6/

@MerriamWebster So, the “daily” reminder has to be there, because something gets lost and lost and lost and lost. 7/

@MerriamWebster In the case at hand, there are many things that tend to get lost in the brouhaha of the Brexit debate, and many things one might want to use as a daily reminder. 8/

@MerriamWebster For me, one of those most close at hand is the fact that Brexit is pointless. There is no necessity in it. It is voluntary a choice. And when you look at the consequences of Brexit, the question arises: why do this? 9/

@MerriamWebster This very important banality tends to get lost in the daily exchanges and thus could need a reminder. 10/

@MerriamWebster It’s a little harsh, but many people who have spent time in therapy know, that a harsh fact, stubbornly held on to, can be quite healing. 11/

@MerriamWebster However, I chose another kind of (#genre of) daily reminder, “that you have millions of friends and allies in the EU”. Why? 12/

@MerriamWebster First of all, because in a crisis like this - with tempers flaring and fates, futures, and lives at stake - there is less kindness to go around than needed. I can’t vote, I can’t demonstrate, I can’t even sign the central petitions. I can, however, show a little kindness. 13/

@MerriamWebster And every day, someone seems to need it. 14/

@MerriamWebster This is, in one important aspect simply reverse trolling. Just as the trolls (remember to block them!!!) use your empathy to tear into your feelings, because they know that you automatically establish a human connection around their awful utterance, and so it hurts you … 15/

@MerriamWebster … I use your empathy to soothe your feelings, because I know that you automatically establish a human connection around my consoling utterance. Empathy is a superpower and can be harnessed for good. 16/

@MerriamWebster However, there is a second – more genre-like point – the recurrence makes the reminder move in time. You had one yesterday, and the day before that, you recognize it today, and you know it will return again tomorrow. 17/

@MerriamWebster In my terms, you recognize it as a #genre and it works on you as such. 18/

@MerriamWebster And so, the recurrence adds power to the simple, apparently insignificant message. Just like nagging or criticism can wear you down, drip by drip, my little reminder accumulates impact, because it always returns. 19/

@MerriamWebster (Well, always and always. You get the point.) 20/

@MerriamWebster It’s slightly pavlovian, of course, I am aiming for a it’s a conditioned response, but if that response is that someone smiles, feels better, and can handle what horrors the world has in store for today a little better, I’ll take it. 21/ENDS

@MerriamWebster Here's the thread as a blog post:

copenhagengenre.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-da…