Is Outrage Culture Turning Us Into 'Mean Girls'?
4/22/202638 min
Outrage culture, cancel culture, and the rise of the “mean girl” accusation - this week, Hannah is back on Small Talk to help me unpack what’s really going on in comment sections right now, and why it feels like other women are increasingly the target. From the algorithm rewarding the angriest opinions, to comments being used to shape our own views, we get honest about our thoughts on the pile-on.
We dive into the evolution of “girls girl” culture, and how a once lighthearted label has been weaponised into something far more cutting.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsHannah· Guest0:00
[upbeat music] A LiSTNR production.
Sarah· Host0:04
She's a mean girl, mean-girl vibes. Like, if you haven't seen that commented before, you will now find it very hard to unsee it. [upbeat music] Hi, I'm Sarah, and this is Small Talk. It's not quite a news headline, but it is what the girls are talking about. Guess who's come crawling back.
Hannah· Guest0:28
[laughs] [laughs] Literally, before we start, she's like, "I can't look at you."
Sarah· Host0:32
[laughs] 'Cause we're sitting at a desk, and usually I'm in plush chairs, but Hannah's so busy she couldn't [laughs] wait for me to put the chairs in the room.
Hannah· Guest0:40
[laughs] That's rude. We- [laughs] [laughs] That's rude. We've been together for, like, four hours already. I've come in, we've recorded Big Talk. We've taken a little break, obviously gone for our little burrito and gossip, right? We've come back in and I'm like, "Oh, God, I actually have some more work to do. Could we leave the same setup?" And I was so busy. [laughs] We've just been gas bagging over a chicken burrito for a while, and I need to kinda get my shit together. [laughs] Also, I did give Sarah one, though, when I sat down and I went, "Do you need a headshot or bio for this episode?"
Sarah· Host1:07
[laughs] [laughs] So you may know Hannah from Cheek Media.
Hannah· Guest1:11
Or- You may know her from the podcast, Big Small Talk. Every Tuesday, she's super annoying in that other- [laughs] ... chair next to me. We, we do live shows together sometimes.
Sarah· Host1:18
We do.
Hannah· Guest1:18
It's nice.
Sarah· Host1:19
She's, this is my friend. You know, actually, this is really funny. Sometimes when I'm really tired in the morning and I'm like, "Ugh," you know, I might be like, "Oh, God, I have to go to- Mm-hmm ... I have to go to work." And I love my job,