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I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this, but the concept of cringe compilations really gets on my nerves. My biggest problem with these videos is that the "humor" revolves around laughing at people who are just being themselves and doing what brings them happiness as well as the fact that they are subject to this ridicule just because their hobbies are considered as "weird" or because they act in a way that is different from what is "normal" according to society. However, what's even worse is that people go along with this stuff and they make comments like "Wow, I'm so glad I'm normal and not like those people" or "If I was his/her parent, I would be so ashamed", as if they think that the people in these videos should be ashamed for being themselves. It's not like what they are doing is harming anyone, so why should people care so much about other people's "weird" hobbies?

Another problem I have with these videos is that it is hypocritical to label people as "cringe". The term "cringe" or "cringy" has no universal definition because those terms are subjective and different people consider different things to be "cringy". By that logic, anything can be considered "cringy" because different people have different responses to certain interests/subjects/people, etc. With so many kinds of people in this world, there is always going to be at least one person out there that thinks your practices or interests are "cringy", so it would be hypocritical to be labelling others as such as if you're better than them, because regardless of how "normal" you think you are, everyone, including you, is weird in one way or another.

I apologize for the rant, but I just feel like this is an issue that nobody seems to be talking about. I've heard the phrase "be yourself" more times than I can count, yet these cringe compilations mock people who are being themselves. I consider myself lucky that I am able to embrace all of the aspects of my identity, whether those aspects are "normal" or "weird". I just wish that others could do the same without having to worry about being laughed at by everyone, and I think addressing the issue of cringe compilations would be a good start.

I actually really like reddit's r/cringe subreddit definition of cringe "Content must depict an embarrassing interaction between two or more people.". Basically, an awkward moment between two people.

I agree places like r/cringeanarchy are trash though. Mostly making fun of children or people who are making inside jokes that they don't understand, and since they don't get it, it must be cringe.

Or just anything they disagree with politically.

What we've been seeing over the past few years is large internet personalities start to realize that anyone they poke fun at, no matter how lightly or affectionately, can easily become a target for their fanbase to genuinely go after. There's an increasingly thin line between fun and harassment.

You can try being a special snowflake, but then expect the appropriate reaction.

Correct me if I am wrong, but when you say "appropriate reaction" it sounds like you are saying that it is acceptable to make fun of others just because they differ from the norm. If so, then I fail to see how making fun of people for their differences is appropriate because that just causes more division in an already divided society. As I stated before, people aren't being harmed by these "weird" interests or hobbies, so I don't understand why people can't just respect, or at the very least, tolerate people with these interests.

Whether it's appropriate or not, being made fun of isn't harmful either. And being made fun of for differing from the norm is just something that you have to accept. So you can either grow a thiccer skin, or isolate yourself from society.

People are driven into depression and/or suicide due to bullying, being made fun of certainly carries more potential to do harm rather than just showing some tolerance. Your ultimatum between growing a thicker skin and isolating yourself wouldn't exist if people were just able to tolerate and respect one another.

At the end of the day, Tylers words still ring on.

That statement is only partially true. Sure, you can walk away/block people that decide to insult and harass you online. However, it's not as easy to walk away from when real-world bullying extends into cyberbullying or when cyberbullying potentially manifests into real-world bullying.

It all started from TV shows m8. Remember this girl who pretended that she is cat? She appeared on TV first. Some other girl pretended to be ninja turtle and appeared on TV too. People on TV have no problem using people with sickness(mental or physical) or other problems for views. So what I think, before dealing with cringe compilations you should look at TV, it's a lot worse.

I don't think cringe and cringe compilations are always humor. It might be that for a lot of people regarding reddit and 4chan, but it has to do with seeking out that novel feeling of seeing awkward or soul-crushing moments and feeling it second hand for the persons involved. Humor might just play second banana to the real thing, as a sort of coping mechanism. The concept is to witness events that actually happen that people might've hypothesized in their head thinking it would never happen. It's usually not going to be whether you think you're better than anyone else because of their misfortune or tastes, it's that instance the moment, the situation and everyone involved. Again, it's subjective to what everyone thinks about cringe but is frivolous to assume laughing on a higher horse is what all cringe is.

For the motives behind creating cringe compilations, yeah, bullying can be another motivation. But that's the thing, bullying happens, so it's easy to assume it infests cringe culture because it goes hand in hand with what it is: what people find strange/peculiar/awkward and reacting to it.

No one needs to discuss the personal or emotional level about cringe culture because it's rational to assume that people will always have tastes in opposition to yours. Because I really don't know where you're coming from or what you misunderstand about cringe culture to take it so personally. It's as if you only broadly take into account that it's all about putting people down and laughing at them when it's just not always the case. It happens, but not to the extent, "breaking news" hidden under the rug you think it is.

That's a very good point. I guess I should have viewed cringe on an even broader level. I thought that cringe compilations were centered around pointing out "weird" people and putting them down because the cringe compilations I watched tended to follow this formula of showcasing the "weird" people (bronies, weebs, furries,) or showcasing people that were very vocal about a certain interest or hobby. Regardless, I'm glad you made that post, Cronus, because at least now I have a slightly broader outlook on cringe culture. Also, I'm sorry if I took this too personally, it just bothers me when people are ostracized by others just for being who they are, if that makes sense.

The problem is mainly that whether or not something is cringy is all a matter of opinion.

Though I would say that Chris-chan is probably the one thing that everyone could agree is cringy.

Cringe Compilation videos are literally just some of the most lazy shit videos you can make and it's all to rally people up against something that's supposedly 'CWINGE'.

I think there's some things that should be labeled as cringeworthy, but like, live and let fucking live for most shit. If there's some diaper fetishist heroine addicted pedophile who forces people to have the same opinion they do & makes navy seals copypasta tier threats if they're not yesmen to themcough, lily peet than that's like, definetly someone who deserves that label, but If a guy simply has a furry avatar or likes some certain video game or show, has political opinions that you don't share but is willing to respect others views, etc how the fuck is that shit affecting anyone?

It should be called a "Grimace Gallery"

Heh, well played.

Exibit A: "i am assuming you saw yourself on the internet (and this is the backlash?)"

^there is a bully response.

true or not, your reaction justifiably proposes a situation where someone quite indubitably russled your jimmies …

^that's my friend keeping the cripple safe by watching his ride. "The cripple had to go walk off somewheres' and get a ChuckNorrisTotalGym that is…" (i swear you can't make this up)

If you don't want to be included in a cringe compilation, then it's best not to post your stuff on the internet.

So according to you, the people who are being themselves and making content about the stuff they enjoy are the ones at fault now? This sounds like victim blaming to me. What you're saying would be like telling someone who is getting bullied for being a homsexual/lesbian: "If you don't want to get bullied, then stop being so openly gay" (This example is probably a bit outdated since being an LGBTQ is much more socially acceptable in comparison to past years, but I think you get the point.) Do you realize how illogical that sounds? Why should we be chastising the ones who are being judged (especially when their interests aren't harmful on the surface) when we should chastise those who judge and lack tolerance and respect for others?

I'm failing to see the "bullying" part of this. Bullying would require: 1) the person is aware of the video, 2) they are directly confronted by people who have seen the video, and 3) the people act like assholes to them. Very, very few people who are in compilation videos are going to be aware of them and I can guarantee pretty much none of them who are are going to be confronted by viewers over it.

…revolves around laughing at people who are just being themselves and doing what brings them happiness…

And shadenfreude involves laughing at other people's misfortune. And self-deprecation involves laughing at your own faults and flaws. And roasts involve making fun of others faults and flaws. A large chunk of comedy is devoted to focusing on "laughing at people."

The term "cringe" or "cringy" has no universal definition…

"Cringe" has a pretty well-understood definition: a feeling of second-hand embarrassment or awkwardness which can be humorous brought on by a perceived social faux pas someone commits." What causes its invocation is where the subjectivity comes into play. In other words, what people think is embarrassing is going to differ.

…there is always going to be at least one person out there that thinks your practices or interests are "cringy"…

Given the vast size of the human population, that's not really saying much. You could probably find at least one person who thinks what you do is incredibly violent, or sexually deviant, or lazy, or selfish, or greedy, etc.

More to the point of what your saying, I don't really care. If someone in Russia laughs at a video or picture of me and makes a comment about it in Russian and I never see or hear about it, why should I care? Go ahead and laugh, I'll never know.

…it would be hypocritical…

No, it would be hypocritical if you did your rant, then had a cringe compilation you upvoted in the next tab over. People laughing at cringe compilations would only be hypocrisy if they were railing against cringe compilations. Otherwise, it's just people laughing at what other people do, which, as I said, makes up a fairly good sized chunk of humor.

I would think that with some cringe compilations accumulating millions of views and with the Internet being able to spread information from user to user in mere seconds that there is quite a high chance that the people in the videos would be aware of these compilations and that they could spread to their respective communities which could manifest into real world bullying, so I still feel like the bullying aspect could arise.

However, you are completely right that many kinds of humor such as roasts, schadenfreude, and self-depreciation do revolve around laughing at one's flaws, so knowing that the vast majority of humor revolves around this concept, in hindsight I should have taken this topic with a grain of salt.

In terms of the hypocrisy part, I probably should have been more descriptive. What I was trying to get at is that it is hypocritical to call out people for being "cringy" because there are other people that could probably view you the same way.

Now that I think about it, maybe I was blowing this topic out of proportion when it is only a small piece of what we view as humor. It's just that I support people being themselves and being their own individual, so I can't help but feel annoyed when people are made fun of for being themselves and expressing their interests whether they are considered as weird or not. Some of you may be annoyed of my posts, and if so, then I'm sorry for getting so caught up in this topic and my ideas on this topic. In the future, maybe I shouldn't take these small topics as personally, and I should realize that there is much more depth to humor than I initially thought. Regardless of how you feel about my posts, I hope we can all take something away from this discussion (as I've already learned quite a bit from all of this, so I just want to thank all of you for this discussion and I am sorry if I was too vocal about my thoughts.)

@xTSGx

Actually, I think you are downplaying the chance people are involved are confronted over it. I actually think that if cringe stuff has any identifying info that isn't strenuous to identify a person with, it is more likely than not with popular subjects of cringe.

See, almost every cringe browser won't harass the original person. But let's say 0.01% do. Tiny right? 1/10000. But if say, that image or video is viewed 100,000 times, it suddenly becomes likely. if you do a 1/10000 chance thing 10000 times, it's already a 63% chance, let alone 100k. Side note, this is why everyone with a strong opinion and lots of followers gets death threats, the follower size is so huge that it becomes possible even though almost no one would do that.

I'd say if cringe isn't real careful with identifying info, harassment is a regular feature of the deal.

"Cringe culture" and "Cringe comps" are just a way for insecure people to feel better about themselves by deriding someone or something that they classify as "cringe" according to their own personal standards. The term itself "cringe" has no clear definition and only shows how much stupid and pointless is this whole shitshow of 12 year olds who call everything cringe.

Does the same apply to fail culture and fail comps?

Partially. Putting somebody's mistakes/mishaps for the whole Internet to see can be humiliating for the people in the videos and the spread of those videos could potentially manifest into bullying. However, I think fail comps aren't as bad as cringe comps because the humor of fail comps revolves more around laughing at the mistake that was made rather than laughing solely at the person in the video. For example, if I find people slipping on banana peels to be funny, it wouldn't matter what kind of person was slipping on the banana peel, because all that would matter to me was that they slipped on the peel and nothing more. In addition, some "fails" in fail comps can be caused by bad timing or bad luck rather than user error, so it would be hard to insult people for something that wasn't their fault in the first place.

On the other hand, cringe comps are more personal because they are taking examples of people expressing hobbies/games/shows, etc… that they are very attached to or interested in and they are labelled as "cringe", implying that the people in these videos should be embarrassed for having these interests and that they deserve to be laughed at for having these interests. In addition, cringe compilations are more personal because some cringe comps target specific groups of people and they try to get people to laugh at them or insult them. This is shown by the fact that there are cringe compilations dedicated to bronies, furries, weebs, people that like Minecraft, people with autism, or just people who are really vocal about a certain hobby they have.

I agree quite a bit. Some seem more like "Look at that fag for being different" than an awkward situation. I fear reaction of who I am a lot because I feel some one would give me shit about it, and post it. I hide a lot from people because of multiple reasons.

1. Too many have stabbed me in the back. Even in childhood.

2. I gain the urge to do violent things to myself or those who did it. Myself because I feel unworthy for being weird, and them for doing such a thing.

3. I am already alone, and being abandoned for who I am fucks me up inside.

4. People would view me as someone less.

I am sorry this does not all fit to the situation/topic.

Look, I had to deal with being extremely self conscious when I was younger a lot myself, fuck, I still do have paranoia attacks every so often.

But Violence is no way to solve the issue, violence is purely destructive, both for others and the self, and usually does not lead to positive resolutions. The only justifications I can find are for self defense & in-war[perferably a war of self defense].

Others judging you for simply being yourself, whatever that is, is generally an asshole thing, but violence will only justify their actions, and you certainly won't be judged better for doing it.

The best solution is to try to make the world a better place peacefully using what you have & try to make it so less people have to deal with the things you went through.

On New Year's Day 2014, the website closed down the Cringeworthy gallery. Four years to now, We (Commie!) consider that they've the right thing because they knew that the cringe culture is gonna be spreading in any way such as rampantly e.g. Leafy only back in 2016. I think you came up with this after we expect to watch E3 for the games and not the lack-of-rehearsal borderline stage fright that Crowbcat is gonna handpicked the most.

Expanding Poochyena's commentary, r/Cringe used to have variety that lead Reddit to open new subreddits including…
r/ComedyCemetery • r/FellowKids • r/QuitYourBullshit • r/CringeAnarchy which is the worst, even worse than r/The_Donald in terms of "regulation/moderation"

I never act on the violent thoughts. They are still in my mind, but I do not work on them. I try to live my life, and hopefully make others laugh/smile while going through my daily shit. I still hold shit inside, but like I said I never harm anyone.

There's more!
r/KidsAreFuckingStupid and r/IAmVerySmart (Voting MatPat to elect as Vice President of r/IAmVerySmart)