Pet Peeves

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

I haven't called anyone a peon, either directly or indirectly, but I do a similar thing. Gradually I've broken off most social contact with my friends. Once it's the weekend I stay indoors until I have to leave again monday; I simply have no reason or will to leave. I've got a feeling that when school is over I'll have to change something drastic or I might just spend the rest of my life's time sitting around watching television and looking out of the window.

[Daniel S.]

I might just spend the rest of my life's time sitting around watching television and looking out of the window.

And listening to music, right?

[Daniel S.]

Heywood's post led me to thinking..

Lots of people think that I think I'm better than them, that I look at them in such a way that it drains their confidence, such a way that makes them feel that I hate them and I think they're inferior.

Being aloof is one thing, but you don't smirk at them and show a big mouthful of pearly whites, right?

[Aegir]

Well, I sort of have this uncomfortableness-induced smile that I awkwardly try to hide, many have noticed, though.. someone once said it's like I'm secretly laughing at the world.

[punkinhead]

i hate when people yawn out loud at say a theatre or church

[Rerun]

Well, here was a list I created about two years ago of things that weren't too cool with me at the time.

http://redrun.livejournal.com/8001.html

[Aegir]

This was in the LIVING WITH WAR thread but it's three page behind and terribly off-topic so I figured I'd respond to it here.

I'm sure the President isn't as dumb as people think he is -- it's just the way he speaks (though why he has a Texas accent if his parents don't is beyond me) combined with his portrayal in the media. People certainly wouldn't think he was an idiot if not every comedian and joke newscaster was telling you that he was.

George speaks like those dumb kids in class who when reading a passage from a book to everyone they skip words like 'disputatious' and replace it with 'dispu-something-or-other'.

Oh, I hate those kids. That's my favorite part about college, no idiots that can't pronounce words (well, that and people hardly read aloud in college besides weird poems written 500 years ago, and then mispronounciation is just expected).

The worst was when it was the people getting higher grades than you. Who gets a fucking A-minus in English and can't pronounce simple words?!

[punkinhead]

oooooooooo!

and people who play their cell phone ringers in public...like all of them!

[Julia]

Women accusing men of sexism, "mansplaining" or "inceldom" anytime they get disagreed with. This behavior NEEDS to be called out by other women when it happens or genuine misogyny means nothing anymore.

The way men are constantly demonized, berated, henpecked and belittled for the dumbest sh*t nowadays. If they talk about their problems, it's "women have it worse!" if they talk about their successes, it's "you benefit from male privilege!" if they don't like a Mary Sue character (coughReyPalpatinecough) they "just can't handle a strong woman!" and the list goes on.

The way identity politics has completely taken over everything from class struggle, our entertainment media, news reporting and online discourse. It's practically inescapable in mainstream and certainly leftist discourse.

The way people are allergic to nuance.

The cult of anti-intellectualism in America. Not only is it considered uncool to know things or enjoy learning, but even the pursuit of reform and wanting to save the environment or make society better is seen as pretentiousness or insulting to a lot of people. Not wanting the NSA to spy on our emails makes you a terrorist sympathizer (boy am I glad Trump has that power now, arent you?). Make an offhand comment about how we shouldn't treat political debates like a gameshow, that we should go back to the Lincoln Douglas framework and you hear "that's BOOORING!" Being concerned about the catastrophic die-off of insects "well the world's gotta end sometime! hahahahaha" (Or "durr, we just need to keep cows, chickens and pigs alive--who cares if the other animals die, we can't eat them anyway" <--actual quote from an idiot.) 

Grown ass adults that refuse to try any new foods beyond the chicken nuggets, fries and mac n cheese they ate since they were five. Nothing worse than taking a date to a sit down restaurant and they order off the kids menu when you're having a steak with a glass of red wine. (Yes this has happened to me.)

The way people defend shitty politicians or systems we ALL KNOW are corrupt and f***ed up but it's almost like a weird point of pride thing. Like I was at a gathering and heard someone talk about how her family almost lost their house when her husband got sick. Just trying to empathize and commiserate I said "man isn't that awful, our healthcare sucks doesn't it" and get a snippy "well what would you replace it with then?" Like, you're gonna defend the policies that almost bankrupted you for getting sick? Ok. We truly get the government we deserve, don't we?

The way grown ass adults in their 40s with kids STILL base their entire personalities around dumb sh*t they should've outgrown decades ago like superheroes and Star Wars. Look, I love ESB as much as anyone and Batman: the Animated Series is one of the best shows ever. But if you've never watched anything outside the latest 47 Marvel movies, never challenged yourself, watched something more adult, something black & white, something foreign, something from before you were born...I just think it betrays a contemptible lack of good taste or intellectual curiosity. I guess Im weird because growing up I'd always see my parents watching these classic movies I couldn't fully understand yet (It's a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, White Heat, Gone With The Wind...) and always wanted to watch them too, I asked questions, I strove to be more "adult" and couldn't wait till I could fully "get" such things on my own. Apparently Im the weirdo because so many people in my generation never felt this way and remained content to watch nothing but "good guy punches bad guy" for the rest of their lives. I say I didn't particularly care of "Ultraman Deluxe Part 6: the Reboot" and these people act like I just punched their cat or spit in their Bible. It's like, grow the f*** up.

^Going off that, people who refuse to care or get involved in politics AND ACTIVELY DISCOURAGING OTHERS FROM DOING SO AS WELL but then turn around and whine about the abysmal state we're in now. "how could this happen? who could've seen this coming? what will we do?" Umm, me, Jarvis. I saw it coming. I told you something like this would happen during the Snowden leaks 12 years ago. You said I wanted the terrorists to win. I told you I thought we needed constitutional reforms and ought to petition the state legislatures, you said you'd rather watch the Avengers for the umpteenth time. Well this is what happens when ""good"" people don't get involved--only bad people do and then they win. Welcome to the consequences of your own shitty actions.

Sorry, just needed to vent. Our current social paradigm really pisses me off. We're divided along partisan, gender, ethnic and religious lines. Half of each of those groupings hates me for existing in one way or another and the other half is too lazy, short-sighted and willfully ignorant to do anything but post tiktoks about how we're becoming A Handmaid's Tale and circle-jerk over how THEY'LL be the biggest victims when it happens, like it's a fucking contest. We're the nation of Washington, goddamnit. What the hell happened to our country?