‘BoatyMcBoatface’ to live on as yellow submarine

jwz remarks on a conjecture, which came up recently in a complaint about how someone won a costume contest with a non-creative costume:

> Dr. Kingfish has a theory, that I find hard to counter, that these days "trying" must be a thing that is commonly considered to be uncool. People flock to these semi-crowdsourced events that offer nothing but "participation", so long as that participation takes zero effort -- the kind of Special Olympics where you get a prize just for showing up, like pillow fights and lightsaber battles. If participation means wearing a trivially simple uniform and leaving a mess for someone else to clean up, people are all in. But if participation means you had to actually try, oh, no way, forget about it. "Trying" isn't done.

> So when Pizza Guy wins the costume contest, what the people are saying is, "Look at that guy, not quite trying! Way to not-quite-try! You really hit the sweet spot there!"

> I've been calling it the Culture of Meh. "Meh" is the worst word in the modern vernacular: when you use it, you are saying, "I don't have a strong opinion about this thing, but I think that the fact that I am not taking any kind of stand about it is important enough for me to talk about. Look how noncommittal I am, and how that is something to be admired." It's a celebration of beige.