Pictures of strangers...

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Why is it socially acceptable to take pictures of strangers and post them online for people to laugh at?

It's all one sided btw. Closest we get to it is they post a video and it's accidentally funny and accidentally gets a lot of views from the wrong people and they take it down so we reupload it. But not deliberately filming or photographing strangers and cataloguing it all in one place without permission.

Yes I've been on those threads. And a lot of my friends have too.

I don't come from a town of wealthy Adonises. I could easily go back to my home town and start taking equivalent pics, post them online and wait for other people to do the same. But someone would moan about 'making fun of poor people'.

Which is what those feeds do... There are even pictures of homeless people on there. Homeless people and disabled people get laughed at a lot...

My friend was on it and he's normal except he's old so his teeth have gone bad and he's a bit fat. I was on there and I know I'll be on again by the end of summer at least once, they avoid me a bit because I look so young. I literally stared at my picture trying to figure out 'what's wrong with it?' Maybe cos I had dark glasses?

Why is it socially accepted/encouraged in certain circles to do that? Is it illegal in Scotland?

They even sometimes have kids in the background but only if it's a video and a kid is making fun of someone. Actual pictures of kids is banned, so far at least.

Yeah I know 'banter'...

Not really sure if this belongs in haven or in social skills but.

It makes me feel a bit self conscious. But then I start thinking 'sod it, actually play to the cameras'. But all the time it's the awareness that they'll take pictures.

The worst thing is someone could get recognised, turned into a joke and beaten up and nobody would actually care about the last bit because they're a joke. In fact there are pictures on there of people who have been beaten up and again those are some of the most commented on and 'funniest' ones.

And yeah I know nobody is going to comment on this because it's an insular issue, I just want to moan somewhere where it won't get brushed off as normal cos I don't think it is.

Reminds me of the Romans, the lions, and the Christians.

I know what you mean.

Most people aren’t like that, though. It’s only the stupid idiots.

I know it's not everyone.

The page I'm on about has like 5k subscribers though?

I just find it interesting. When my social anxiety was bad, I used to stress over it but now it just interests me what people choose to waste their time on.

I find what helps my social anxiety is playing to the gallery. If I'm going to be made fun of anyway, I'd rather be made fun of while I have fun with my image than while I try to hide.

But not everyone is like that and a lot of what they're doing is just making fun of people for being fat/old/disabled/poor etc. Things people can't help. I can't really help my relative lack of awareness to fashion trends or my glasses, it's an aspie thing.

This is a specific eg. There are other ones out there like the People of Walmart in America or there was a time when there were pictures where people around the UK would post pictures of 'chavs' online - working class people in urban areas. Yes, a lot of us hated 'chavs' at school (myself included) because a lot of people who could be described like that bullied geeky kids but what we hated was being made a part of the 'out' group and there being an 'in' group. The site posting pictures of 'chavs' replicated the same problem.

I find it interesting. It shows what is socially unacceptable, we talk a lot about meanness being socially unacceptable but other things which are morally neutral are too, like being ugly/fat/disabled/poor/coming from elsewhere/not fitting gender stereotypes.

It can't be good for people's mental health and having pictures of people who haven't given consent out there can't be good for their safety.

Like I said, interesting to me. If I had the chance to, I'd write an academic paper on it - I think it ties in with quite a bit of theory stuff and I'm aspie enough to deep dive on it. But university costs money and short of that, there's nowhere for my theorising.

I think it ties in with postcolonial gaze theory. The idea that someone can be the 'other'.

Yes I am absolutely overthinking this, but that's an aspie trait too.

I am the "other," have always been the "other," and shall always remain the "other."

There's nothing that's going to stop this.

If I try hard to "fit in," I will still be the "other."

If I don't try at all, I will still be the "other."

I try to "fit in," in the sense that I seek not to be blatantly offensive to people. I make sure I bathe, and I wear clean clothes, and clothes that match. I'm a button-down chinos sort of guy at this stage in my life.

I make sure I "treat people like they want to be treated."

There's always going to be something that "offends" another person. People are really into "finding offense" these days. I'm not joining that party.

I always tried to fit in when I was at uni and a bit after, they still didn't want me for anything meaningful like a job. I never wore very girly things but I wore women's fitted blouses and cardigans with black trousers and black heels but only as high as I could walk in. I tried really hard to fit in and they didn't want me and I still got made fun of.

So I got ill.

When I got ill my mum told me, it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you're not being immoral. She had a special theory about it but it's private between us. Essentially there's two rules. Don't hurt anyone else and do what it takes to make you happy.

So nowadays I try to do that and I try not to judge others based on trivial things. Sometimes I 'other' very unconventional people in the way of thinking 'that looks cool but I wouldn't be brave enough'.

Sometimes I judge people because their way of dressing is overtly sexual and they don't leave it in adult only spaces, including nudists. But I do that because it offends my sense of morality - it feels like they're violating my nephews and nieces somehow by not wearing clothes. And there are various political ways of dressing which are similar to this. Because they symbolise something specifically hateful.

But generally - I don't judge someone because they wear a tracksuit or they're fat or they're short etc. Those aren't things which have anything to do with how moral someone is. The same if they're in suits and conventionally attractive.

So I wear my tracksuits and stuff. And I dress smartly sometimes but when I do it's still 'unconventional' because I find it more comfortable to cross dress. I look like a boy though so people think I'm being conventional.

Hygiene is different though, that impacts people around you, I only sometimes don't do that because of my sensory sensitivities (I can't shower) and I try very hard to always stay somewhere with a bath.

I'd never think to take a picture of a stranger, post it on the internet, find a bunch of people who look alike, send it to the twitter thread, and have it up there and not delete it but add some kind of caption. That takes a lot of work/hate of the stranger.

I still get rejected but at least I'm being myself.