Hot take: pretentiousness has an up-or-out trajectory. In young adulthood you either learn to stop taking yourself so seriously or become committed to being an unbearable ass.
@riga Cold take: pretentiousness is an auto-immune disorder, caused by overactive defenses against low prestige memes.
@riga Over time, people tend to specialize in playing a certain status metagame, and sometimes that makes them sound like assholes to people playing other games (a feature, not a bug. That's your status instinct trying not to waste time/energy).
Sharing those opinions with you is like giving you his coordinates in a social space you may not have a map for, or even give a fuck about.
@machado Yeah, I guess it just stings a lil bit when it's a "friend" who's evaluating you in the context of their chosen game.
@riga I feel you. Extra painful if they used to be a close friend.
But sometimes we have to amputate a necrotic friendship to keep the rest of our social lives from going septic.
@riga Ah yes, the Grand Unified Wolfram Theory
@riga still struggling to become someone that isn't an unbearable asshole because i was such an edgy teenager
Context: reuniting with an old friend and DJ partner who could hardly be bothered to have a real conversation but wanted me to know that he's now on vinyl only and his girlfriend takes his party pix on film only. Jesus christ homie...