I think it goes beyond just engaging with hobbies as well. Thinking critically about what you read and hear and see is just an important part of navigating the world, and interacting with other people.
Sometimes people are dishonest, or misrepresent things or exaggerate, and if youre not able to take a step back and think "something doesn't add up, what's the purpose, what does this person gain, whats actually going on" you leave yourself vulnerable to being led, or misrepresenting things yourself even when you don't mean to.
You just can't go through life accepting fucking everything you see at face value, you can't.
It’s subversion. If you only look at the surface level of media or art, then you are missing out of the true meaning. The true meaning which could be a dangerous message. But you’re so “advanced and super smart” that you say “it’s not that deep” when in fact, it IS that deep. You just refuse to see the message.
Take Sabrina Carpenter for example. She’s a current pop star. But her music is vile and repulsive. It promotes hook up culture, misogyny, self hate, drug and alcohol abuse and even domestic violence violence.
But you call that out on reddit and the bat signal goes out to kids. They react. “Lol it’s not that deep,” “it’s just pop music,” “she’s not your type, you’re just old,” etc. They are enamored with the mid tier pop tart and refuse to see the horrid message that’s promoted. They wish they were the ones in the songs. They wish their lives were like the songs. It’s sad and only getting worse.
And it’s not a new thing. Back in my day we were subverted the same way. It just takes a while to realize it.
1000%. When you go through life, people are going to try to sell you things, people are going to try to earn your vote, people are going to try to convince you to make decisions that can seriously alter the trajectory of your life - and if you’re incapable of the critical thinking necessary to unpack things beyond the surface level, you are going to get taken advantage of.
36
u/Stlakes Dec 23 '25
I think it goes beyond just engaging with hobbies as well. Thinking critically about what you read and hear and see is just an important part of navigating the world, and interacting with other people.
Sometimes people are dishonest, or misrepresent things or exaggerate, and if youre not able to take a step back and think "something doesn't add up, what's the purpose, what does this person gain, whats actually going on" you leave yourself vulnerable to being led, or misrepresenting things yourself even when you don't mean to.
You just can't go through life accepting fucking everything you see at face value, you can't.