Sometimes twitter digs up gems. This is now my favorite theory ever.

They really went there huh.

Is it me or does Jupiter in this also look like calcifer from howls moving castle

my dash did a thing

So someone just asked me why I hate self help books so much.

Here’s the condensed answer:

There is practically an epidemic of people in the modern day who are unhappy with their lot in life, with the demands that society makes of them, with the widespread disassociation people feel in this capitalism driven post industrial revolution hellscape we live in.

But instead of actually buckling down and trying to discern the source of people’s existential depression, and trying to fix the large scale, institutional flaws that cause this rampant dissatisfaction with life, we get these predatory self help books instead.

Because that’s what they are. Predatory. These books are marketed at desperate people who have been told their whole lives that there’s nothing wrong with society as a whole and if they’re upset then it’s their own fault. So buy one of these trite things bound between two trendy looking covers that claims to have five easy steps to solve all your problems, and stop being a bummer. No matter what those problems may be. It’s so easy. Why are you still unhappy? You’re just being lazy at this point!

Oh and it has to be a SELF help book because god forbid (and most of these things are going to tell you to turn to god) you do something drastic like GET A THERAPIST, or talk with your loved ones who decided it was easier to hock this book at you than sit down and speak to you like an equal.

Because there’s no way the environment and the systems governing it can be AT LEAST partly responsible for the mood of people caught in this constant grind. noooooo... all the responsibility for satisfaction in life is on the individual, and if they aren’t happy than THEY’RE DOING SOMETHING WRONG.

Self help books are indicative of all the evils I recognize plaguing me and everyone I meet in the modern day.

This is one of the few things I will say with unabashed certainty:

It is impossible to solve all the little problems in life if we don’t also deal with the big ones as well.

As above so below, the plagues of larger society will appear in smaller scale to the individual, and the only way to deal with said plagues on either scale is to GET THEM BOTH.

Don’t solve suffering on a society wide scale and society itself will enforce suffering on the individual.

Focus only on the society and neglect small scale quality of life, and suffering will just dig its roots in the forgotten cracks where people are neglected, to then sprout back into full size institutional suffering.

There is no easy answer.

Self help books claim that happiness is easy. It isn’t. It shouldn’t be. And to claim that it is anyway is pure evil.

one hyperfixated tumblr mutual has the power of six hundred thousand ad campaigns

I get really annoyed by posts like this:

Like, I totally understand what they’re trying to say and I am as anti-big-prestige-lawns as the next lefty but where they messed up is that on the left are (oversized) lawns on which you can theoretically play soccer, have a picnic, set up a kiddie pool, go sunbathing, and on the right are landscapes that don’t allow for any of that, or at least not comfortably.

And that’s bullshit. It is totally possible to keep a level recreational-friendly space AND create a healthy habitat for insects and native plants that doesn’t require watering or fertilizing. Depending on where you live, that can look like one of these:

or something else entirely. But, like, ‘lawn’ and ‘biodiverse space’ can co-exist actually. Space used by humans and space used by nature can be the same space, if we’re a little bit smart about it.

okay but how much cooler would it have been if the cullens weren’t vegetarians and edward came across bella and still chose not to drink her blood

it would be so much more impactful, so much more difficult, and way more dramatic

like imagine he’s used to the taste of human blood and still resists his literal SINGER because he’s just so intrigued and in love with her

also his angst and moodiness would be more justified because he, you know… kills people on the regular. an actual monster

Edward at his wedding overhearing his wife tell the guy who’s in love with her that she’s fully prepared to die for Edwards dick on their honeymoon

God, I can't tell you how much the "there's not enough enrichment in my enclosure" joke has helped my mental health. Because, for some reason I can't comprehend, pretending that I'm a zoo keeper caring for an animal (which is also me) just makes everything easier to comprehend. Like "Your head gets screwey when you're apartment is messy" just doesn't carry as much resonance as "The tiger becomes agitated when its enclosure is cluttered" because then I'll be like, no shit? The tiger? I've gotta keep things nice and clean for the tiger.

You know, I fucking hate the jokes that people with ADHD and autistic people just magically get along well.

Like....spoiler alert.....but putting two people with conflicting sensory needs in a room together is a recipe for disaster.

I have ADHD and autism. I have a lot of issues with loud noises or movement. If you put me in a room together with someone who vocally stims, we are not going to get along well. It's not that they're a bad person, it's not that I'm a bad person, we just have conflicting needs.

I stim a lot by pacing and wringing my hands. My dad, who probably has ADHD, gets really anxious when people pace.

This is a big reason why lumping all the disabled students in one classroom is bad idea, like many schools do. Because like all people, disabled people are each different people. With different needs. With different sensory needs and triggers.

Someone could stim by smacking their lips, while another person could have misophonia and have a strong reaction to those sounds.

Treating disabled people like humans is acknowledging that we're all different people, and we don't magically all get along because we share a condition. Like....it would be bigoted to assume that of any other marginalized group, so why would you do that to disabled people?

damn… the old cunt finally kicked it…. alexa, play another one bites the dust by… well. i shan’t say

my kitty cat was wandering around going ‘mrrph?” so i was like “in here!” he goes “mrrph!” shoves open my bedroom door with his big round head and FLOPS on me. as in hard enough that he made a little “oof” noise when he did it. followed by a category five purring event. there’s good in this world mr frodo etc

putting “lying to kids is ok” on the table immediately looks bad. but theres nuance. because kids deserve to have as much context and respect as anyone else you live with. but also. telling them that leaving doors open will make ants carry away the entire house is necessary until their brains can quantify the heating&air bill

terrible website feature that came to me in a dream

“I want what she’s on.” The spectrum??

learning about a piece of media exclusively through tumblr posts is really funny because you'll probably get the wrong idea about the show in one of four very specific ways

women in STEM. women in BRANCH. women in LOG. women in TREE. women in BUSH (both kinds.) women in FOREST CLEARING. we’re everywhere these woods are ours