The casual method of dealing with problems online is to ignore them and hope they will go away. If someone is being an asshole to you, instead of feeding the flame by responding, leading to a very long argument that will most likely never lead anywhere, because this is the internet where nothing seems to be serious, you can just ignore him and be done with it. He will lose interest in you and leave... Leave to keep being an asshole to others, that is; the problem was not solved, it was just ignored.
From a critical standpoint, this is somewhat understood. If your critical thinking is not developed and you are not experienced in debates, there is very little you can do if you are in an argument. You won’t be able to properly explain your thoughts, and you will probably make things worse instead of resolving the issue.
On the other hand, if you are constantly ignoring and refusing to participate in arguments, you will never learn how to debate. Yeah, nobody forces you to do it and you don’t have to learn something you don’t care about, but it also comes back to the initial issue of the problem not getting solved. The least you can do is not complaining about it to others if you don’t want to participate. If you don’t want to be part of something, at least don’t make fun of those who do.
And I know the way I say it sounds self-evident, but imagine how hard it is for most people who are staying out of this, to understand the importance of arguments. Yes, many of them are about meaningless bickering concerning imaginary waifus. Nobody sane would want to be part of that; it’s a waste of time that doesn’t lead anywhere. Instead of creating flame wars and accusing one another, just be friendly, agree all the time, and have fun.
There is still a significant amount of debates concerning directing, composition, and presentation, which are fascinating to talk about and argue over how they could have be done better or if a different series did it better. The purpose of debates is to find the best perspective amongst several different interpretations. You will never realize that if you call all anime for kids and make fun of anyone who watches them without ever trying to see if there is more than kidstuff in the medium.
And don’t get me started about the stupid excuse of harming the community if you are addressing issues nobody wants to hear. This is not something like the midichlorians that nobody needed an explanation for. It’s more like you become the messenger of bad news by pointing out problems, but not the source of said problems since they were always there. Being silent does not make them go away; much less solves them.
This is why I love expose videos. It’s a community’s way of cleansing itself instead of hiding the dirt under the rug and making the outsiders to be making fun of it. Admitting a problem is the first step to fixing it. Yes, it is usually not fixed, but the possibility does not even exist if someone does not take the first step. It even has to do with respect. If you admit the shows you like are flawed, then it’s easier to be sympathetic in the eyes of those who are not into your hobbies. It’s easier to start a discussion with them, and see what could have been done better or how it’s not all garbage as they thought. You even set an example for the rest to follow your footsteps.
And before you say this is a job for mods and admins, I will reply by saying it’s everyone’s’ job. At least everyone who cares about keeping the community he is part of nicely looking. It’s denial and ignorance that makes things worse, not the constant wars about Naruto versus Luffy. I would even say those nonsense are what keep the community alive. You don’t believe me? Nobody has anything to fangasm about in this season and instantly most are calling it boring; there’s your evidence.
And do you know what else is ignorance not? It’s not bliss, which is something a lot of people seem to believe, and even go as far as thinking, if you know nothing you are morally pure because your mind is not tainted by the evils of knowledge and wisdom. Which pretty much comes down to every religious war and holy inquisition ever made in human history. You think you can stay good by silencing all other opinions. That is freaking retarded and only makes you look like an autistic jerk wrapped up in his fictional dreamland. You know, like otakus!
And exactly because the otakus are defending ignorance as bliss, we get idiotic defenders of awfully written shows like Akame ga Kill. Remember the tens of thousands of people who were calling it a masterpiece because its characters are morally grey? Giving as examples Wave, a guy who is good but doesn’t know he is working for the bad guys, and doctor Stylish who is evil but because he hides his human experiments from the eyes of the people, everybody thinks he is good. There you go guys, ignorance makes you an amazingly written grey character! WTF; that makes you an easily manipulated idiot or a resourceful hypocrite, it surely doesn’t make you morally grey.
Keeping yourself in the dark does not wash away the responsibility of your actions. You can’t appeal to ignorance for getting away with something, and managing to hide your skeletons in the closet does not undo all the crimes you committed either.
Speaking of which, if everybody knows both Trump and Hilary are crooked to the bone, why are you voting for them? Don’t you at least want someone who can hide his bullshit from the public? Do you think this way they will be honest and improve themselves? What is going on here?
