F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
Tumblr blog ‘Humanitarians of Tinder’ showcases smug side of dating
If there is one thing the internet has excelled at, it’s pointing out the absurdity of human behaviour — and then making fun of it. The latest craze of cyber-shaming comes in the form of Tinder profile scrutiny.
A Tumblr account launched in February showcases Tinder profile pictures of misguided hipsters posing with the various persons they’ve helped abroad. Aptly named Humanitarians of Tinder (hilariously abbreviated to HoT), the blog has garnered some internet attention lately — and rightly so.
If anything, HoT is shedding some much-needed light on the western obsession with voluntourism. But let’s be honest, we’re more entertained with the fact that these Tinder users actually think it’s a good idea to showcase their saviour complexes on a dating app.
For those of you that don’t know, Tinder functions like an updated ‘Hot or Not,’ allowing you to identify the users you’re interested in dating. If you have a match, you can message your potential suitor and go from there.
The matching process is governed almost entirely by pictures, so naturally users want to put their best face forward. Unfortunately, for our humanitarian friends, their perceived best face is a shot of them posing with kids that are decidedly less privileged and live in a developing country.
Who knows, maybe they think they look good in comparison. Just kidding. In all honesty, the victims of Humanitarians of Tinder are likely unaware of their own transgression, but maybe HoT is just what they need to start acknowledging their own privilege.
To help that process along, we’ve included a few of our favourites: