I know it is meant to be a joke and we are meant to think that assuming the Reddit post is even real that it is funny the person would do that. However this is actually becoming a real problem . There's a mix of extremes happening and it has gotten to the point where a lot of younger men are in the mindset that it's basically impossible for this to happen and they are terrified of assuming and accepting the feelings. Because if they get it wrong they get called a creep ridiculed and just otherwise dragged through the dirt socially. Or at least that is the fear that they have I have doubts that it's actually that bad , it probably happens in some places but it is the fear that a lot of men in general have right now.
I've caught myself thinking that way when I end up falling for a friend. That I'm the one who's wrong for having those feelings and I should have just been happy with friendship. During that time it probably would have been not quite as bad as the comic but short of explicitly saying they love me and asking me out I would not have assumed anything was them having romantic interest in me.