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Whatever stuff I come up with

@thecurliestbracketsofall

I've had a feeling for a while now that people are ruder now than they were before the pandemic. I did some googling and turns out I'm not crazy or alone in thinking people have gotten ruder and more aggressive over the past few years. The articles chalks it up to stress from the pandemic and the economy and other global situations, but I think it's deeper and more complicated than that. I don't think stress is a valid excuse to be rude to strangers who don't deserve it, even when I'm really upset or stressed out I don't use a random service industry employee, or any random undeserving stranger, as my punching bag because that's deplorable behavior.

I think one of if not the biggest contribution to the rise of rudeness comes down to people spending years inside getting little to no in person socialization and spending massive amounts of time online, and social rules online tend to be different than social rules in person. Online it tends to be more normal and acceptable to be aggressive and hostile to strangers, usually because there's not the same consequences (it's hard to punch someone through a computer screen) and also it's easier to not feel guilty about bad behavior when someone is just words and pictures on a screen, it tends to make the hostility and aggression spilled on others not feel as "real" or "bad" as treating someone like that in person. (and I'm not saying this is okay, I really think as a society we should address and work on the ease and acceptance of being a total raging sack of shit to strangers online) But I think if people spend years spending massive amounts of time online and little to no time actually in person with other people, it's going to affect their sense of how it's acceptable to behave and treat other people as they adopt the social norms of the internet.

I do like the point this article makes that rudeness and aggression are contagious. It is a social contagion, the more you're rude and aggressive to others the more tense and upset they'll feel and start behaving rudely and aggressively too. The good news is, kindness and courtesy are also contagious.

The thing with amateur local theater is it is almost always bad BUT keeping it alive is the most important thing

The joys of artistic expression cannot be limited to talented people everybody needs it to survive

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This is such a hilarious take we should give untalented people who make bad art money you know just because guys

Exactly. Glad you understand 💗

Just the other day I was chatting with an older woman about this exact thing. She's retired so she enjoys going on almost-daily walks around her neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods. Well she told me that it was really weird that in the newer constructions where the younger families live, EVERYONE has their blinds closed all the time. In fact she can tell a younger family lives in a house based on the simple fact of whether or not their blinds are closed in the middle of a sunny day. It's to the point where she can't even tell if they're even HOME and available for a visit to welcome them to the neighborhood!

When she said that, I realized that I do that too when I live in a more publicly visible apartment. I told her that I think it's because of the internet. Younger people feel like we're constantly being watched, observed, and JUDGED for merely existing. So when we're home, we just want to be alone, unbothered, and unobserved because it's the one place we can control that. She was very surprised to hear that I felt like that and she was VERY concerned for us young folk (and to be honest after talking with her I became pretty concerned too...)

People from her generation will have their blinds open all day, hang out on their front porch, and randomly visit/enjoy random visits from neighbors and strangers. If a stranger knocks on my door it's scary and if they want to stay and chat? It's a huge inconvenience and it feels super awkward and weird and I'm stuck wondering why exactly they're talking to me, when just a few decades ago welcoming someone new to the neighborhood was just what you did! In fact to not do so was rude!

It made me really worried that as the Panopticon sinks its teeth deeper into our psyches, we are losing the very essence of what makes us human and got us this far as a species: community. I find that being on the internet for hours a day tends to almost trick my brain into thinking "I've been social all day, my social need is full" when in reality I've only talked to one, maybe two people I know from my real life all day, and only for short bursts, not REAL conversation.

I find it hard to have the energy to invite friends to hang out, and when I want to I feel like I'm a big inconvenience for asking them to take a break from their busy lives for me (not that they would ever say that's the case, but it's this nagging feeling internally). I feel like while we used to be a series of large islands of local community, our islands splintered apart and started drifting away from each other. Now your island is just you, your immediate family, and maybe a couple close friends. Those living physically closest to you feel like they're miles away and unreachable, to the point where you might as well not even bother.

I guess I just have one question for you: Do you know the names of your next door neighbors?

That makes me think about how the rate of paranoia of being watched must be so much higher now than it used to be and must only be increasing, which is very concerning,,

my friend asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend because her parents are homophobic af but they ended up hating me so much that they were glad when she said she was gay task failed successfully

okay so

  • be a goth. conservative christian parents don't approve of goth men. show up to their house wearing all kinds of satanic symbols if you can
  • know more about religion than the parents. they'll try to introduce you to christianity because you don't exactly look like a christian but your dad's an ex priest and has a phd in theology so *cracks knuckles* you'll correct them on every little mistake they make
  • call your fake girlfriend every annoying petname under the sun. i'm talking about babu, shmoopie, snuffleupagus. when you run out of annoying english terms of endearment call her shit like "my liver" or "my little cabbage" (actual greek terms of endearments but the parents won't know this they'll just think you're annoying :3)
  • to continue this, talk to your fake girlfriend in the most high pitched annoying voice possible but talk in your regular voice to everyone else
  • stare at her older brother's ass for just a little too long
  • have an annoying laugh. think of sybil fawlty but a stereotypical villain playing a church organ in his castle
  • let them quote bible verses to you. then ask "so when were those two destroyed for sodomy?". it's very funny to do this when judas kisses jesus, and it's even funnier when you've just corrected them over a minor mistake in church history
  • ask WHY abraham was begging for sodom. it doesn't make sense to you why a good christian man would go and beg for tha-
  • be over possessive of your fake gf (dont really do this, it's just an act)
  • go and fuck her brother in an alleyway. the parents won't know about this so it's an optional step
  • use words no one knows the meaning of. do this without realising because you always talk like that
  • just be yourself! that's enough on its own to make them despise you tbh

yes

i kissed him on the lips infront of his parents and claimed it was the usual greek greeting between men is that enough for you

Are you…. Are you secretly dating her brother OP?

yes

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I wonder why

Show up again to admit to dating the brother, but dress like a typical suburbanite and act like you've never met the parents before. Absolute power move.

asdgfgsjfh im totally doing this

want an update?

ofc you do

but i'm too tired to write all of what happened down right now so instead try to imagine the most awkward situation you've ever been in.

now multiply the awkwardness by 100

first of all i'm just gonna show the difference in what i was wearing

an example of what i would wear as my friend's fake bf:

and as my boyfriend's actual bf:

when my bf and i showed up his dad did such a double take

sooo yeah my bf told his parents he's gay, they looked surprised but told him it was fine... then they shared a look of pure horror (seriously, it was like they had just found out they're in the matrix) and said

"and uh. why is...he here?"

i went and introduced myself like we had never met before and said i was their son's boyfriend

:3

i've never seen two people look more angry before but they weren't gonna say anything because they had other family members over

the family members who had never met me before and therefore knew nothing about the fake relationship thing started asking me what faith i am. i said i was raised protestant, though i'm not very religious now, but that's something i want to change. i had never mentioned anything about being a protestant before and i had said several times that my family was greek orthodox but gaslight gatekeep girlboss

aaaand then the awkwardness began. those were probably the most awkward minutes of my life (we didn't stay for long because i thought the dad was gonna hit me [he probably was. i saw him clenching his fists several times]) and i don't think anyone has ever looked at me with such murderous intent as my bf's parents

update two electric boogaloo ig

i have a girlfriend now🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

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I think I'm a lifelong cryptid enthusiast because I'm nearsighted. Like what do you mean the Zapruder film isn't crystal clear. That's how bigfoot would look to me anyway.

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I MEANT THE PATTERSON-GIMLIN FILM. NOT THE ZAPRUDER FILM. THERE IS NO BIGFOOT SIGHTING IN THE FOOTAGE OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S DEATH. I'M SO SORRY.