By David Futrelle
I was all prepared to do another post on something gobsmackingly terrible, and then I ran across this post from the Relationship subreddit popping on Twitter:
Ah, the age-old lament of the communist meme widow!
The original post has already been deleted from Reddit (though the comments still stand). But I was able to snag a screenshot from Twitter’s @Redditships and I present it to you now, with some highlights added by me:
Most of those responding on Twitter are going with jokes and memes and variations of “it me!” And I have to admit that the first thing I did was to make my own meme on the state of this poor woman’s relationship, swapping out the face of Jesus in an old meme for the face of Slavoj Žižek, the hot-dog-loving Marxist philosopher who for some reason just had a three-hour debate on Marxism with Jordan Peterson, who apparently has spent less time actually studying Marxism than he did debating it with the Ziz.
But all joking aside, I feel bad for the gal. Her meme-obsessed boyfriend is being a jerk towards her and should definitely spend less time pasting Žižek’s face into memes — though I would like to add that when a blogger does the same thing to make a point it’s perfectly fine, and it doesn’t mean he’s neglecting his cats.
The fact that this guy is ostensibly a lefty doesn’t absolve him. He’s really no different than the stereotypical aging jock who demands his wife or girlfriend shut up and leave him alone while he obsessively watches football, or whatever. I mean, it’s only been a few weeks since half the internet — justifiably — jumped on reactionary pundit Denise “D.C.” McAllister for trying to convince the women of America to become drink-servers for their sports-loving hubbies.
If you’re spending time with a person, spend your time with that person. It’s more than fine to have some time to yourself, even a lot of time, but don’t shut your partner out and stop asking them questions about their life. Come on dude, how funny are your Zizek memes anyway?
I mean, I just went through a whole bunch of Zizek memes and honestly most of them were terrible, not much better than the cringy Jordan Peterson memes his fans put together.
These were ok, though.
And, seriously, if you haven’t seen the video of him marching down the street with a half-eaten hot dog in each hand, munching furiously, you need to.
But enough about Zizek. My point is, relationships are more important than memes, and if you don’t realize that, you probably shouldn’t be in a relationship.
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I know this is just my smart ass being to literal but I just pictured him on their phone all the time while they do things. Like I just pictured them making love and her looking over her shoulder to see him on his phone making memes.
the most i know about zizek is that he is or at least looks like the “i would prefer not to” guy and i think that’s as much as i want to know about him considering he’s a white guy with a cult of personality
Um, your cats just texted me: TELL DAVID 2 GET OFF TEH INTERNETS AND FEED US.
David is his cats. It’s all misdirection to make us think he’s a real human, rather than two cats in a human suit, I tells ya!
Ugh, bougiecoms. Not as bad as Peterson fans, but still pretty annoying. Focus on the goal, not the process.
David, you need to spend less time memeing and more time opening cans of tuna and sprinkling catnip on things.
My cats just informed me that I spend too much time making memes.
I don’t know how to make a meme.
They live to break their mother’s heart.
My husband has just informed me that I was so focussed on this thread I failed to see his frantic signals to capture the cat for her evening toothbrushing.
Ugh, Zizek
@Lainy
Heh. Maybe her boyfriend is Kyle, of “I’m typing this comment while HAVING SEX” and “Waah, my girlfriend ate pancakes” fame.
I got to the part about neglecting your cats and my current lap cat was staring at my phone like “oh sister, don’t I know it”.
(The other one was licking her bum.)
David’s cats:
OT: I in bad place.
Well I’m pissed
My mean aunt grabbed me by the shirt
wouldn’t let go
and tried to bite my arm when i pulled my shirt free
I at least managed to shut and lock the door on her before she had the nerve to try something worse.
Her current status: prowling around the area getting pissed at me.
Ooglyboggles, I’m sorry that happened to you, and I’m glad you’re safe on the far side of a locked door.
Any way to get away from her permanently? Human bites are nasty (as in highly likely to get infected) and you shouldn’t have to worry about being assaulted by a family member.
I found the Lacan one funny but again I suffered through the Mirror Stage in grad school so yeah…
@contrapangloss
I could cut my losses and return home to my mom and stepdad.
I’m just here at grandma’s house (with mean aunt in it) since it’s closer to the college I attend.
Zizek is brilliant and well-educated, but he uses his brilliance and education in support of Marxism in general and Stalinism in particular, the moral equivalent of Eichmann using his hard work and attention to details in the service of genocide. Virtues such as intelligence and hard work are pointless when used to evil ends.
Orwell pointed out 70 years ago that Zizek, like other Marxist intellectual supporters of Stalinism, simply clouds his view – “I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so” – in lots of talk.
Orwell notes the professor will instead say something like this: “While freely conceding that the Soviet régime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods”.
This is, in effect, Zizek speaking, with his claims that Stalinist terror needs to be “reinvented”, not “deplored”, that a new “dictatorship of the proletariat” (i.e., a new Stalin) is the “only viable solution”, that the terror was “too moral” (they just overdid it in a good cause), etc. Zizek’s prose is better, indeed excellent and impressive, but that only makes it morally worse, considering his evil goals.
@Ooglyboggles
I’m so sorry! That is some seriously messed-up shit. It’s domestic violence. You need a safety plan.
My suggestions:
1. Call your parents and have them first talk to your aunt and tell her to knock it off and then come pick you up. Right away.
2. Call a domestic violence hotline. They don’t care what the situation is. They’ll speak to you and help you figure out a safety plan.
3. Call the cops. Your aunt has attacked you and made you feel unsafe. They can come by and talk to her. They might arrest her–I don’t know. That part might have to do with whether you’re willing to press charges.
These are my best ideas. Pick one, pick more than one, or pick none. Above all, stay safe. Let us know how you’re doing.
As for the he complaint by this girl in general, isn’t this just the usual “my boyfriend’s online all the time”?
You might as well replace “communism” in her complaint with, say, “Minecraft” and get essentially the same post.
It is him obsessing over the internet and ignoring her that is the problem, not his “communism”.
Kat –
Good advice. If nothing else the aunt could use a stern talking-to to stop her from harming her niece. Possibly more, i.e. perhaps an arrest or a restraining order, depends on how bad her behavior is.
@Kat, ambassador of the feminist government in exile
Thank you for the condolences
1) My parents are asleep and didn’t answer my phone
2) I called the domestic violence hotline and they gave me good advice and helped me know that this isn’t considered normal or okay and that I don’t deserve this kind of abuse.
3) I called the police and had them file a report. I didn’t want to risk the other aunts coming in and defending my mean aunt and saying I’m hysterical or some shit.
@Anonymous
Unfortunately my other aunts are here, while they do keep my mean aunt from arguing while I’m here they also would see my action as something bad and would assume I’m in the wrong.
@Anonymous
Why are you here?
@Ooglyboggles
Good moves.
I’m sure the domestic violence hotline told you that what is most important is a safety plan. Get one together. If you need to act on it, do so.
We’re rooting for you. Stay safe.
Ooglyboogles:
I’ll reiterate that I’m glad you’re currently okay, and that the situation sucks. I also agree with Kat that having a plan is a good idea.
I’ll add that I’m glad you got some good advice from the hotline, too.
Good luck, and I’m sorry your aunts are cruddy. I mean, if one of them is totally okay with assaulting you and the others are totally willing to ignore that and blame you instead…
… that sucks.
Re: Thread and Cats
Moving states in a month, and staying with my folks while I pack up my life for a 2145 mile move. Their cat has been stalking me ever since I wandered in this morning, much to my pup’s dismay.
Not silent stalking though. More “I’m going to sit next to you and YELL AT THE TOP OF MY CAT LUNGS UNTIL YOU PLAY WITH ME OR LET ME INTO THE ATTIC OR PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEE”.
Glad to hear it worked out, Ooglyboggles. Unfortunately, many families have an argumentive, abusive relative who is protected by their siblings / parents / children, while they make life hell for the slightly more distant family.
It is sometimes bearable when they are just generally rude to everybody, but sometimes, as seems to be the case here, they have a particular member of the family (you) as their target. Surely you should not stand for this!