How That One Only Friends Thread Demonstrated How Misinformation Operates: A Case Study (LOL)
Disclaimer: This is not really a case study but an analysis and venting room. Lol. If you are new here, this Tumblr account was originally made for my college majors so woop de woop. I am actually about to sleep but there is this one post in X about Only Friends that made me get up and type this post. I do not want to bring drama from other platforms but yenno.
If you are going to raise your brows at me for writing this, sue me, I guess. On what grounds though? Anyway, I will also not drop names like we only assign aliases akin to psychology case vignettes. After explaining the context, I will also delve into the audience's reaction to the said thread. I may be reading too much into this, actually no, because I made this yawn. I am typing this without a filter.
Anyway, this going to be a long-ass post...
Context: There is this one big account from X who is an avid viewer of Only Friends. As far as I know, big accounts are users who have a following of a thousand and above. Let us name this account user AB. According to the pinned tweet of the AB, they will translate for their fandom--the catch is, they will only translate specific scenes of the couple/ship they support. If they see that it is not related to the ship, they will cut it.
AB's Claims (aka their translation of the book):
Boston is in love with Top. Top got Boston's heartbroken that he started sleeping around and developed commitment issues.
Boston is mad at Top so he pushed Mew to Top because he thought the two would not take each other seriously--particularly Top because he is used to one-night stands.
Boston did not want to hurt Mew.
Boston is just a pookie and misunderstood character--this implies what he did to Top just makes sense
Counter-claims (from the same OF novel)
Boston sleeps around EVEN BEFORE he met Top
It was mentioned in the book that the reason why Cheum, Boston, Ray, and Mew are friends is because they are all rebelling against the standards set by society. Fact 1: It was actually established in the book that Boston hates living in the shadow of his father who is a respected politician. Fact 2: Boston sleeps around and is popular for giving people benefits. As such, he was threatened once to be exposed by the senior with whom he had an encounter. Said senior wanted them to stay for some time so they could brag about dating the politician's kid.
2. Will not argue with this one but come to think of it, Boston knows what he is signing up for. It was mentioned countless times that Top sleeps around and thinks of people as one-night stands. Top even created a rule and once they exceeded that certain time period, bye bye. The same goes for Boston. Even in the series, Boston does not want to have romantic relationships.
3. Boston ACTUALLY wants to hurt not JUST Top but Mew
If you looked for snippets of the novel, Boston actually called Mew bland. BLAND. Idk but calling your friend bland just because you think you are the BEST and is jealous is hmmm...
4. Boston is not a pookie character, folks, and it is okay to admit it
He actually SAed Top. It was even stated in his POV that Boston forced himself to Top because he wanted to show him that he was better than his bland friend Mew. Yep. He is mad. He is jealous. He called his friend bland at that time because insecurity reared his ugly head.
To be honest, people have favorites and biases. I have one. You have one, too.
What I did not actually like is how AB specifically stated that they would not translate the parts except their favorite ship but cherry-picked translating aka interpreting Boston and Top's relationship.
As such, there are specific parts that are lost: like how AB did not include the part where Boston SAed Top. In the novel, it was much more detailed. Top actually had difficulties breathing to the point of almost losing consciousness. Yep, that is how extremely unsettling it is in the novel. He pushes his lower body to Top even if does not respond to him--because at that time, he is already in love with Mew.
So why am I writing all of this? I mentioned that everyone has biases but why? It is because I disliked misinformation and at the same time, I find it amusing how a simple fan's sentiments of Only Friends is actually a prototype of misinformation operations that can be/is applied in political spaces.
How is it similar to how the dissemination of misinformation works?
ONE: The thread has a deliberate omission of some information. Certain parts of the translation are cherry-picked because of their biases and yes, this is not the first time AB demonstrated their dislike for TopMew. This time, it is done in a subtle manner.
TWO: The thread evokes certain emotions in the audience. Like I've said earlier, we all have biases and certainly, we feel sad for our favorite character or celebrity especially if we think that they are underdog. An exemplary example of this is the way people feel sympathy for underdog politicians.
See how the Philippines voted for Duterte because he is a simple man who had no machinery but an honest mouth (actually just foul-mouthed and straight-up crap anyway). They also reelected Marcos Jr., aka the son of the dictator Marcos Sr., to the position. All because of misinformation.
In Only Friends, only Boston and Nick have no definite endings. Now that the two pairs ended up together but not them, fans of the ship are more vulnerable and easily swayed by emotions.
The comments of the users who interacted with the thread goes along the lines of: "Wow! I hate Top even more!" "Boston is just a baby who is misunderstood!" "He is my pookie. Sadlyf." "They did my baby Boston dirty."
THREE: The said emotions and ingrained ideas by the sources make it easier for people to ignore fact-checking and consume only what is available to them. You might think that I am unfair for comparing fandom reactions and sentiments to much serious world problems but like I said, this is a prototype. A mini reflection. Almost.
The most frustrating part is that some people do not bother to fact-check it--like if AB really has a book and is translating it based on the content OR AB is actually interpreting it, adding and subtracting things.
In addition, AB cannot give the page number of the source material so those who have the novel can check if what they are saying is true.
I mean this is not an isolated case. Even K-POP fandoms and the like are like this.
It just happens that this case unfolded in front of my eyes like wow. I need to write/type that. LMAO.
FOUR: AB's thread is a mini echo chamber
Once a fan/internet user is trapped in their own echo chamber and only sees things they like, they will most likely think that everything is true and what they believe is true is true. This is similar to algorithms used in misinformation and disinformation operations.
Going back, if you checked AB's post, a lot of people liked it and retweeted it. It has high engagements because AB is a big account. Let us face it, not everyone has the money to buy a book and they will consume what is available to them. The very same people are the ones who will engage with the post and retweet the hell out of them to show support.
Those who will correct the information AB has given will be ignored because people choose to believe the source. Like who cares if AB is wrong? It satisfies my ego too. Lol.
This is why YouTube removed the dislike button because it is a way for people to silently agree or disagree on something. This is also true for X.
The said echo chamber makes misinformation easier to spread. What is worse is if the source has a stable following aka large audiences.
I know, people will raise their brows and say that I am in an echo chamber too by liking Mew and to a certain extent TopMew but hahaha. Anyway...
If you are still reading this, wow! I hope you are still okay. Lol. I am sorry that I analyzed this thing way too much (in reality, I do not, I am actually typing the first thing I can think of).
I am sorry not sorry that the thread and the fandom behavior is just something that I had to bring it here and write. If people will criticize me for this, then, please be my guest. Lol.
Like did user devyuance just compare a thread to misinformation? Why not other threads? Why this one? I mean, this is something that I know of soooo. Wild? I mean, I just said what I said. The reason why my username is devyuance is because of deviance.
Sidenote, if you are still a college student in social sciences and searching for a research topic, you might want to delve deeper into this!
Raise your brows. Idc. Bye.
