This dude freaking out over a chicken sandwich is a Men’s Rights Reddit thread come to life

@kularanini:

That’s funny because giving the bag away would be pure socialism and selling them the bag they need would be pure capitalism.

It’s the same mentality that rails against government assistance and welfare, while happily receiving Social Security checks and Medicaid, and doesn’t see anything inconsistent about that. They themselves are hardworking and deserving, others are not.

@sunnysombrera:

I’m also starting to see a worrying rise in said people mocking and slandering attempts to keep a civilised society running i.e. promoting LGBT rights, gender equality and fighting anti-immigrant sentiments

This. So much this. I see that too, and it’s distressing. Every tragedy brings out edgelord nihilists falling all over themselves to see who can be the worst person of all time. Then, because they’re empathy deficient, they project their base motives onto everyone else. Feminist men are only doing it to get laid, SJWs are virtue signalling, etc. I also dislike the way they divide the world into savvy predators (them) and naive do-gooder sheep (everyone who disagrees with them), so they can lecture everyone on The Way The World Really Works and how behaving morally is a sucker’s game. Whatever gives them the illusion of power, I guess, but mistrusting and using people sounds like a pretty lonely existence.

One hopes the 16 year old shitposters will mature out of it in time, but it’s always September on the ‘net, and there’s always a fresh crop waiting to take their place. The ones in their late twenties and beyond are probably beyond hope.

On a side note: for such a cynical population, I’m amazed at how susceptible these Dark Enlightment types are to conspiracy theories, junk science, NLP, alt-right woo, “self help” books, RP, pickup gurus, and con artists like Trump, Roosh, and Elam. They’ll happily fork over big bucks to learn how to stick it to other people. It’s so funny to watch RedPillers endlessly hustling their blogs and flogging their podcasts and T-shirts to each other.

@Ohlmann
I am someone who has always worked with the public, every since my childhood, including all kinds of neuroatipical people, who somehow are always without their guardians. I don’t know how they let people with 7yo brains out alone, but they do. I also have friends and family who are strongly autistic, have brain palsy, down syndrome, etc. I have been sexually harassed by them, even physically assaulted. I know it’s not easy to keep calm and non-resentful, especially when you are not sure if they are faking it. I don’t mind anyone complaining. You don’t have to pretend you like them or their presence. I have complained and been harsh with them many times myself, because everyone needs to learn limits. And yes, also, they may be assholes.

Still, as a person with some brain differences, including autism, I do think that comment was beyond limits. Especially the misspelling. It hit me like a slap at my face. Really harsh and combative. It’s like we are reading different comments, which usually happens to me, because I am ALSO a bit dislexic and Brazilian. I may be misinterpreting it. But it did sound really rude and offensive to my ears.

I take note, I guess I will try to read my comment again later.

@Ohlmann

eh, the fact of the matter is that the topic do interest me, so I prefer to know how to express myself

This is gonna be good…

I guess it also explain why I use the word normal

Guess what tho? I don’t much care why you said it. Stop saying it. Thanks in advance

*the entire rest of your post*

Is this supposed to be your justification? Cos nobody asked you for the details of your life. It’s legit nice that you’re comfortable sharing, but none of your story makes any difference to the matter at hand. Your childhood doesn’t absolve you

Ya wanna know how best to express yourself? Here’s a tip. Sometimes, the best form of communication you can do is to, occasionally, shut up. Or failing that, here’s another way you can better express yourself. When someone explains how you fucked up, don’t ‘um, actually’ them about your linguistic quirks. Perhaps realize that your interest in a topic is irrelevant if you’re clearly inept at discussing it. Top of the head suggestions for ya. Good luck…

@Linux
Are you gonna Gert all over this thread? Say something stupid, pretend like we’re the ones being insulting, bring up banning apropos of nothing? Cos if so, save it. We had enough of that a few days ago

@Alan
Fuckin style snobs 😛

@Ohlmann

I take note, I guess I will try to read my comment again later.

If this was in answer to me, thank you very much! But I was referring to Linux’ comment. Yours is OK. Uh, your comment to me, anyway. The otgers have a few problems but I don’t think you’re being combative or rude

Having worked in, and owned, a store dedicated to geeky games like roleplaying games, card games, and board games? I can sympathize with the “90% of humans are horrible” viewpoint. There’s a unique clientele in that sort of a place which you don’t really see in other retail or service environments. They exist, of course, but they’re sort of washed out by the larger bulk of humanity. That sort of a store really distills down the dorkness (speaking as a big ole dork myself).

Most of the customers were trying very hard to be friendly and social, but didn’t have the skills or empathy to actually get there. They got angry over silly things, and didn’t like being contradicted or otherwise impeded. Many of them greatly valued being perceived as intelligent, so any reply that suggested they were wrong about something would get a strong reaction.

So, I sympathize with @LinuxLea on that – you need to maintain a peculiar sort of resiliency and compassion in working that sort of a store that can quickly erode your opinion of other people. But I’d never diagnose any of them as autistic. Frankly, some of the gentlest and sweetest customers I had were schizophrenic and autistic (properly diagnosed, not by me). Likewise, some of the nastiest and most belligerent customers were completely capable of being eusocial. They just didn’t consider me or my co-workers worthy of that effort.

There’s simply no reason to bring mental illness of any sort into a discussion of antisocial behaviour. Unless you’re talking about a specific case with a correlation, it’s just muddying waters, and propagating bad stereotypes.

<3 to all of you. It's been a tough few weeks for the world. Let's not let it seep into here too much!

Sorry, but I don’t buy that there’s this whole conspiracy of autistic people who use their disorder to make life hell for other people and then show their papers so they can’t face consequences

A couple of my friends are autistic and, far from ‘capitalising’ on that, they feel under enormous pressure to ‘hide’ it because of the stigma. They hold down good jobs and are considered perfectly ‘normal’ members of society, until people find out they’re autistic. Then it all changes. Even people who are trying to be ‘nice’ suddenly start treating them differently and other people can be downright assholes as if autism is contagious or people with autism are simpletons (my friends appreciate it when people accommodate them by restricting use of metaphorical language or sarcasm; but they don’t need people to start…speaking….very….sloooowly, with all the head nodding and smiling)

My friends aren’t ‘ashamed’ of having autism or want any special sympathy, but to suggest that there’s any benefit to be had, they’d find laughable (yes, people with autism laugh)

(Sorry, WWTH, I know you’ll know all this, this is aimed at people generally )

Why, in spaces like this (mostly feminist), do we have to repeat the same seemingly obvious stuff about ableism, racism, etc, DAILY?! And it’s not even difficult to swallow stuff, it’s stuff I learned when I was 6, like “if someone doesn’t like being called a name, don’t call them of that name or they’ll take offense” or “never mimic and mock the way disabled people act or talk” (sorry, the “speshul snewflaik” thing was really low for me). It’s frustrating. It’s like we try, try, try, but people, both individually and collectively just refuse to understand, and peaceful talk doesn’t change anything.

@ LinuxLea

I know you were unaware that you were being obnoxious and ableist and othering disabled people, and that because of that Axe’s, Petal’s and Hard Chairs’ tone seemed uncalled for to you. So that’s why you’re being defensive instead of listening to them, seeing your mistake and apologising. But I think you should know that they are right, and you are wrong. You were being ableist, and you were othering.

You have no more reason to listen to me than to them, but maybe read what you wrote again on another day with fresh eyes and give it some thought. Think about why you wanted to make the case that disabled people sometimes behave badly in a way that can be seen as characteristic of or may be symptomatic of their disorder. You cannot possibly be saying it because you think we don’t know. We’re left with the interpretation that you wanted to affirm and reinforce the cultural association that currently exists between bad behavior and disabled people. You wanted to, in essence, say that it is true, and that this defines and should continue to define neurodevelopmentally disabled people as a group. At least it is very hard to come up with another idea of what you may have been trying to say.

“Blunt” implies that you say something that is true and fair in an insufficiently polite, indirect or considerate way. That does not describe your behavior, at least not here. You said things about disabled people that are offensive precisely because they are so unfair, and yet so widely believed. You hedged them, which shows that you knew they needed hedging, and is also not bluntness.

Hedging, by the way, doesn’t really count. It will, at best, absolve you of the consequences of what you say. It will not soften the impact on the targets of your speech one bit:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

I’ve worked customer support in the geek space, and I did that for over a decade. I know it’s not the same as face-to-face, but that also means that people are less likely to hold back because they’re screaming at me from the comfort of their own homes. It feels like 90% of people are assholes, I get that. But it’s not actually true. You remember the assholes vividly and the assholes take up more of your time, but they’re in the minority, even in geekdom. The people with mental and physical health concerns were some of the nicest people I dealt with. I’m sure some of them were assholes. More often their parents were assholes and they were apologetic about it, though.

The problem is you’re looking for a group of people to blame for the behavior of individuals. It’s not autism or geekdom that’s the problem; it’s people feeling entitled to things (not thongs, tyvm autocorrect).

Saw this on my fb feed..not sure if it has been mentioned in the comment thread, but apparently the guy has a literal brain injury that has severely damaged his impulse and emotional control. Not an excuse but an explanation.

There’s a site, notalwaysright.com, where workers in customer service positions share their experiences. Reading it has reinforced my desire to be a Good Customer whenever possible – and it’s almost always possible. I especially enjoy being recognized by someone as ‘oh, there’s Robert, this is going to be pleasant’.

Also, my younger son’s therapist (who he’s been seeing for ten years) thinks I may be on the high end of the spectrum. In retrospect, that explains some things*, including some of the early problems he and I had. Fortunately, a decade of therapy and lots of concerted effort have helped tremendously.

*I’ve joked with friends who would get the joke that I’m what happens when you have ASD and can’t do math.