Today’s article was just a short one, and engaging in what makes everyone roll their eyes: seeing something happen on Reddit and writing an article about it.

To cut it short:

  • Billie Eilish (famous singer) uploaded a picture of her old Nintendo DSi in gallery of images, to her Instagram account
  • Someone shared that on Reddit
  • Half of the comment section slid straight into shitty gamer dude Hell (the other half did not)
  • Some man on Mastodon attacked me
  • Post removed from Reddit when moderators spotted the comments

…this is a fast-forward of the oddness, but if you want to read over my ramble here, and see some shittiness, the link will help:

https://gardinerbryant.com/you-dont-look-like-a-gamer/

I see this shit all the time, and it is not only exhausting, but something no one should see (no matter their identity) should be subjected to. Anyway, read on if you’d like!

  • brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    1 day ago

    That’s too bad people can’t behave.

    Mind if I share where I’m grappling with the following from a privacy perspective?

    screenshot of article text: The phrase “did you think anybody here wants to hear about Instagram” isn’t just a personal reaction, it’s doing something shittier than that. It turns this one person’s annoyance into a claim about everyone in the space, as if a single viewpoint can stand in for the whole community. That jump from “I don’t want this here” to “nobody here wants this” is where it starts to fall apart, because it flattens a group of individuals into one assumed opinion, ignoring the fact that people show up in these spaces with very different interests, tolerances, and reasons for being there.

    I can imagine a privacy hawk making that comment with a deep concern for others and desire to force a very difficult social change.

    I remember someone complained everyone in their life said “I’m not even really on Facebook! …I just use it for <thing everyone uses Facebook for>”

    Maybe I am a bad person to judge because the underlying concern resonates with me, so I can be sympathetic and treat it as hyperbole. (edit: lol it’s so wrong on its face, IG like world’s most popular platform or almost)

    Thank you for your analysis and reporting here!

    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      4·
      17 hours ago

      I think I’m piggy-backing off of something you’re not talking about, I’m not sure. But I wanted to say it anyway.

      The phrase “did you think anybody here wants to hear about instagram” isn’t just a personal reaction,

      People say things like this when what they mean is “I don’t want to hear about Instagram” all the time. If you’re listening for it, you can pick language like this out near constantly. It’s really, really dishonest, and it drives me crazy.

      A person won’t say “I didn’t like this movie,” but they will say “this movie is bad” because they know the second one gets taken more seriously. They effortlessly move a subjective opinion into the objective, and this is where, like, 90% of arguments about media stem from.

      People are constantly embellishing their opinions to seem more important than they are, and I really wish they would stop treating the public consensus like a game of King of the Hill.

      That’s not to say that speaking for a crowd is always a bad thing, but god do people abuse it.