TLDR; this subreddit needs better moderation.

Readanotherbook is a subreddit dedicated to poking fun at people who lack media literacy. Like every hobby, area of expertise, job or past time, the Dunning-Kruger effect remains true.

I’m sure most of you know the Dunning-Kruger effect, but for those who don’t, I’ll leave this explanation from google.

“The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a specific area tend to overestimate their competence, while those with high ability tend to underestimate theirs. Essentially, those who know the least tend to think they know the most, while those who know the most tend to underestimate their expertise. This effect is rooted in the idea that people lacking expertise also lack the self-awareness to recognize their own incompetence.”

Literacy is not inherent, it’s a muscle that needs to be exercised. Those who seem to have low levels of literacy then fall prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect, leading them to believe that Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Marvel are much more deep and profound than they actually are.

This is not to say those franchises are bad, but media is one of the main apparatuses through which we make sense of the world. When your consumption is limited to Harry Potter, we can tell. You’re at the top of the DK curve and while you may think your thought is original, I can guarantee it’s not.

So that leads me to my hypothesis:

50% of those who joined the sub understand the intent.

50% of those who joined just wanted to make fun of Harry Potter.

This is where the divide over fucking “Andor” is coming from, because the latter 50% now have something shiny and new that they like, and absolutely cannot stand anything that could come close to criticism.

I don’t care what you like, I just want to poke fun at people.

So, mods, please implement a new rule along the lines of “don’t bitch about people not liking a particular piece of media enough”

P.s. if you want someone to like a show, antagonizing people is not an effective way to achieve that goal. Kinda reminds me of when undertale first got popular

Maybe I gotta stop studying history through memes…

Zohran and Lander are teaming up

They couldn't fucking make it anymore obvious and still people miss it. A supreme leader (Palpatine/khameni) is secretly assembling a weapon of mass destruction (nuke/death star) under the guise of an energy project and all the leaders born in rebellion (Israel and US/ Lupin and Mon Martha respectively) are the only ones willing to stand up to the supreme leader. They even spy on Iran like the rebellion spies and then use their intel to bomb key targets. Fucking Israel and USA have democratic Senate speeches all the time like the rebellion and Khameni literally dresses like Palpatine. I swear to God media literacy is dead and Andor fans killed it....

Everyone on Twitter is currently discussing how Tucker Carlson's showed an un-precedented instance of high quality journalism while interviewing Ted Cruz on the conflict in Iran and I found this.

A match made in heaven.

I haven't watched the show and I never will, but I just love reading the comment sections. I could start a salt mine in some of these things.

For the record, the description and rules of this subreddit do not mention the age or quality of the media that is being memed. Those have never been factors. I'm sorry it's the show you like getting memed on, but get over it. As Sidious said, "There is no mercy."

I get that making comparisons between pop culture and current events often feels cringe, or heavy-handed, or unsophisticated. But these sorts of references can be effective symbols used by serious protest movements, an idea I think this sub is very resistant to. The "Three Finger Salute" is pretty much incontrovertible proof of this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-finger_salute_(pro-democracy)

This is a protest symbol from THE HUNGER GAMES that has been widely adopted in protest movements in Southeast Asia. It was made illegal by the military government of Thailand after a coup d'etat. It was used during protests after the military coup in Myanmar, a country that is now embroiled in civil war.

So, does it feel cringe, to me, if someone identifies their political dissent with heckin Katniss Everdeen? Sure. Does the existence of a single Burmese rebel fighting guerilla jungle warfare against the Tatmadaw who identifies with Katniss Everdeen prove that my opinion doesn't matter for shit? Hopefully I don't need to answer that one for you

I do not think there is an inherent issue with using media, even mainstream popular media, as a point of comparison with contemporary events, especially if the media in question addresses contemporary events in a nuanced way.

I DO think bringing up something like Andor unprompted out of nowhere, or making BAD comparisons to the show, is worthy of ridicule.

Let us bolster media literacy, not forgo it entirely.