I think it's poking fun at people who didn't care about [the current thing] X days ago, but are now really passionate about it. Like one month almost all their

I think it's poking fun at people who didn't care about [the current thing] X days ago, but are now really passionate about it. Like one month almost all their posts are about COVID and the next month almost all their posts are about BLM. But the "current thing" often isn't a new thing, and instead touches on some core value. For example, people who have never been to Ukraine or know anything about it still care about Ukraine because the situation speaks to issues of violence, freedom, honesty, safety, etc. And people who have never watched a college swim meet care about the trans swimmer because it speaks to issues of fairness, inclusion, gender, etc. I think there's some validity to pointing out that we don't all have to weigh in on national conversations or lose sight of the bigger picture. But I think it's also a way to try to shut down conversations using a blanket criteria: new, popular conversation == bad conversation. That philosophy can't reasonably be applied to all new conversations without doing more harm than good. In my experience the "current thing" critique is very selectively applied to discussions the commenter is opposed to or bored with, which is subjective and very personal.