whenever a rumor gets spread about a popular internet creator, people immediately sink their teeth into it to justify their dislike for that person. it’s not enough to to be a casual hater. internet-users are foaming at the mouth for a politicized, moral shortcoming. they are willing to believe contextless and fabricated accusations so that their hatred is validated. all of a sudden, it’s “i always had a bad feeling about them — this is why” and “i knew i never liked them for a reason.” listen — it’s okay to not like someone for trivial reasons or no reason at all. we are all human and we are all different. some people really annoy us, and that’s okay. you don’t need to collect scathing rumors to justify your own bitterness.
exhibit A: there was a tweet about a woman drinking coffee with her husband in her garden and reflecting on life. now sure, you can look at that and think, “what a dumb thing to post.” you could even go as far as to respond with “who asked?” and that would be a little rude, but fine (for the internet). but people needed a legitimate reason to hate, so swarms of miserable twitter-users accused her of being classist and ableist and flaunting her wealth.
she was attacked to the point where she put out a clarification tweet (below), which was a lot more civilized than the people deserved. she should’ve made it a thread of every good thing that had ever happened to her. i would’ve kept making stuff up just to flex on people.
exhibit B: there’s a popular LGBT creator on tiktok named Mol who is known for being obnoxious and yelling “I’M GLAD YOU ASKED” into the camera. their videos are unbelievably corny and hard to watch. for a while, people would harmlessly make fun of him, stitching his videos with their own screams and things like that. but then, someone posted a video accusing them of creating “sexual content” geared toward children, implying he’s a groomer. this is an absolutely baseless (and homophobic) claim. he makes LGBT content with an exaggerated personality. irritating, yes, but not comparable to the very serious accusation of pedophilia. but the video had done its work, and the comments rolled in: “i always knew something was off about him” and “i’ve always thought this.” the sanctimonious hate-mob had been activated; now they had a serious, criminal excuse to rip him apart. mol was sent death threats and officially advised to take a break from tiktok.
let’s bring back informal and casual hatred. it’s okay to think people are irritating! it’s okay to block annoying creators on social media. in fact, my true passion is critical analysis and being a hater. now, sometimes you should unpack this hatred, as it could be a result of subconscious misogyny, racism, etc., but a lot of the time, it’s okay to be cynical. it’s okay to gossip about someone who posted on their main story that they just got engaged to their stepbrother. i am a firm believer that humans are not meant to constantly be positive. being a baseless hater is refreshing, and you should try it.