This is a phenomemon I noticed online where certain critiques of media end up spreading thru pop culture osmosis until they’re generally accepted…even if the person repeating this criticism doesn’t actually think about whether the critique applies or not.

I first encountered this with Sword Art Online where it’s pretty obvious (from a casual watch of the anime) that many of the criticisms commonly leveled at it don’t actually apply…but people think they do, because they keep hearing them.

This doesn’t just happen with media, but can also happen with tropes, clichés, worldbuilding advice and much more.

At some point, I think I’ll start to list the ones that I’m aware of…but, for now, I think it’s good enough just to mention this exists.