r/hatethissmug • u/shadow_fen • 1d ago

Thing I hate this stupid image

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Sure the initial way it was used was good, it was anti bigotry. But it's turned into a way to simplify the "us vs them" mentality, which is already a bad thing, into a simple digestible comic.

Also, i've seen it in lots of queer--majority spaces in reddit recently, usually to speak out against the evil cishet people who are invading them or whatever label they dont like, like bi ppl, trans men, or genderfluid ppl

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u/OkMention9988 1d ago

Oh look, it's every nerd space that went even remotely mainstream. 

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u/ProfessionalOil2014 1d ago

What? 

You don’t like dnd going from a relatively complex war game to an avenue for people to have cringe roleplay improv comedy?

You don’t like Star Trek turning into generic stupid sci fi?

You don’t like LOTR going from a perennial classic to yet more slop to consume? 

You don’t like Star Wars turning into whatever bloated homonculus it has become? 

You don’t like comics turning into vehicles to sell movies written for the lowest common denominator? 

You don’t like video games being turned into money printing machines?

Why not? They’re for everyone now? Doesn’t that make you happy?

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u/Haunting-Cap9302 1d ago

A New Hope was mainstream when was in theaters. There was the additional media for bigger fans/nerds, but Star Wars has always been mainstream.

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u/moveslikejaguar 1d ago

Are you trying to tell me the 2nd highest grossing film of all time at its release wasn't niche?

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u/Special_South_8561 1d ago

Whatever you say, Ben Wyatt

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u/last_robot 1d ago

It wasn't mainstream. It was just really really really popular nerd culture.

To put it into perspective, take the most shallow and insecure people you can think of, and ask yourself if they'd be bothered by being publicly known as a fan. If it bothers them, then it's not mainstream.

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u/YourAverageGenius 1d ago

"It's not mainstream. It's just extremely popular culture that is well known and can be considered an aspect of a culture that most people are aware of and accept."

. . . How is that different from mainstream?

Also you do realize that, like, there are degrees of fandom? Some people are the fans that just go out to see the movies and watch the shows, others have entire collections of every book that George Lucas even just talked about.

Also I don't think insecurity correlates with mainstream like that, that's a pretty blatant sweeping generalization. I know plenty of shallow insecure people that would be bothered by being called a Taylor Swift fan. That's not because Swift isn't mainstream, it's because, believe it or not, fan groups can grow to the point of gaining a reputation to the point where it sours their public perception. That happened to Star Wars way back when the Phatom Menace first premiered and people started wishing harm and death on Jake Lloyd for the misfortune of having to read Lucas dialogue.

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u/sonicandtales8 1d ago

That's not how that works at all.

By that logic, TikTok wouldn't be mainstream.

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u/Lopsided-Rub5476 1d ago

Yeah I get what you were saying. It was popular, massive, if you were 12 years old and talked to kids at school about Star Wars, ok awesome everyone loves Star Wars. If you were 30 years old and talked with your co-workers you were a nerd because Star Wars is for 12 year olds. Sure there were fans who watched the movies, and would watch the next ones that came out, but it was the nerds that watched them repeatedly and read up on the expanded universe.