this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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Sealioning (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by ahlooolahhh to c/comicstrips
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Does anyone else feel this (and, subsequently, the term itself) is mildly racist? Or at least defensive of racist/bigoted statements? Like, if someone said "I could do without [insert race here]," is it unreasonable to hold them accountable? I get this is intended to be about people not letting go of minor nitpicks, but the setup is pretty poor, imo.

[–] captainjaneway 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Would you mind providing some evidence to back up your claims?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

#I am trying to eat breakfast

[–] DingoBilly 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

It depends on the context as always.

Sealioning as genuine trolling is shitty and done in bad faith.

But it is completely fair to call out people and ask them for evidence when they make broad statements that are easily verifiable like "black people are more violent than white people" or "Republicans are just as unfriendly towards poor people as Democrats" Etc.

But yeah, here without the context it's easy to get confused what Sealioning actually is.

[–] Viking_Hippie 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sealioning as genuine trolling is shitty and done in bad faith.

It's literally part of the definition that it's in bad faith. Otherwise it isn't sealioning.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sure, but in this comment the sealion is initially acting in good faith towards by what any standard of the world presented in the comic would be a racist.

[–] Viking_Hippie 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Are you sure about that? The first actual request of the sealion is ridiculously overbroad and would be extremely difficult and time-consuming to comply with.

At which point the sealion would doubtlessly respond by either nitpicking one example amongst many or moving the goalposts.

Doesn't seem to me that it was acting in good faith at any point.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Idk bro, you could replace the sealion with that guy who un-racisted all those Klan members and I bet the initial interaction was pretty similar. It gets back on track when the sealion follows him home and all, but I think it would have been a stronger comic if they were talking about other things when the sealion hounds him about a different topic.

Then people who don't know what sealioning is look up what the fuck it's about and it doesn't look the sealion is just practicing active anti-racism.

[–] Viking_Hippie 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'd actually argue the contrary: that it's initially questionable whether or not the sealion is acting in bad faith rather than immediately obvious mirrors real life and as such better illustrates how a sealion differs from an immediately obvious troll.

It's clear from the context of the comic that it's the behavior of such sea mammals that she dislikes rather than anything intrinsic that they don't choose themselves and can't change.

The sealion immediately latching onto a misunderstanding of intent and refusing to let go of it is in fact another way in which the comic effectively illustrates sealioning.

....this is beginning to feel uncomfortably meta..

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, someone here isn't admitting there's a weird racial element to "I just don't like the way all of those types act..." when all you need to say is "yeah it's a little weird" and everyone can move on with things like saying "Yeah, fuck sealions."

It's also not a great look to pretend a direct, ongoing discussion in a specific post is the same as someone following you around social media, pretending ignorance of the topic, and endlessly requesting clarification.

[–] Viking_Hippie -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fine, you win. The racism that you're imagining in spite of the context showing otherwise is totally there and it's a really bad look for me to not just go along with your weird pet theory because you say so.

Happy? Can I eat my breakfast now?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Seems like you're not being honest, but you're clearly not interested in that on this topic.

It seems like you're more interested in pretending to be a victim in a mutual conversation you can end at any time by just not responding.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

Yeah, this isn't just someone wanting a reasonable conversation and not getting it. This is the guy on reddit who goes on your profile and follows you around to other subs demanding your reply to a conversation you disengaged with weeks ago.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It's a broad defense of prejudice, but naturally people are going to choose the prejudices they like as the legitimate ones.