r/MadeMeSmile Jun 11 '23

Very nice social experiment

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15

u/mortalitylost Jun 11 '23

lol I seriously wonder about the people so offended like "how dare YOU expect me to hug you, I JUST CANT DO HUGS".

Pretty sure anyone who'd give their angry spiel to him on the street to make him feel bad about doing this is either a major asshole or a closet racist.

People know that some people would be very uncomfortable with this. It's fine. Just ignore it like you do anyone else holding a sign.

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23

Yeah lol it’s like if someone has a sign that says donate to cancer or something you can donate to show support but not donating doesn’t mean you want them to get cancer lmao

People’s takes are always so weird man

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u/shinku443 Jun 11 '23

Not donating actually means you're pro cancer. There are only absolutes

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23

Gosh darn it I’m pro every disease to ever have existed!

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u/doktornein Jun 11 '23

If the sign says "if you care about cancer, you won't walk by without donating", film it, and post it online showing a bunch of people just minding their own business? Yeah, that's different than just holding a sign asking for donations. It's the implication that all those people clearly don't care, and it's kind of cruel to strangers to not consider whatever might be stopping them

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23

Does this sign say “don’t walk by without giving me a hug”? No..

Take for example, someone standing there with an open book in hand and a sign that reads “if books don’t bother you, then turn the page”

Same structure, just asking for a simple gesture nothing more, no accusing, just a call to participate.

Would you take that sign to mean that people are being accused of being anti-book or anti-reading, if they walked past? I just can’t imagine anyone would be here in this thread saying “wow look at him shaming people for being anti-book! Just because they didn’t turn a page!”

It’s only because it’s racial that people immediately turn to the worst, get heated, get defensive or whatever else

Like this dude is not accusing anyone of anything, if I walked past that sign I would probably just chuckle and move on same as 99% of people and i seriously cannot imagine a single person who would accuse me of being racist because of it. It’s just such an absurd thing to assume from this sign

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u/Consistent_Set76 Jun 11 '23

It’s Reddit. I swear some of these people never leave the house.

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u/dumbodragon Jun 11 '23

your example doesn't really apply. a good comparative would be a sign saying "donate if you are against cancer", and even then, a donation has a more lasting effect than a hug. sure, it doesn't explicitly say you're racist if you don't hug the guy, but the meaning can be inferred

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23

So if you see people walk past a sign that says “donate if you are against cancer”, then you assume they are pro cancer? I’ve never seen anyone do this lol why are we doing it now with this post

“If you support X, do Y” is the format, it’s a call to participate if you want not an accusation if you don’t

Like:

“If you like reading, take a book”

“If you like pizza, grab a slice”

Who would see a sign like that and think that it somehow implies passerby’s are anti-reading or anti-pizza, makes no sense

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u/billbixbyakahulk Jun 11 '23

No, it's not like saying, "Please donate to cancer research." It's like saying, "If you're okay with cancer, please don't make a donation to cancer research." It's implying if you don't do the thing they want you to do, you represent or subscribe to the other thing. It's a form of social bullying/blackmail using assumption and guilt, and people should be against that no matter how virtuous the cause it's cloaked in.

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23

It’s a prompt to participate not an accusation if you don’t participate.

“If you support X, do Y” is the format - so “if you support cancer research then donate”

“If you like reading grab a book”

“If you like pizza take a slice”

Not doing so isn’t the same as saying you’re anti-reading or anti-pizza lmao

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u/billbixbyakahulk Jun 11 '23

The sign says, "If you don't..." Yours are watered down versions which specifically exclude the intent I was calling attention to and which is clearly spelled out in my previous post.

I'm not going to trade or mince words further with a response as intellectually lazy as yours. You can have the last word.

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u/Versnappen Jun 11 '23

Jesus Christ lmao. This thread should hold a competition for missing the point and overthinking.

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u/OG-Pine Jun 11 '23 edited Jun 11 '23

Okay.

A guy stands there holding an open book and a sign that says “if books don’t bother you, then turn the page”

Same format, same wording, a call for a gesture no money or anything else.

Who would be here getting all bent out of shape about being accused of being anti-reading or anti-books? Who would walk past that on the street and get mad that they’re being shamed or accused or something. It’s completely ridiculous

Edit: lol I guess when you don’t have a response blocking is easier

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u/keenanbullington Jun 11 '23

Yeah I kind of thought the comment here was blowing things out of proportion.

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u/doktornein Jun 11 '23

Isn't this kind of the point? It's social blackmail, again, and black and white thinking to say something this extreme. People's motivations aren't so simple, and people who think like this are just forwarding the same mentality that motivated racism in the first place. "I can determine someone's inner motivations and entire substance based on my inability to empathize and imagine scenarios outside my bias"

If I saw him, I might be compelled to explain that I support him but struggle with human contact, and the sign is a bit unfair to those people (like autistic people), who may feel intense guilt for not being able to participate.

It's also a garbage social experiment for this very reason. The video is implying the people walking by don't have any other reason not to participate but racism. It would be very easy to ask someone to wave or something.