Hey there, I really don't actually like doing this, but I guess it's something a little bit inevitable and I need to nip it in the bud, because what I'm talking about today is one of the shittier things to have come out of reddit and it's growing popularity among disenfranchised young men is incredibly concerning. To get in front of a criticism that I know will arise, either from members on site who I'm not familiar with or from members off site, yes, I do care, significantly about what happens to the community on Hubski. I am not always the most active, but it's a good community to be part of, and I want it to stay free from exploitative ideologies.
The best way to do that is to tell everyone about The Red Pill and what it actually stands for. But first, let me further preface this little rant and mild investigation.
I am an old hand at the internet. I have been on a forum since I was 11. I have interacted with hundreds if not thousands of people through forums and discussion sites, I've had my philosophies broken down and rebuilt and broken down again. I have said some absolutely fucking stupid bullshit: I once had a two page argument typed up explaining why a farming commune would obviously be superior to what we have now. I wrote that because I was 14.
At no point during any of this do I want to smack a kid over the head for having a moron's viewpoint. It's part of growing up, and moving past stupid views that you had is part of becoming an adult. It's the primary separation of maturity; the ability to accept, and not just pretend to accept, the fact that you may be wrong and that your judgment may not always be the best, and then correcting yourself when given the chance.
People do things because they are hurt, because they are confused, because they need to make sense of their lives when something goes amiss. A great deal of The Red Pill is made up of people who have done exactly what I have done: pursued someone who wasn't interested in them. All that happened was that they took a different path, and unfortunately the path that they took is incredibly unhealthy and downright exploitative.
As a very last bit, I do not think there is anything wrong with masculinity, and "being a man" is not something that should necessarily be frowned upon. Masculinity is not manipulation, it is not exploitation of people with past traumatic experiences, and it is not hiding your feelings behind a mask of sociopathy. It is not being sexist. Boys treat women like they're children, men treat women as people.
This is the Red Pill in a nutshell.. Let's get a little bit more in depth.
The Red Pill is an offshoot of two things: a very broken and bitter branch of MRAs long since pushed out of even that movement, and pick up "artists." It is focused around emotional manipulation in order to fuck women who are open to emotional manipulation. It takes a perverted view of masculinity and offers it to a solution to men who are vulnerable as a way handle the world around them; that they, by swallowing "the red pill," no longer have to deal with complex relationships that can sometimes end in pain and heartbreak and can have sex with almost anyone.
The subreddit shares "success stories," articles about masculinity, weekly advice, has "sponsored" (not paid, but officially endorsed) posters, and an evangelical mindset born from the idea that the members alone understand truth in a world corrupted by varying forces that all lead back to women. It loves evolutionary psychology, "biotruths," and lies that sound wonderful to anyone who has bought the bullshit.
It's also, if you took the time to look through the imgur album, horrifically sexist and naive. It is also ineffective, but that evidence is conveniently ignored. It is a subreddit and a philosophy that promotes behavior that ranges from mildly good advice (get in shape, be confident) to disgusting (treat women like children) to abusive (sleep with multiple women so that she never gets to view herself as important.)
Why am I talking about this here? Well, real simple. I noticed a post a few days ago, that would've normally flown past my radar until I actually clicked on the link. I was brought to [the red pill times](www.redpilltimes.com). This confused me greatly because I thought it was just a shitty subreddit, so I looked in to it more. I also questioned the poster if he was associated with the subreddit in the topic itself and received no answer.
So I looked a little bit further. The articles were mostly some amateur journalism, which struck me as fine but really didn't fit the name. Maybe, I thought, it was an actual "red pill" reference from the Matrix. Maybe the author was trying to be dedicated to truthful journalism? Well, sure, that's possible, but it didn't explain the "Your Daily Dose of Manliness" on the page.
And then I stumbled across this. Beyond that, there's more. So many more that I don't even want to list them to give the articles hits. Very few of them were posted on here, but they exist on that site and there's nothing actually stopping them from getting on hubski, ever.
There are numerous reasons why The Red Pill is wrong, wrong on so many individual accounts that it's not worth anyone's time to go through and catalog them all just to trot out every time someone decides to be delusional. At it's core it is flat out ignorant of how the world operates, and it's ignorant because the world we live in is one of vast complexity.
But the solution to the complexity is not to double down on a simple worldview, it's to build and grow yourself as a human being, to keep an open mind to new people and experiences. If you aren't confident, build some. Be adventurous, be brave. Go talk to someone who you wouldn't talk to, but to become a better you, it doesn't require degrading another human being.
I'm not calling for a sitewide ban and I would only ever call for that if it was a clear invasion by an outside community (see what stormfront has been doing to reddit for almost a year). I'm putting information in front of people in the best way I know how. And for the love of god, if you see someone in a thread being a shitbag, tell them that they're wrong. You don't have to destroy them, but nobody learns without criticism.
I'm sorry to anyone who expected a hyper vitriolic rant. I can't always be angry against a human being. Just movies.
Fuck movies.
The "red pill" for The Red Pill Little-known fact about Mormon proselytization is that the conversion rate is abysmally low. Perhaps one missionary in ten will convert one person to the Mormon faith, even temporarily. Yet every Mormon male has to go out on his bicycle and knock on doors for months at a time, spreading the good word of Joseph Smith. Why? Show them the light and watch them turn their backs and know, in your heart of hearts, that yours is the only true faith and that the outside world has earned your rejection. It's Cult 101, basically - pitch the world as an us v. them battle of ideology and you will radicalize your followers. There are no fence-sitters in fox holes. Want someone to truly believe what you have to say? Make them fight for your ideals, not theirs. Better yet, make them suffer for them. Once they've martyred themselves for an idea they didn't think of, they're yours forever - make enough of an investment and you can never, ever buy out. Blood oaths are a bitch to administer over the Internet but focused hatred? That shit's eaaaaaaasy. To be clear: the idea that women should be infantilized in order to more easily disrespect them in pursuit of easier casual sex is, in a word, execrable. But that's the point. Look - kids are not learning how to talk to each other any more. They're learning how to interact online. That's no good - major life milestones happen in person. So do major friendships. The Internet is fundamentally devoid of context and body language but chockablock with vocabulary and allegory. If you wanted to communicate through books, the Internet would train you up right. If you wanted to learn how to get a girl's number at the park, the Internet will fail you miserably. So you take these kids that were too busy making Bain memes to learn how to talk to girls and you put them together in a forum. Keep in mind - none of them are getting laid nearly enough. And, since they're witty and clever on a keyboard it obviously isn't their fault, right? So clearly, there must be something wrong with the world. Eventually they figure it out - they've been lied to, the world is not as it seems, they need to unplug from the Matrix so they can treat women like the lolicon hentai they jack off to twice a day. And the fact that the rest of the world disagrees with their approach further cements the notion that theirs is a gnostic wisdom, filled with terrible secrets and mystic powers. Don't fight cults by fighting cult members. I know one of them went completely insane and shot up a dorm. I know lots of others view women as cattle (or worse) and there are entirely too many of them who are more than happy to spread ignorance and misogyny everywhere they go. BUT They aren't Nazis. They aren't Hell's Angels. They aren't Montana Freemen. They're far more pathetic than that. Imagine a mashup between American Pie and American History X. That's the Pillers - angsty teens pissed to the point of curbsmiles over not getting laid. More than anything, they need to be engaged. They need to know that their ideas are stupid, they aren't. You don't shun a cult, you deprogram it. Ideology is not a victimless crime. That said, MEN ONLY. Not only is it less dangerous and distasteful, but we're more likely to be listened to.
How does one deprogram a cult again? I don't think they're listening objectively, if at all, enough to be told something like that even if it's a real positive for them. edit: super upvote for the communication thing. I'm a consistent bitch when it comes to talking to even the most obviously interested girls near me in any public scenario, and I don't think it's supposed to be as bad as it is.They need to know that their ideas are stupid, they aren't.
I think it helps to understand that everyone experiences doubt no matter how zealous they appear. Your words may not be listened to in the moment, but they'll be heard. Sometimes it takes years but every scratch you put into the monolith hastens its eventual crumble. Besides, when your alternative is to strengthen it through adversity, you literally have nothing to lose. Not even that self-righteous satisfaction of telling them off is real - you're just filling a role built into the conflict by the person you should be mad at. It's counter-productive.
Hard to keep resilience in the hopes that what they hear will be listened to eventually, but I guess you're right. Sidenote on this, watch Red State. JTHipster, can I get a backup on this? It's among the most severely underrated films in recent years and features some of the best lead role acting I've seen in a long, long time-- but anyway it relates to the cult psychology that we're talking about here, worth an hour and a half.
Dude's username ended in rpt, which I believe stands for "red pill truth". But I'm pretty sure he's the only one who's posted any links to anything red pill related thus far. TRP is scary because all it takes is one 17 year old to get rejected after asking some girls out on dates a couple of times and stumbling on that subreddit, and that's that. I barely dodged a bullet in that regard. Buuut then I grew up, so that's good. Pretty happy I didn't encounter that subreddit when I was younger, though, coulda been a disaster.
Ever have that experience where you don't know you're in over your head til you're drowning? Also known as (in dating) "Oh man, I'm sorry I got to know you better" ? I went out with a guy a few times. We saw each other for about a month all total. He went from "a little odd but nothing clearly off about him and someone I had a fun time with" to "HOLY SHIT THIS MAN IS BATSHIT" over the span of about 3 days as he told me, first, that "if women's equality was achieved then male sociopathy would increase because males have an innate need for sex and if they don't get it, they'll go crazy and start shooting people up, and if women are equal to men men will stop getting sex" and then "the reason women have lower-paying jobs than men is because it's socially acceptable for women to have those jobs and if a 35-year-old single father was waiting tables society would rag on him until he got a better job" (to which I responded, "I'm sorry, are you telling me the problem is that it's okay with people for women to make less money?") and, btw, his proposed solution for this problem was that "society should just rag on everyone equally for having shitty jobs" - i proceeded to ask him who would then do these shitty jobs if we just made it unacceptable for anyone to be a waiter/waitress - anyway, point is, this was a 31 year old. And people be crazy, people be mad crazy yo. The scary part is sometimes they manage to hide it or not display it for a while - and then, all of a sudden, it comes out and the total deluge of crazy is just...whew.
I am 19 years of proof that this isn't true. Who knows, though, maybe by July 20th when I turn 20 the switch will just flip and that'll change. i'm betting it won't though..."if women's equality was achieved then male sociopathy would increase because males have an innate need for sex and if they don't get it, they'll go crazy and start shooting people up
I KNEW YOU WERE NINETEEN (once I realized that nowaypablo wasn't...). (Sorry, lol, we had a conversation where he told me he wasn't 19 and I spent half a day pondering, "Then who's the 19 year old..." I was pretty sure it was you though.) Happy early birthday!
You look older in your self-portraits, but anyway NOOOOO DON'T LEAVE ME IN TEENAGERHOOD ALONEEEE also sex is like really mediocre until you cross the boundary where it's awesome, then it's awesome. dont have mediocre sex.
It's easy to forget that lots of folks are not as well travelled and may not exactly know what this is all about, so thank you for the write up. Just yesterday, I saw a post linking to a Buzzfeed article making fun of those "nice guys", and the author of the post whose name escapes me at the moment explaining how this was very offensive to him and ironically proving the point of the article - something I'm pretty used to observing. This quickly disappeared from the website entirely after only a few minutes and I've been unable to find it again. I'm not actually sure what happened, but I have to say it made me feel better. My experience with Hubski so far has been incredibly pleasant and thoughtful and definitely a success in making me feel better about community and interaction on the web, and I really don't want the attitudes I try to avoid as a woman everywhere else (something I have not had to do here) to follow me.
I think a great way to combat this is to be a mentor and a friend to the people in your life you feel might fall prey to these lies. I remember what it was like getting rejected by girls, hell, it still happens. But learning how to move past it and handle future interactions appropriately is very important. If you know a younger guy who's having a tough time, an older guy, or a girl for that matter; take the time to share some advice. This kind of shit can't be removed from the Internet, but the number of people who fall for it can be reduced.
I like this train of thought. I'm an oldest brother, and I make a point to try and teach my little brothers a healthy approach to dating, and I know from personal experience that without someone to talk to about that kind of thing, it can become very appealing to let something like TRP have it's say.
Thanks for the heads up, it's pretty much impossible for me to check out every single publication beyond the initially linked article and I would have never known that they were a part of such ridiculousness. I unshared that original post and "filtered (previously ignore)" the domain.
I would wager that 60-80% of Hubski users originally found us through reddit and therefore, in my opinion MANY good things come from reddit. In fact, I've made some good friends via that migration.
Yeah. It's important to note that the things some people use reddit for (e.g. 'the red pill') are things that other people who use reddit are just as incredulous at - and that no groups on reddit are indicative of all the individuals who use it.
As I noted in response to caelum19, there are a couple of great communities on reddit as well - they tend to be the smaller and lesser-known ones. That said, I'm finding it comfortable here.
reddit is 4chan. There is no longer a separation in my opinion.
Honestly I think that circlejerk complaining won't always work well, because people need to accept there are some things people agree on so heavily that it will be repeated, and its natural sociologically, not on reddit, 4chan, 9gag, xbox live, everywhere. People love to surround themselves by people who share the same opinion as you, and that tends to entail circlejerking. I don't think circlejerks should always be viewed as negative things, as often they are just naturally produced.
In the darkest, deepest cracks of hell lie tiny bits of heaven.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon/ Is a very kind community which basicly just chuck gifts at each other constantly. http://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch A bunch of awesome redditors helping out other's in very bad times, expecting no reward and comments rarely get more than 20 points. http://www.reddit.com/r/TheBluePill/ A hillarious subreddit dedicated to making fun of the red pill EDIT: Found http://xkcd.com/800/ in /r/TheBluePillNothing good seems to come from Reddit
Yeah. It's sometimes said around there that reddit isn't worth it unless you're subscribed to the smaller subs. It can take some time looking for ones that you like, but there are pockets of good communities/nice people there too.
Even some of the larger subs aren't that bad. /r/AskScience has a set of tireless moderators that have managed to maintain the subreddit's quality despite its popularity.
/r/AskScience doesn't have moderators. it has heroes who rise to action when needed.
Protectors that stalk new, slicing through crap posts and puns, making the sub safer for everyone like a mother cat carrying it's kittens through a raging fire of trolls and rule breakers, to emerge completely unscaved and alert for the next threat. AskScience is love.
AskScience is life.
I'm pretty sure your link to where you question if he is associated with the subbreddit is broken or somthing, for me it's just greedo linking to a nasa article. Also I wouldn't worry too much about red pillers coming to hubski :) . here are my reasons: 1) They have no reason to move, /r/theredpill is a very specific subreddit and community, splitting discussion of the red pill to another site would probably just make content less digested and accessible. 2) Tags are wonderful, if they did come here you can go to their tag(s) and filter them, and when someone says somthing TRP related without tagging it as such, other members of hubski can tag it for them. 3) As I said, TRP is fairly specific, so if they came you'd very rarely see them talk about the topic outside their tag(unlike flat earthers), and due to their terrible reputation, I think circle jerk would be weak in such a hostile enviroment So yeah, I personally don't worry about them too much, they're probably the worst thing to come out of reddit but they shouldn't come here, I didn't see this post you talk about but I'd imagine that's either someone trying to draw attention to their site, or someone pointing out a stupid one they found.
I picked up on it because most of my time on reddit is spent on subredditdrama, so the red pill shows up there a whole lot. They also stalked me for like 24 hours once? But it was like 8 people who I think all got banned. It was really ineffective stalking. I'm very open about my real name so finding it is like finding where google.com is.
JT, thank you for bringing this to Hubski's attention. This and something similar is really, really bugging me and I'm trying to figure out how to handle it. I think this would be a good place to try to bring it up. I just went on reddit for the first time in a while, and came across an awesome post that put a hearty smile on my face. Then, I read this thread, and it really troubled me, not that it was the first time this has been brought up... but first, let's go back to the front page. Shortly after reading that thread, I saw this post, moreover these comments relating her 'invincibility' from punishment to the "quadcopter girl" who attacked that kid and then had the police arrest him when they showed up based on zero evidence. Surprise surprise, that comment thread ended in a mention of /r/theredpill, and another sub I don't even want to get into. These things really, really trouble me. Both the presence and gravitation towards TRP as well as the fact that what these people are saying about how society would handle the cases is a pretty good bet. Quadcopter girl got probation, for lying to police, falsely accusing a minor of assaulting her right after assaulting that minor. In the first-mentioned askreddit thread, a man was accused of pedophilia for spending time with children at a friends' gathering. It makes me sick.. but let's go back now. I'm not knowledgeable on whatever this subject is to be able to point out or define the issue properly, however: The aforementioned "stories" are serious, real problems in my opinion, so much so that they are perfect recruiting tools for dumps like r/TRP. Al Qaeda couldn't leverage drone strikes on civilians for new recruits as well as TRP leverages the aforementioned shit. I'm not surprised their fanbase is growing. Here's my problem. I don't know what to do about it. I shudder and I grimace at the thought of living in a world where I have to be afraid to talk to kids, or compliment a little girl on her shiny fucking boots. I don't know if this idea, TRP, and the quadcopter girl-esque stories are related, but I think they are somehow. I'm not trying to victimize men but I'm at a loss as to what is happening, and what's going to happen, and what I'm supposed to do when I'm an adult-- a man-- and I have to watch my back constantly from misogynist extremists, a social condemnation of 'manliness', and whatever-the-fuck else is happening that I can't even really explain. I don't know man. But things are going bad and it's starting to stink.
Reddit is not reality. Don't worry about what is said on reddit. You're a performer, so I'm going to assume you know the basics of reading a room and what it feels like to influence the mood of a crowd. I'm not saying "be charismatic and manipulate people" but most definitely get a feel for your face to face interactions and be proactive in trying to make sure that they are positive ones. Most people are not performers and don't understand the power of projecting emotion or even empathy when they interact with others and I think reddit is a prime example. As for "things going bad" and "starting to stink", I think things have always stunk and have always been going bad and pushing against that is just part of the human thing.
When I get offstage I never see the audience again, also I don't typically run the risk of being detained by police if I'm misinterpreted. I know that's not what you're saying though, ideally I should be able to carry on with my life without those sort of issues if I'm expressin myself clearly/honestly and meaning well. Anyway, you're right. I mean first of all I completely let reddit get to me, but more importantly it's just another cobflict and social issue, granted it's even that prevalent, and cam/should be worked around just like any other.
Much the same with most public interactions. Well, we all have our styles. I think you get what I was saying, but for others reading through, I really believe that public interactions are a lot more open to personal influence than people might think. I learned early on that if you can make a scene and get a crowd laughing, then you have a lot of power over perception. Like, scarily so. You can be the rudest motherfucker on the block, but people will let you get away with all kinds of outlandish shit if you can make them laugh or otherwise connect with them emotionally. Part of being a man means learning how to say, "hey, that's not what I meant and you know that, so stop being a cunt about it . . . sir/ma'am."When I get offstage I never see the audience again
also I don't typically run the risk of being detained by police if I'm misinterpreted.
Hehe, I like that. And yeah we're on the same page, thanks. Part of being a man means learning how to say, "hey, that's not what I meant and you know that, so stop being a cunt about it . . . sir/ma'am."
Don't worry, you aren't going to have to live in that world because it's never going to exist. At least, not in the capacity that Reddit claims stuff like that happens. That's such a weird, prevalent circlejerk and I don't understand why, gatdam. It doesn't happen nearly as often as they think it does. Yeah, it happens. Lots of shitty things do. But it's easy to expand those instances and make them stand out as something that happens repeatedly. Pablo, my man, you're going onto Askreddit and thinking the stories are true? For shame. I bet 10 minutes in this guy's post history and there's a 90% chance I could prove this dude isn't even an adult and is some 17 year old perpetuating the circlejerk. By which I mean, take a deep breath. You're letting Reddit get to you. I don't recommend it.I shudder and I grimace at the thought of living in a world where I have to be afraid to talk to kids, or compliment a little girl on her shiny fucking boots.
a man was accused of pedophilia for spending time with children at a friends' gathering.
Word. I'm just getting paranoid over reddit. Whew.
I realized I was getting too paranoid about Reddit when I started wondering if r/GameofTrolls (and subsequent iterations - don't bother trying to click into them, they're all private or banned, but it's a troll-reddit ring, ironic because it appears based wholly within reddit - hence the subreddits) was really just an inside game set up by the admins in order to give people who had been on reddit for 2+ years something to do or be entertained by once the initial "OMG REDDIT IS SHINY AND GREAT" had worn off. There's so much interior reddit drama and so little need for any of it that I began wondering how manufactured it was and if that was really what was bringing people back to the site over and over, since the quality of submissions and links is pretty shitty unless you're diligent about picking up & dropping the right subreddits.
Feminism and the TRP/MRA scene are both composed largely of pathological vermin, as far as I am concerned. I don't hate women as people, but I don't entertain too many illusions about the possibility of my engaging in a decent relationship with one of them, either; although to be fair, that is as much because of my own issues as it is because of theirs. As for Stormfront, they have both pros and cons, to be brutally honest. Yes, as fascists and white supremacists, they have some deeply sick ideas; but the different between the average Stormfag and the average redditor, is that I can disagree with the Stormfag, and he won't try and remove my ability to speak entirely, whereas a Reddit user will. The hard Right actually care a lot more about genuine freedom of expression than the Reddit demographic do, in my experience. Reddit has an enforced consensus, and if you step outside of that, they will generally either use attempts at censorship, or various forms of psychological warfare to bludgeon you back into compliance. The fact that I got sick of that, and started looking for alternatives, was actually what led me here. Back on topic; the way to deal with TRP is to passively marginalise and ignore them. Attempting to engage in activism against them won't stop them, and all it will do is make them feel vindicated, and even more certain that they are right. They are a small and pathological minority; and feminism has made sufficient inroads that there is no danger of them spreading, if left to their own devices.
It's like...I just wonder...could those things be related Feminism...[is]composed largely of pathological vermin, as far as I am concerned.
I don't hate women as people, but I don't entertain too many illusions about the possibility of my engaging in a decent relationship with one of them, either
No. The reason why is because not all women are feminists. Saying that I don't like feminism, is not the same as saying that I don't like women. If you people are going to become horrified by how sick what I'm writing supposedly is, then in my own defense, I can at least realise that I'm not making the sort of generalisation that you think I am. I can remember reading recently, how this common perception has developed, that feminism is somehow a default political proxy for all women, and so if you think that feminism sucks, (which I do) then that must unavoidably make you a misogynist by definition. It does not. I've never met a single woman yet, or even seen one, who identified as a feminist, who I considered psychologically healthy; although I've known plenty of non-feminist women who were perfectly fine. To summarise, some feminists are women, but not all women are feminists.
I think the problem here is that a movement which is (when not in its radicalized form) meant to establish equality for women is one you consider "full of pathological vermin." Judging by the fact that you group feminism and MRAs together, and MRAs are a radical group, I am taking the liberty of concluding that you also believe feminists to be a radical group, or your statement is meant to address only the radicalized portion of that group - at least one hopes. I would also hope that as you assert that you think feminism sucks, and I'd hope that you don't think equality sucks. I'm willing to hazard that most intelligent, well-adjusted women believe that women deserve the same rights as men do, whether or not they identify as feminists, whether or not they have thought through what that statement means and whether or not they accurately act in regards to that statement in their daily life. If you don't mean to refer to feminists as the small, radicalized portion of them that make waves on Tumblr and SJW sites, and indeed you mean "all people who identify as feminist" or, to drill down and get even more accurate, "all people who believe men and women deserve equal rights" in your statement, then it seems clear to me that you have a great reason to believe you would not be able to engage in a decent relationship with a woman. On top of that, by making declarations such as "feminists are vermin" and "I've never met a single woman....or even seen one, who identified as feminist, who I considered psychologically healthy; although I've known plenty of non-feminist women who were perfectly fine," you are not only making statements that self-identified feminists would find problematic, you are also showing a certain proclivity for making gross, negative generalizations about large groups of people; in addendum, you are doing so based on anecdotal evidence. As for judging if people are psychologically sound, I find that people tend to affirm their own beliefs via their interactions with people if they can, and I also find that people can choose to interpret actions as sane or insane based on their attraction (mental, physical, emotional, whatever) to the person (platonically or romantically). Just something worth thinking on.
The best transition you could ask for, imo. Ironic posturing to flat-out anger and finally comment deletion. Beautiful.
Responding to people's rants with "Cool" or "cool beans" really does seem to encourage them to delete it, I'm not really sure why. Maybe because it's a bit of a dismissal. I had a friend who was getting self-righteous on Facebook - I had posted about something I think about a lot; kids who are raised by parents who grew up in a digital world and the parents' history on digital media and the potential of kids to get into it and maybe raise some very awkward questions - and my friend basically said "Well I'm not like that and I will never have that problem because I will just be an awesome parent" - and I just said "Cool" because, like, she was missing the point of my post. I was glad she thought she was going to be a perfect parent, but even if she was the gold-plated sparkling exception who was just better than everyone else at life, it didn't negate my thoughts or wonder on the topic. And yeah, she deleted it. Her post was also at 2 am and I think she may have realized that it came across as really "I'm better than everyone else on Facebook so I just won't have this problem!" (she was like 'I don't post personal stuff on my statuses' - completely disregarding the pictures she uploads all the time). Some fights aren't worth fighting. I'm working on learning that.
In real life I like to address this by calling that person, "Sport" or "Champ", for example the other day I was at work and this guy insisted that to read you simply have to internally sound things out. Now, subvocalizing while reading is a major impediment to speed and also to comprehension, which I have found to be true personally and which is backed up by the teaching methodologies I'm trained in for EFL. Now, dude just would not let it go and I was getting heated so I said, "I'm sure you know best, champ." From a conflict perspective, this is unproductive. Punches to the face are generally also unproductive. But, as has been noted by others during my formative years, if there is a button, I have to struggle mightily not to push it. And it felt good. Anyway, later the dude came up to me with an amended argument and a peace offering, "we're both right" which is bullshit. I am right and he was wrong. Your lips should not move when you read.Responding to people's rants with "Cool" or "cool beans" really does seem to encourage them to delete it, I'm not really sure why. Maybe because it's a bit of a dismissal.
After so long I've learned to pick my fights, yeah. There are too many assholes out there that think their easy cynicism and solipsistic mindsets have got the world figured out. Everyone else is just too stupid to see that everything sucks, man, so who gives a shit. But that's cowardice under the guise of callousness. I don't take people like that seriously. It's people who can remain positive and hopeful and keep doing what they do who are the real heroes. Those are the people worth talking to. Guys whose lifestyles likely consist of band shirts and edgy comic books (see: the Internet at large) are not usually part of this group.
I got kicked off of stormfront for saying that Italians and the Irish are not really white. I can't think of a valid definition that could include them both. They deleted my account.
I've had this post sitting here all day. It's a very concerning post to read. Sit down and take a deep breath okay? Get a cup of water. Go get a book on meditation. When I was a goalie on my high school lacrosse team I learned just how mental the game is. The trick to it is not to be. You cease to exist. There is no conscious you, not in the sense of a thinking human being. There exists a ball. It is small and fast. There is a stick to stop the ball. You do not move the stick. You enable it. You cannot move the stick, you can only stop the stick from moving where it needs to go. The best way to stop the ball is to not exist. Think on this. When you understand what it means to not exist, you will be happy.
Very well said, JT. The internet gives us endless more opportunities to be a moron and learn from being a moron. Kids grow up faster because there is always an audience for anything anyone says online. The downside is everything that we write is saved, indexed, searched, and can be read over and over again for an undetermined amount of time. If my father said something idiotic when he was 14, the scope and impact of his stupidity was limited to whoever was in earshot. Today, hundreds or thousands or millions can read and listen to whatever shit you are spewing. You can fall very, very quickly and very hard if you aren't careful. Sites like encyclopedia dramatica exists solely to save the shit stupid people do and say online. Luckily, most are smart enough to hide their identities behind a few usernames or go fully anonymous. Others aren't so lucky.At no point during any of this do I want to smack a kid over the head for having a moron's viewpoint. It's part of growing up, and moving past stupid views that you had is part of becoming an adult. It's the primary separation of maturity; the ability to accept, and not just pretend to accept, the fact that you may be wrong and that your judgment may not always be the best, and then correcting yourself when given the chance.
This is so damn depressing. Even though I know it's just a small community of misguided guys, it's saddening nonetheless. It's things like this that turned me away from reddit very recently and made search out alternatives; a google search led me here. The final straw for me was the Elliot Rodger incident becoming a crappy meme in 24 hours and the relatives and friends of the victims being openly mocked in the comments. Fuck that place.
I stumbled upon the red pill subreddit a couple years ago, probably through a link in a comment elsewhere on reddit. After taking in merely the post titles on the front page of the subreddit, I rolled my eyes and bounced. What I'd like to echo the most about JTHipster's message is this: These people are either children, or have not yet developed emotionally and psychologically beyond children, at least as it pertains to their inter-gender social abilities. The philosophies actively inhibit their growth and self-actualization. For this, I pity them more than they anger me. Truthfully, I don't envision their ilk plaguing Hubski besides the occasional minor flare-up.