In light of some recent discussions here, I thought this cartoon seemed relevant. I got it from my new favorite Tumblr blog, Comically Vintage. It’s astounding how many of the comic panels posted there — especially those from melodramatic 60s-70s romance comics — apply to the arguments in and around the manosphere today. Perhaps because the world in which these guys live is as imaginary and out-of-date as the fantasy world of 40 or 50 year-old Romance comics.
And while we’re on the subject, here’s a bonus cartoon. Here, crawling from the primordial soup, is the world’s first PUA! (Granted, he hasn’t quite worked out all of the tenets of modern Game, but, hey, he’s still a lizard. Just as human evolution took millions of years, evolving something as complex as modern PUA theory takes time.)
I want to know what “spitting on” constitutes. Because it seems to be a very dramatic term for “failing to become best pals and/or lovers with at first sight.”
And I think MRAL has the idea in his head–which is really sad, actually–that if he were only an “alpha,” he would literally just walk down the street and women would jump on him. No getting to know ya, he’d just emit alphaness and… jump.
I’m suspecting the poor kid has no concept of how human beings actually come to know each other.
I still think women are obligated not to react rudely when someone merely smiles or greets them. That is not unreasonable. Any women who fails to do that [violent shit redacted by DF]
It’s suddenly so clear. This is a scene from MRAL’s head, I guarantee it.
SETTING: An ordinary, moderately busy city sidewalk.
An alpha walks down the sidewalk, alpha-ing along. A stunningly beautiful woman is walking in the opposite direction.
ALPHA: Hi there!
RANDOM BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Hi! You are so cool! Let’s go on a date!
ALPHA: Hm, maybe. I’ll check my calendar. Are you free three weeks from Thursday?
RBW: Absolutely!
I honestly think he has no idea how people meet in real life, and thinks that women just fall out of the sky onto designated alphas.
Okay, stop with the violence.
Also, I want to know what rude is. For me, if a stranger says “hi” I will sometimes say nothing (especially if he gives me the skeevies) and if someone I know but am not friends with says “hi” I will usually only say “hi” back, and not start a conversation.
Is this spitting behavior?
The first scenario (not saying anything) is spitting behavior.
MRAL: do you happen to be from a small town or rural area? Because eye contact/greeting is highly dictated by surroundings — rural and small town vs. urban.
http://persquaremile.com/2011/03/29/keep-your-eyes-to-yourself/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/62138/big_city_versus_small_town_manners.html
I came from a small town and tend to make eye contact and greet people (not just men); my partner (a woman) is from New York city and is considered quite ‘rude’ by many of the people in the small town in rural Texas where we work–but she considers people who insist on smiling, greetings, small talk (especially when in commercial transations) to be very ‘rude’ as well — since that was the code of manners where she lived.
Personal space, eye contact, smiling, greetings, all very specific to cultures, and what is considered rude in one situation is polite in another.
I consider strangers who ask me what church I attend (which happened a lot when I moved to this small Texas town where there are something like 45 churches, most Baptist, some Church of Christ, a few Pentecostal) to be incredibly rude too, but amazingly enough I never wanted to punch anybody.
And when I left my small town and moved to a big city, the ongoing attempts to panhandle or extort money from me (all by men) was enough to teach me to walk faster and not react to strange men trying to talk to me on urban sidewalks.
MRAL, cool it with the violent stuff.
But it’s a stranger! I don’t know them! They just came out of the blue! I don’t hate them, I just have no interest whatsoever in this person, and why should I? I don’t have interest in any total strangers!
And very often (especially if it’s a situation where I can’t get away, such as an elevator/bus/train) they’re thinking of that “hi” as an opening, and if I say “hi” back it’ll turn into this whole thing, which may turn harassing or may simply be a social interaction I don’t really want to have at the moment.
A lot of the time, I withhold that “hi” not out of spite, but because I doubt the interaction would end at “hi,” “hi,” and I don’t want that.
Just how much of myself do I owe to random strangers?
I actually am from a small town in Maine. I go to college in Boston, though.
So MRAL, in your worldview everyone on the entire planet, specifically the 50% of the globe you detest, are obligated to respond to you no matter what setting they are in or personal developments they might have?
Here’s what I think is actually happening in your life MRAL:
MRAL: Hi.
STRANGER: (Walks away/ignores the average-sized man who practically vibrates with impotent rage)
Well…… I still get angry when that happens. But more notably, women sometimes even ignore ACQUAINTANCES, which is most definitely spitting behavior.
I should add for information that I live [Pitcairn Island], where:
A) There are a lot of strangers ignoring each other all the time on the sidewalk
B) I walk very frequently for utilitarian purposes (social, networking, shopping) and often have to get where I’m going, so I don’t have time to stop and talk
and
C) Men who yell “just say hi!” or “gimme a smile!” to strange women are often street harassers, and if you stop for them are likely to either make crude sexual comments or try to grope you.
oh fuck oh fuck i didn’t mean [some place] i meant somewhere else oh fuck i live very far away okay mral oh fuck
Kobold, you’re right about everything except the vibrating with rage part. You people would be surprised how well I can function socially even though I think a lot of people are assfucks. I have friends.
HOLY SHIT ARE YOU KIDDING!!!
You expect people from Boston to greet you in a friendly manner? Especially a guy with an attitude that is so bad that you’re just short extruding bile from your very pores?
To quote my uncles from Boston.
“That’s wicked retahded.”
I mean, not many, but I’m not autistic or anything.
It is kind of funny to think, though, that I may have personally ignored MRAL.
And are these “friends” of yours aware of their rankings in the omnipotent Greek system?
It’s okay, David, it’s a big damn city.
I only have like 3 friends, one is a beta and the other two are omegas.
After the whole kerfuffle about your violence issues, you still go ahead and post stuff like this. This is not cool. No amount of rudeness, real or imagined, justifies violence. These fantasies you’re having are not healthy.
Look, I have social problems too. I have Asperger’s syndrome, which has made my life very difficult at times. The social world, and the dating-scene in particular, most certainly wasn’t made for me. I’ve never been able fully to grasp the unspoken rules of relationships or navigate through the labyrinthine tunnels of normal human interaction. I can fake it but it’s a constant struggle. And at the end of the day, it’s just exhausting.
I understand, at least on some level, what you’re going through. You’re experiencing real pain. Loneliness is real pain, and don’t let anybody tell you different.
But you know what? At some point you have to get the frell over yourself. You have to stop blaming everyone else for your problems. Your problems are not their responsibility – even the problems that are totally out of your control. It’s hard but you’re going to have to make an effort to get past your bitterness at the world. It’s the only way you’re ever going to be remotely happy in this life.
MRAL, so you were raised in a small town, then, and have moved to a large urban area (I’ve only been in Boston a few times myself, and it seemed quite intimidating).
The world is full of people who don’t owe you or me or anyone else anything–and thinking your code of behavior must be met by everyone around you or else is guaranteed to lead to frustration!
Holly, I had to learn my city skillz in Seattle (which apparently considered even by New Yorkers as cold’n’unfriendly, judging by some of the more hilarious letters to the editors I remember reading). In many ways, I was happy to get to a small town again (but one that was not related to me for four generations and where everything I did was reported to parents), although more accurately happy to get out in the country which I prefer to cities (not culturally, it’s a pain being a queer in rural Texas, but I’m a rural queer).
And even though I did learn some city manners, I was able to revert quickly to my small town ones–which means I’m the one to do the social chit chat when my partner and I are in restaurants or stores or dealing with grocery store box people, and I have to deal with the maintenance man who come to the house. She is from New York and cannot stand the incredibly ‘rude’ invasive behavior of small town people.
Aw, MRAL, I’m starting to think that the reason you feel this way about women is that you just don’t know any. I don’t mean that as an insult, I just mean that maybe doing stuff with women in a totally “I’m not going to get a date out of this, and that’s fine” context–joining a co-ed bowling league or improv club or anything of the sort–might do you a world of good. Spend time with women talking about things that have nothing to do with sex or the “battle of the sexes.” Just to get to know them as people rather than as largely theoretical creatures.
That didn’t answer the question. Are they aware of the convoluted and asinine criteria that locks them forever as one of three greek letter?
Instead of, you know, a human being?
“I have friends.”
“I mean, not many, but I’m not autistic or anything.”
“I only have like 3 friends, one is a beta and the other two are omegas.”
Do you hear yourself right now, MRAL? It seems like all your problems stem from insecurity; about your eye, about your status, and so on. Thus, whenever anybody doesn’t immediately and enthusiastically respond to your every greeting, you become convinced that they are somehow trying to spite you. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. You. Are. Delusional. Try assuming that other people have lives exactly like you, and maybe you’ll realize that it is not their duty to make you the most important thing in their life the moment you open your mouth.