This is starting to get into the “only one joke” territory.
I assume that this stereotype is based on some volume of observation, but it’s been dragged and beaten into the ground, and honestly, as someone with decades of professional and enthusiast experience with FOSS, this stereotype just doesn’t even strike a chord with me.
In summary, this whole meme is overcooked.
I think it comes from the other direction. Like, the trans and femboy communities are small, but a high portion of them are in tech jobs and FOSS. So this is a stereotype about trans women and femboys all being into Arch, rather than all Arch users being trans women or femboys.
Still overused, but I can see why since the 3 most active communities I see on Lemmy are Linux users, trans people, and Trekkies.
I think you’re right about that being the origins of the joke, but the joke is distinctly trying to infer the reverse. Funny in context, but out of context, it’s just an obnoxious over-association leaking out of a community.
It’s as stupid and culturally braindead as the old 2000s jokes where the entire punchline is the gay guy is flamboyant. haha gay rainbows! Ver funny!
yawn
What does a gay horse eat?
Snaps fingers
HHHHHHAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
ok boomer
Do… do you think a boomer would write out “yawn” and sorta use doge speak in a message about what used to be viewed as progressive!? Or are you a literal child that doesn’t even remember the 2000’s? Either way, fucking pathetic ability to clock someone.
Boomer is a mentality, and “ok boomer” is a joke. No need to get so worked up lmao
I’m just pointing out that Gen Z is much more proudly queer and especially GNC (unlike millennials whocame to age in a world where the overwhelming majority of developed countries did not even allow gays to get married!) and we not care how funny you think the joke is since it literally does not apply to you (presumably). Did it even occur to you that those “gay pride jokes” of the 2000s you deride so easily were your generation’s queer people’s way of finding acceptance and community? That “pure comedic value” (as if that was a chemical element you could distill out of memes somehow) is not the only value some people find in memes?
You are utterly and completely failing to understand that the joke itself is culturally bereft of meaning.
Sad. No gay person ever felt more accepted by society from a joke that was implying gayness on a different minority. If anything, that tokenized gayness for society.
Why do you want to be a token?
This is a joke BY queers FOR queers. The goal is NOT to make cishets comfortable, or to teach them anything, or generally to cater to their feelings at all.
Is it so hard to understand that sometimes people want to feel seen? Why does it matter that “society” will take it badly because of tokenization or whatever the fuck? Are you even queer yourself or just projecting what you think queer people should want? Because I’m queer and I appreciate “haha non-queer thing but now queer” humor.
It’s not very high brow, but that’s just the nature of shitposting and I don’t go off on the tens of supposedly relatable dead horses that get beaten every day in meme communities either.
It never even landed for me. I’ve NEVER met a trans person or femmy guy in tech. At least not compared to the swathes of the typical unkempt neckbeards.
Though no one wants to make neckbeard jokes, because that one has ALSO been beaten in to the ground… over and over and over and over…
I thought no one wanted to make neckbeard jokes because it would summon one to “ummm ackshully” all of us.
Probably both.
Umm ackshually
Well they outnumber the rest of us here
As someone who works in tech, my stereotype of “average tech worker” is going to be more like a guy named Praveen (there’s two Praveens on my team right now). But tech tends to have a lot of diverse backgrounds, since tech jobs usually care more about what you can do than where you’re from or what school you went to.
I’ve worked with 1 known ftm and didn’t know until 4 years in. I work in a 250 person org which is fairly progressive. I wonder if it’s that easy at a lot of bigger and vc tech.
I have worked with plenty of neck beard types, as well as more average folks. So this meme doesn’t match my experience at all.
Yep. Same with the “I use Arch btw” thing. It’s so played out.
Look out folks, its the meme police, come to apply logic and reason to your funny internet pictures!
Found the Arch user; right in the closet where I left him.
People here are apparently either foss neckbeards or transfems/femboys, and they are all valid.
I think there are also cis women and trans men here, maybe? But the uniform for them is a gender neutral invisibility suit.
For sure, I don’t think I strictly belong to either of the stereotypes
First of all, it’s not a neck beard okay? And who doesn’t love free software?!
I’m glad trans people and non binary people feel comfortable in Linux spaces. Everyone should feel accepted in what is ultimately about computer software. At the same time, I find it a little confusing just how much content seems to find 1:1 equivalence between trans/enby movements and using not-windows.
I really want trans people to feel comfortable here, but I also feel like the frequent repetition of content like this post sort of commoditizes transness. Am I not a valid trans person if I prefer Macs? Am I not a valid Linux user if I’m happy with my AGAB? Again, really happy trans/enby people are happy here, but when we start saying group 1 equals by definition group 2, people from both groups get left out.
It’s an eye roller for me. Feels like a really played out joke at this point but this is the internet where there’s apparently no such thing as a dead horse
Horses went extinct same time shame did.
I think it’s a lemmy thing. The folks here are typically the folks in smaller more progressive communities. You dont even see it THAT much on Reddit.
I only see Linux memes here. Only once in a blue moon on Reddit. The ones I see here are usually pretty funny even though I use windows and osx.
I think you might just be missing some of the content. I think from the commoners here others have noticed this trend as well. I couldn’t care less just just saying I only see it here. Though I do spend less time on Reddit these days.
You are waaaay overthinking this.
It’s a crossover meme from trans/gender-nonconforming spaces. We have ways of finding humor in what is often an frightening and deadly serious situation (being trans in this world).
One of the in-jokes we have that I saw quite a bit on reddit, is that especially trans women and femboys “are all programmers or IT people” and being technical minded, use Linux. (I’m a trans woman who uses Fedora… Hi)
I think there is also the political and economic association that comes with FOSS – it’s a sort of disruption of the norm in capitalism, which is to have proprietary secrets as a store of value. FOSS challenges the notion that the fruits of labor should be privitized. In that sense it’s a radical movement, always has been, even if it has been adopted by the world at large.
Trans folk are as a rule, politically left-leaning, it seems these days we must be to exist, and so FOSS like Linux naturally appeals to the community.
Obviously there are going to be many non-technical trans people, and tech trans people alike who use proprietary OSes; and conversely most Linux users aren’t trans or GNC. The meme isn’t meant to be taken literally or to change anyone’s beliefs or actions.
I think that you hit a key note here: it’s a crossover meme from other spaces. They’re not Linux memes. I do get the joke, and why you make it, and I understand the concept of intersectional solidarity, and that it’s a good thing.
I also think that when people who have been marginalized for a long time find spaces that accept them, tend to treat any space that accepts them as a space made “for” them and their issues, when really Linux has nothing to do with what’s in my pants or yours or anyones. Linux isn’t a men’s thing, or a women’s thing, or about gender at all.
I (don’t) appreciate the fact that instead of empathizing and trying to address my concerns, you’re telling me I’m overthinking it, and explaining it to me like I wouldn’t understand the concepts of let’s see, the meme itself, capitalism, socialism, and FOSS software.
It’s a joke, yeah, I get it, but jokes are supposed to be funny and instead this one is using harmful language about trans people and FOSS software. Stop. And don’t act like anyone who doesn’t agree with you just doesn’t get it.
Correction: The Thinkpad is not optional.
But that’s the only one i don’t have, so i can’t say i use arch btw anymore?
“You are on this council, but we do not grant you the rank of master.”
When there aren’t enough linux girls, the common GNUtaku undergoes a convoluted transformation to fill the pussy vacuum.
Such is the way of FOSS.
“pussy vacuum”
I’m in awe
Gotta say I’ve never really understood this meme.
Arch users = femboys
I get what the meme is. It does not align with my personal experiences.
yet
I’ve bene using it for 10yrs. Still just a hairy masculine homo.
That’s not okay. What if somebody told you that you’d eventually revert to cisgendered? That’d be very hurtful and rude. Telling this person their sexuality identity will change because you think it should is wrong
Damn. I upvoted both of you. I just want to have fun but I also take everything super serious as well. This shit’s hard!!
It’s OK to personally “not understand” a popular meme (400 updoots at last count). Create and vote for content you really understand.
As a trans woman who exclusively uses Linux and 90% FOSS, avid wearer of thigh highs and skirts, it makes perfect sense.
Something for all of us.
That’s not accurate, there are other skirt and shirt options, for example a croptop with arm warmers, and dolphin shorts are both acceptable options, the thinkpad can be skipped for a device that has no business running arch such as an ancient mac pro or a dual socket xeon server from a quarter million years ago
a dual socket xeon server from a quarter million years ago
Surely you mean a slot-based CPU, of course. All my cool friends run Slot-A.
Fuck xeon gold servers all my homies use pentium ii workstations
Ugh flashbacks of trying to install Slackware on my Pentium-based Compaq Presario (originally Win95)…
I do not look back fondly on those times.
My kid wears the black version of the socks and the ears but he uses Windows 10. Is he just missing the shirt and other mandatory items?
It’s not uncommon for adolescent catgirls to go through an emo phase; being a teenager is hard and they will grow out of using Windows with time.
That said, if you think they are engaging in acts of self harm - such as setting up active directory, or running an exchange server - you should seek professional support
You mean a Samba-AD on Linux right, right?
Yeah, you should get him the other stuff as well. Then he’ll automatically download an Arch install and wipe Win10.
When did the standard uniform change from a fursuit to this? I wasn’t notified.
Removed by mod
Shower (prohibited)
Ok ok trans and femboys sure. But what does this say about thinkpad users?
Still hetero, that pc has a clit
Can confirm, the PC even stops working if you lick it long enough!
Glad I use Debian
Debian is the same outfit but you have a big ass beard too.
And the dick hangs down below the hem of the skirt.
Hot
I find the lack of Gentoo representation disturbing. Download a stage 0 tarball, three pots of coffee, and clear your schedule for the weekend. It’s compilin’ time!
Nah, stage0 has too much bloat stage -1 ftw
Ahhh the tarball of the mind! I do this with all of my untouched projects.
I tolerate no disrespect for Arch users. The Thinkpad is of course not optional. Their Wiki saved me so often, they are forever my hero.
