I used to seriously think that way. I'm glad I grew out of that whole waifu thing.
i was under the impression that everyone did it sarcastically/self-deprecatingly but i guess not
Yeah same. I too though, would really love to speak to one of those people who follow all those 'rules' and stuff. Not out of any ill purpose, just to see what makes them tick.
i was under the impression that everyone did it sarcastically/self-deprecatingly but i guess not
I was under that impression too. I never thought anyone was actually serious about it.
Nope, it exists. The underlying reason is the '3DPD' thing, though the 'ANY GIRL HAS SEX IS A SLUT' repeated all the time by retards misrepresents the issue.
The '2D love' idea originated in Japan, where as you may have heard the
birth rate is currently declining. From what I have heard (and I am no expert on the subject, it's a very complicated situation), complicated social factors, as well as differences in values (apparently caused by the incompatible blending of traditional Japanese values and modern Western values) make it more difficult for young men and women to have a significant amount of contact with each other beyond high school. Basically, a significant amount of people don't get into relationships and remain virgin for a very long time or for their entire lives.
Since blaming others is easier than blaming yourself, this can cause a negative attitude towards women, which is reinforced with the prevalent stereotype that women are only out for money (there's no telling how much truth is in this, but Western influences have made women more emancipated, while the traditional Japanese 'yamato nadeshiko' view of an ideal women/female gender role is pretty much the polar opposite of this, leading to odd conflicts) and things like the perceived (?)
promiscuity of Japanese teen girls (with stories about middle/high school girls selling their bodies online being really common).
Basically, people into '2D love' have grown dissatisfied with women in the real world (3DPD), and as such have sought and found their happiness in fictional love, letting it grow from a fantasy into an obsession where they delude themselves into truly loving fictional characters. This is also why it's 'not okay' to have multiple 'waifus' ('yome' (bride) as the Japanese call it), as the relationship is considered as serious as a real one.
'Waifu' is a term that originated on 4chan as a joke, though over time the term has evolved to also act as an equivalent to the Japanese 'yome', similar to how GAR evolved from meaning "I'm gay for this character" to "this character is extremely manly". The reason people can get up in arms regarding its usage is the same as why Narutards are looked down on; people with only a very shallow (and often mistaken) impression of a subject matter will only misrepresent the subject matter; if you care about something, you don't want it to be misrepresented (LOLOLOL I'm the biggest otaku there is!! I've seen all of Naruto! Japanese anime is so cool since they're always long and action-packed and much more serious than what we have in the West!). Imagine an army of hipsters invading the indie community, bragging about how they're cool because they played Minecraft, Braid and Super Meat Boy. You just don't want people to be retards about things you truly care about.
Now for a heartwarming photo...
(
This NYTimes article is related. If you're wondering, the character is Nemu from
Da Capo)