lolcow culture is for bad people who shouldnt be online

you just got clickbaited heres my actual opinion. warning: nuance incoming 

saying that people who follow lolcows are just using it as an excuse to hate on autistic people or minorities is an ice cold take and i dont think thats actually the reason why most people follow them. sure, some people definitely do, but no community is a monolith. these are the people who dedicate their entire online presence to documenting these people, people who find them irl to fuck with them, or people who go out of their way to fuck with them online. these people suck and are assholes. its actually such a common belief within the community that these people suck there is a specific word to describe them: theyre called weens.

there are a couple reasons i think people follow lolcows. first, theres the bigotry i already mentioned. people using the guise of “theyre a bad person” to get away with making fun of someone for reasons they cant control. these people make up a small but vocal minority 

second, and i think this is the most common reason, morbid curiosity and a little bit of schadenfreude. these emotions are near universal human experiences. morbid curiosity is the reason we cant help but turn our heads to look at a car crash. its the reason true crime exists. schadenfreude is the reason you might laugh at your friend falling down and totally eating shit. things like reality tv are a little bit of both. 

the third reason is a little more complicated. these people serve as a cautionary tale. they demonstrate what not to do on the internet, and often what not to do with your life. its very common for these people to have lots of problems they constantly complain about that are self inflicted and could be easily fixed with some effort and a little more self awareness. this could be poverty due to refusing to get a job in favor of begging for money from strangers on the internet all day. it could be health problems that are a direct result of their own bad hygiene or dietary decisions. i could go on. watching somebody actively make their own life worse is a powerful reminder of how bad things could be

i think most people who follow lolcows do have empathy for them. for example: worldoftshirts. if you dont know who he is ill give you the tldr. josh is an autistic alcoholic living in nyc. the guy who introduced him to alcohol is universally hated by everyone who follows josh. the people who fuck with him on the street are widely ridiculed for being stupid assholes. most people want to see josh get sober and get his life together. sure, some some things he does are funny or entertaining, but his story is way more sad and angering than it is funny.

basically: you can go ahead and say that everyone who follows these people are evil and youre so much better than them. thats fine its in your right to believe whatever you want, but those people are human beings with complex inner worlds. i dont think most people are evil. i think most people believe the things they’re doing have a good reason to be done. im not saying following lolcows is good, but i don’t think its inherently bad. i think its a morally grey activity and most things that are morally grey are complicated and nuanced in a way that cant be summarized in a single sentence, so maybe consider that before regurgitating that same reductive take over and over