Charles JohnsonIt’s probably a good idea to repost this incredibly prophetic cartoon from 2014 at regular intervals because every day I see people who still haven’t fully imbibed its message. Apologies if it’s old hat to you.
The Terrible Sea Lion.
JL Roberson@Green_Footballs I forgot all about Wondermark
I got one of these earlier for commenting on the #RFKJr story literally everyone has heard by now. He challenged my "sources." I told him just look at Google News ffs and then blocked him before his barking began.
PS I LOVE to block btw, trolls out there, and do it very readily
I got one of these earlier for commenting on the #RFKJr story literally everyone has heard by now. He challenged my "sources." I told him just look at Google News ffs and then blocked him before his barking began.
PS I LOVE to block btw, trolls out there, and do it very readily
Avi Rappoport (avirr)
Rora Borealis@Green_Footballs Google the etymology of "old hat" some time. It's amusing.
Chuck, just Chuck@Green_Footballs, it holds up.
spaduf@Green_Footballs I get the point but it sure does seem like they're dog whistling a sea lion genocide
Shannon
Ryan Egesdahl 
@wasootch @spaduf @Green_Footballs Nah, no accusations here. I love sea lions, too. I was just making (what I hope is) a humorous observation in light of what’s written here about the comic: https://wondermark.com/2014-errata/
2014 Errata
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dwrXEHiCT4F3r106IN8snQ',sig:'0_GuDNUk4zgD1D6DrzZgQCPpu5JfN4WnZX4-U7JIH3s=',w:'531px',h:'325px',items:'557615757',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Sometimes, you write and publish a comic strip, and sometimes, you find out later that you got something wrong. Since files on the internet are impervious to change, please find instead, below, a comprehensive list of our errors, omissions, and misstatements of fact in 2014. #1023; The Counsel of the Expert (Part 3)Clearly, Darren also benefited from networking. #1034; A Masterpiece in every RouterCraig does actually have a choice in the matter; he is just choosing to ignore it for dramatic effect. #1053; The Star So Softly Said HelloLater reports indicate that ... Read more
@deriamis @spaduf @Green_Footballs I know. Just had to express my love of sea lions. 😹
I mean, how can you not love these guys? Just look at them?
@deriamis @spaduf @Green_Footballs And I get why comic strip writers use animals as substitutes, but the animals in question don't really deserve the label either and humans already do enough to them. I guess I don't like the use in this case.
jimb@Green_Footballs Malki is great. Longtime fan of Wondermark.
Joanna Bryson, blathering@Green_Footballs @avirr the main reason I mute people, I didn't know it had a name. I'm not sure it's always bad faith, some people are broken, but if I'd named it (and if the name weren't already taken) I would have called it the black swan effect after the film, people pulling those back who start to stand out by wasting their time.
Escarpment@Green_Footballs I don't like the "sealion" pejorative. Say in that example the two people are saying something incorrect and derisive of a minority group, for example. It is the obligation of the person overhearing to intervene.
Social media provide more opportunities to intervene than ever before. People can intervene early and often when they see dangerously wrong ideas beginning to surface. That is a good thing.
Aris Adamantiadis 
💲Paid@escarpment @Green_Footballs what makes the sealion a sealion are the last 3 panels. Following people in their homes after they left the public space and asked you to stop while continuously asking questions that lead nowhere is helping no one's cause.
@aris @Green_Footballs I see it applied primarily in the public square. People who post dangerously wrong ideas publicly and then say "buzz off, sealion" when you intervene.
flere-imsaho 🇺🇦@escarpment @Green_Footballs there's always one of you folks to show up when you quote the comic. do be somewhere else.
@mawhrin @Green_Footballs Don't exactly know what "one of you folks" means. But yeah, I often intervene when I see wrong ideas gaining traction. Historically, wrong ideas tend to gain momentum until very bad things start happening. So my hypothesis is if you intervene early enough, you can put enough perspective in place that you might be able to skip the future bloodletting.
@escarpment @Green_Footballs do you speak in this pompous manner and of things you have no bloody idea frequently?
@escarpment @Green_Footballs (oh, my apologies, of course you do. i only just looked at your timeline.)
@mawhrin @Green_Footballs Sure, I'll take pompous. There are worse things than being pompous. I'm sure I have just as much of an idea about the topic of intervening in public about dangerous ideas as you do.
A Tattered Scrapbook@Green_Footballs I enjoy flipping the meaning by replacing “marine mammals” with “people”, and “sea lions” with a minority group (Pick your own, by ethnicity, gender orientation, or other).
Then, it’s a neat little parable about trying to educate bigots. :)
Green Roc Disabled@Tattered @Green_Footballs I've often felt myself in the position of the sea lion, not trying to be mean or cruel but trying to better myself and wanting to understand what the problem is so I can better myself. I find in the comic, the couple is rude by not telling the sea lion what the problem is. I certainly would not follow someone into their home, but I've known myself to speak similarly without any ill intent. I don't understand implications. I also wish to not offend anyone. /genuine
MikeOShay@Green_Footballs SEALIONING IS BASED ON A WONDERMARK COMIC???
Betsy@Green_Footballs it wasn't prophetic, it was a reaction to a type of behaviour very common amongst the gamergate crowd.
(now… gamergate, a misogynistic hate movement/performance that became the training ground for today's right-wing culture warriors, is truly terrifyng shit, especially considering the wide-ranging consequences in today's politics.)
8@mawhrin @Green_Footballs to add on to that point we also now know where the sea lions go when nobody smarter than Joe Rogan engages with their hurt feelings.
Kohane@Green_Footballs Is there a joke somewhere that I'm missing...?
@kohane @Green_Footballs usually if you feel annoyed or offended by this cartoon, the joke is on you. and if you don't get it, you're one of the few fortunate people who never met a terrible sealion.
@mawhrin @Green_Footballs The only sea lions I've met were on a rocky island, just off the coast, eating fish & didn't speak at all.
I feel like there's some play on words or pronunciation thing...
I feel like there's some play on words or pronunciation thing...
@kohane @Green_Footballs i wouldn't think there's anything specific to it other than typical david malki's whimsy. (see wondermark for more examples.)
Jyoti MishraFucking hell, posting this on Mast, official corporate sponsor* of I Don't Get It and Have Some Unwanted Pedantry is enormously brave of you.
*I patiently await the Well Actuallys on this. It's irresistible bait for them.
@Jyoti They’re heeeere.
I had a totally-unrelated sealion arf at me about five minutes ago!
I want to see a venn for sealioning / Dunning-Kruger but It's gonna be a circle, innit?
PaulDavisTheFirst@Jyoti @Green_Footballs it's a clever social trap. anyone who gets the sealion meme seems to do so because it captures something they experience in real life and is obviously true. Anybody who objects to any aspect of the description it for any reason is guaranteed to be sealioning.
It's like a Cretan Liars Paradox: anyboy who questions this representation of a type of behavior is by definition engaging in this type of behavior. Claims that X is not sealioning are by definition sealioning.
Reinder Dijkhuis Does Art@Green_Footballs A conservative I used to be somewhat friendly with posted sometime after that friendship ended that he thought this dismissal of asking timewasting questions as 'sealioning' was totally unfair and unreasonable, and all I could think was "Yes, you would think that".
Ali@Green_Footballs My standard reply to randoms turning up in my mentions.
Casey Jennings@Green_Footballs always a great item to repost
Thanks
Thanks
Marlene DeepDish, VSOP@Green_Footballs [claps with flippers]
Dr. Sam Wein@Green_Footballs
Can we get servers to post this comic as part of their on boarding process?
Can we get servers to post this comic as part of their on boarding process?
Corbin@Green_Footballs What I find fascinating about this comic is that it reveals political preferences. In particular, it reveals whether left-leaning liberals are more interested in Gricean/respectability issues, or marginalization/diversity issues. The comic author, by dint of their framing, takes the Gricean position.
Fardels Bear1/2 The meme is familiar. I was once a recipient, but let Mastodon be the judge.
Someone said they had the solution to a serious social problem (can't remember what), but couldn't say what the solution was.
I pressed them on this, and they said I wouldn't understand. I said, "try me," but they still wouldn't.
At this point I realised they were an idiot and decided, for the fun of it, to keep trying for an answer.
Their cluelessness won in the end, and I got the meme.
2/2 The moral of the story is this: if a toot is unclear, disingenuous, or just plain batshit crazy, there is nothing wrong in asking for clarificaton. Deploying the sea lion meme is an admission that either a) you don't know what you're talking about, or b) you can't be bothered to explain yourself clearly.
But it's a funny meme and I like it for that.
moondog548@riggbeck @Green_Footballs yeah. There is nothing wrong with the comic. It's a fine way to introduce the topic and it's amusing to folks who are all-too-familiar.
Folks thinking they can substitute this comic for thoughtful explaination of the problem of bad faith actors (or even worse deploy it as a meaningful resolution to them) are *a* problem.
Bad faith actors are a bigger problem, but the folks above ain't helping.
Efi (nap pet) 🦊💤@Green_Footballs and I still do not understand which is the wrong side in this
don't tell me, I don't think I'll ever get it
don't tell me, I don't think I'll ever get it
Naughtylus 
To anyone else that read that wrong the first time,
DO read the wikipedia link.
(To anyone who gets it, try replacing "sea lion" with e.g. "immigrants". By the 4th panel I didn't know who was right any more)
Am I?It's also good to refresh it from time to time so that people remember what it actually means, and the meaning doesn't slide.
GI Jack: All American Zero
Social Justice Warrior🦍@Green_Footballs I don't understand.
I see that this is about internet discussions. Is this about racism?