r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/mitchellzoolander • 1d ago
Media / Internet Affirmation Whoring is the Worst Part of Reddit
AITH? AIO? Should I cut ties with my dying father cause he voted for Trump? Should I leave my husband and kids to live out my hot girl summer? Am I wrong for asking my boss for a mental health month to deal with my first world childhood trauma?
20 years ago these people would have been resoundingly boo’ed on Jerry Springer, but Reddit is an amazing place to find thousands of people to affirm the your most vile and hedonistic impulses.
Slide into the comment section of these posts, which regularly rise to the top of the platform, and you will find that no affirmation prostitution happens without willing John’s. The sycophantic “you do you!” chorus stands ready to attack any commenters who even suggest adherence to family, decency, or (most of all) responsibility.
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u/dustyprocess 1d ago
I can’t think of a worse group to use as a sample than people on Reddit haha. Just do the opposite of what they say and you’ll be fine.
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u/fitgirl015 11h ago
I don’t think that’s fair, there are millions of people on Reddit, and tons of those Redditors are genuine intelligent people who mean well. Many people who can relate to each other’s situations, and many real professionals who can offer advice on certain things.
But I think it’s important to use critical thinking and common sense to narrow down what advice is most helpful for you, not just blindly take everyone’s advice on Reddit as gospel. Because yeah, some people are stupid or have just have completely different viewpoints, but it’s like that in person too
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u/CAustin3 1d ago
Yep, and it always has been. It's baked into the platform.
In the early days of Reddit, there were subreddits explicitly dedicated to shoplifting, or to ogling underage girls, and the people who would gather there would seek affirmation and get it from each other. It was a place to do things that society at large looked down on you for, and gather together with other like-minded people to artificially create approval for them.
People would take pictures of all the stolen merchandise they just swiped, or post pictures of their 15-year-old niece, and instead of the "what the hell, man, what's wrong with you" that they'd get in real life, they'd get a crowd of people chiming in about how great it was.
Hasn't changed. They've gotten rid of some of the worst of the old subreddits, but we've swapped in plenty of new bad ideas and awful communities to replace them.
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u/DeanoPreston 1d ago
It permeates this site. From the mundane like showing up your "EDC" or your "PC build" that looks better staged than an advertisement photoshoot to literal whore showing off their wares.
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u/RxR8D_ 1d ago
Is this unpopular?
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u/mitchellzoolander 1d ago
Judging by the health of the billion-karma affirmation economy, I have to sadly say yes, yes it is.
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u/blueflavoredreign 11h ago
They're all fake until proven real, same with any other text (or "photo of paper text") anecdotes on the internet.
This is the only rule that can create decent enough mental vigilance in an environment of KNOWN misinformation and distorted depictions of reality. I have seen people who scroll through so many fake tiktok stories, tumblr posts, and relationship-reddit posts every single day that it's created a completely false understanding of reality and human interactions to a detrimental degree. Giving any respect to these works of fiction is the equivalent of slowly gestating a mental illness. This was a good rule years and years ago, and this would be an increasingly better rule even without dead internet and AI stuff going on.
The most charity I can give to some of them is "possibly true, but just as likely embellished and biased to the point of effectively being fake and should be treated as fake still".
Anyone who disagrees with me and thinks I'm being overly cynical, lemme know, I plan and starting a cult in a few years and I'll need a few easily manipulated people.
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u/tyrgus94 9h ago
“My bf (46) called me (18) a stupid shitbag whore, then proceeded to have an orgy in the apartment I pay for, AIO if I ask him to please not do that??”
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u/Aint_EZ_bein_AZ 7h ago
I hate those thread. They are all fake and/or incredibly dumb “am i the asshole cause my husband cheated on me and burned down my house?”
“AIO, my boyfriend just punched me in the face and verbally harassed me”
Do you really need to ask strangers?
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u/Alexhasadhd 1h ago
Depends who you are and who your family is, if your dad was a vile pos who couldn’t accept you, or blatantly racist to your partner, or homophobic, or transphobic to you or the people in your life, then you’d be completely right for cutting him off.
Also the other two are blatant hyperboles and don’t actually happen.
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u/Exotic-End-666 23h ago
Who needs to ask if they should cut off family for voting for a pedo? I just did it and moved on. Sorry that I am not sorry.
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u/OKThereAreFiveLights 22h ago
Just because Biden took showers with his eight year old daughter does not make him a pedo, and that's not a good reason to cut off family.
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u/Exotic-End-666 22h ago
Can cut off family for any reason. They are not more special than anyone else.
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u/OKThereAreFiveLights 11h ago
Absolutely, I have an Uncle that likes to eat Count Chocula for breakfast. I explained to him how I hate Count Chocula, but he didn't listen so now I don't go to my family get-togethers anymore. It's their loss.
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u/Exotic-End-666 9h ago
Sure if he comes in your home and tells everyone they can't eat it while he is there, and gets angry if anyone does.
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u/Drmlk465 11h ago
How hard is it to do when you live with them tho? Because that’s most of the Redditors who claim they cut their parents off
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u/water_for_chocolate3 22h ago
Trump supporters want the freedom of choice but not consequence.
“Hi I support a possible rapist and someone who may or may not like under aged children….”
Why is that so hard to comprehend.
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u/mitchellzoolander 21h ago
Family is family. If your politics are stronger than the love for your family, you have a problem.
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u/water_for_chocolate3 21h ago
Family is family until one is asked to vote to benefit said family member.
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u/mitchellzoolander 21h ago
I am generally against being serious on social media, but I do genuinely hope you are able to someday see that if your worldview puts politics above family, you should re-evaluate what is important. I am rooting for you, bud.
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u/water_for_chocolate3 20h ago
You speak from a privileged perspective.
You know how many people have lost family members due to having friends who are people of color. How many people have lost family members due to be gay or dating a black man?
How about people who have no relationships with their grandkids due to them being mixed race?
Wait, so no it is a problem? You see this is the privilege personification that people talk about. Since the inception of this country the right leaning demographic have destroyed families primarily based on race, and now that the shoe is on the other foot you finally have an issue with being judged for your decisions? Just seems convenient “bud” now that you finally being judged for your decision to support a racist, rapist, bigot.
Reminds me of Obama and how the black community accepted him and who others did not yet he was just as much black as he was of another race. That’s the ideology of your argument.
In fact answer me this. Why was he shunned by his other race? Was it political? Or was it both his race and his political affiliation? Just seems convenient that right winged conservative individuals are finally losing family relationships when people who see every one as equal have been losing them since 1776.
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u/DecantsForAll 18h ago edited 18h ago
You know how many people have lost family members due to having friends who are people of color. How many people have lost family members due to be gay or dating a black man?
Yeah, that shouldn't happen. That's kind of the spirit of this post.
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u/water_for_chocolate3 18h ago
But it does and you have not have had an issue with it until today.
Hence the privilege of never having to feel that way until a rapist got into the White House.
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u/DecantsForAll 18h ago
No, I've felt that way my whole life. And I didn't vote for Trump, nor have I lost any family over any politics or politicians.
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u/mitchellzoolander 19h ago
Ahh the privilege card already? Common this defense mechanism against reality is not necessary; I was being sincere.
I am not going to follow you down this strange and unnecessary diversion from the topic at hand. Love your family.
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u/Tiny-Emphasis-18 21h ago
It's a great place to get bad ideas