As someone who considers themselves chronically online, I’ve had the unfortunate privilege of learning about many kinds of “theories” that either originate from or start trending on TikTok. Not theories in a conspiracy way — more so like hypotheses. For example, the orange peel theory, where you ask your partner to do a simple task for you (like peeling an orange) and if they do it without complaining, it shows they’re a good partner.
There’s another one that’s been circling social media a lot recently: the bean soup theory. It’s when people respond to internet posts that they are not the audience for and find a way to make it about themselves. It calls a lot of attention to self-centeredness or having an inflated ego: even when users watch a TikTok video that they are not the audience for, they’ll still find a way to put themselves at the center of the idea.
The “bean soup theory” all started with this video.
User @vibingranolamom posted a video back in 2023 of her making a recipe for bean soup. “All my anemic girlies this one is for you,” her caption says. The main ingredient in this recipe calls for a wide selection of varied beans, with a few other ingredients like kale, diced tomatoes and rice. It’s almost at 1 million likes and many, many comments, a surge of them gaining popularity for the level of absurdity. Specifically, some users are asking in the comments, “What if I don’t like beans?” Maybe, I don’t know, try a different kind of soup instead? And don’t make it the original poster’s problem?
Even in 2023, people were discussing the bean soup theory as the “bean soup effect” or “bean soup syndrome,” but it’s resurging now as the bean soup theory — and there’s been plenty of widespread criticism over the terrifying lack of self-awareness some of these commenters have.
This video shares several other strong examples — and maybe you’ve even seen, read or been told similar statements before. A few highlights:
- “I love pancakes. They are so delicious,” says one person. The response might look something like: “Okay, but what about waffles? Do you just hate waffles?”
- “Wishing you health and happiness,” says one person. “What about the unhealthy and unhappy people?” one might respond with.
- “I love a crispy grilled cheese,” says one person. The response: “What about people who don’t eat dairy?” Or, better yet, “What if I’m lactose intolerant?”
This entire concept also reminds me of this viral tweet from 2022, where a woman innocently tweeted about how much she enjoys having coffee with her husband for several hours every morning. It somehow enraged many Twitter users, and replies full of unnecessary backlash came flooding in: “I wake up everyday with chronic pain (tarsal tunnel syndrome), and wash my OCD medication down with an iced oat milk latte,” one user wrote. “This is cute and all but did you think of all the people who wake up to work grueling hours, wake up on the streets, alone, or with chronic pain before posting this? You should be mindful next time before bragging about your picture perfect life… You might upset someone,” said another. Geez. Are we all just not allowed to exist anymore?
The more official term people online are using to talk about this phenomenon is “whataboutism,” which is a rhetorical device used to direct criticism elsewhere by the recipient asking “What about…?” in response. It actually traces way back to pre-Socratic Greece and was even used during the Cold War. It’s a counter-argument strategy that Sophists used to train their clients to help them win public debates. The Soviet Union also used this tactic to deflect when accused of allegations of human rights violations by accusing Western countries of equally weighted crimes.
I’m not exactly comparing what seems like mostly Gen Z TikTok users to Sophists or the Soviet Union here, but I do find this alleged rise of self-importance online really interesting.
This user references a few examples of what she’s seen online, like a video where someone discussed how they weren’t going to be able to see their dad for a while because he was getting arrested, and the most liked comment on the video came from another user who said something along the lines of “well, my dad is dead.”
“It’s not your video, and I think people get so pissed when you call them out on that because yes, you can comment whatever you want on people’s videos, but it’s crazy to me that you’re gonna find any way to make a video that is in no way targeted towards you,” she says.
“I just announced that I’m pregnant with twins, and since that announcement, all of my comments and DMs are from people saying ‘Congratulations, but I miscarried my twins at 14 weeks,’ she says.
“We have lost the plot. We have lost all sense of time and place. We completely lack discernment. People are so terminally and chronically online that we’ve forgotten what the sense of self means,” she continues.
Is that the catalyst here, people being so online that they’re only thinking about themselves? Especially while having access to algorithms that are perfectly tailored to their likes and preferences? Are we all just thinking way too much of ourselves, maybe as a result of this or from other driving factors? I’d say it’s certainly likely. I also think we as a society should all just start thinking more before we speak.
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