My Biggest Pet Peeve

Apology: I’m going to get really complicated…

Every forum has its own reputation, and like many, I think Hello! Online is one of the friendliest H!P spheres. Reality is, things get difficult if you get your daily news from forums other than H!O. You browse through those forums, and if you just happen to read something unpleasant concerning your favorite member, you might do one of a few things: (1) Whatever, keep scrolling, (2) BASHBASHBASH, or (3) Defend your favorite member constructively.

I’m okay with certain types of bashing, so if I see something blunt like “Eri is annoying,” or “Ai is boring” I scroll over it. BUT there are exceptions. If the post is not only unpleasant, but clearly contains some sort of error which I will explain in a moment, I get all defensive about it. I don’t want to leave that comment hanging there as if I’m OK with it, neither do I want to start a war and put myself under the danger of virtual exile, so I try to write up something as unbiased as possible with back-up evidence.

Most Commonly Made Mistakes
It’s crazy how I read forums at night trying to think of a reasonable response, then go to Sociology the next morning receiving the exact definitions I need. So let’s get educational for a little bit:

Attribution error- when we attribute characteristics to someone because those characteristics stand out to one person but are not necessarily their dominating traits

Confirmation bias- when we lean toward an opinion, looking at one evidence that supports our belief while overlooking the bulk of evidence that disconfirms it

My pet peeve, as you can probably guess already, is seeing anything that contains attribution error and/or confirmation bias, especially when it concerns a favorite member. It’s misleading. What if other readers who have had no prior knowledge actually comes to believe that it’s true? Ouch, her reputation’s ruined right there. But I’ve tried stopping it.

Reason vs Error
In the past few months, I’ve had to defend for Ai, Eri, and Sayu in the forums and on YouTube. I’m going to throw in some examples, and please understand that I’m not trying to indirectly taunt those whom I’ve spoken up against, though I would really like them to view matters from my perspective (that’s the purpose of this post, not venting..).

Let’s say you’re a 7th or 8th gen fan, and you’ve never really paid attention to the 6th gen. You begin watching HaroMoni@ sometime after Miki left, when all the corners of the show have changed to liar game or challenge the king. You just happen to be watching one episode where Eri is rarely speaking and completely zoned out like Sachi Usue, and before you know it, this is exactly what you’re thinking: Wow. Eri is way too shy. She needs to learn how to do her job!

There’s attribution error for you: Attributing shyness to Eri because you noticed that she was quiet. Add to that some confirmation bias: Evidence that she’s quiet in this episode confirms the fact that she’s shy, but what about all the other HM@ episodes? To avoid fundamental attribution error, we must consider situtation factors. This is a habit for those who always consider situation factors. Likewise, it’s the same for fans who have followed Eri because they would wonder if she was feeling bad that day or something along that line. Had it been 2003, we would have all agreed with “Wow. Eri is way too shy.”

Positive Statements with Confirmation Bias
(This isn’t bias like “so-and-so is the best MM member ever!”) Please bear with me. I’m going to provide one more example to make sure that I myself am not committing error or bias when I say so-and-so’s statements contain error and bias (omgosh I really hope that didn’t confuse you even more). Let’s say you’re still that 7th or 8th gen fan, and you’re watching one of the recent episodes. You realize that Eri is saying a lot more things than she has on previous episodes. Wow. Eri is learning how to speak up!

BAM, there goes another confirmation bias. Before I spotted that statement in the forums, I had just finished watching the same episode and mentally jotted my opinions on it. When I finished reading that statement, I thought it would be the best example I have of error and bias. You can clearly see the difference between the thoughts of someone who has followed Eri and the thoughts of someone who has recently started noticing. All I thought was, “lol Eri was great. When in the world did she learn how to ride unicycles?!” And the other person said she was proud of Eri beginning to speak up. Do you notice the difference?

You know, I don’t think Eri is a total extrovert even after she’s broken out of her shell and shown the audience her…other side (tekitou, KY, bokeboke – you name it), but she has definitely learned how to speak up long since the Eriku Kamezou era.

Let’s Widen Our Perspectives
Seriously, because all are entitled to their own opinions, even if I throw this post at them, it becomes difficult for anyone to realize that they’re judging falsely. Plus, who would want to read all of this… -_-; But for those who have made it through, I give you my deepest thanks. I hope you have gotten something out of it, if anything. For those who have never made it, I’m sorry, but my defensive tendencies are going to become your biggest pet peeve. So let’s try to lessen the possibility of being annoyed in the hope that soon, we will all learn to widen our perspectives eventually.