So I was rummaging around on Twitter today and ran across this tweet. It’s not a new one, but it strikes me as rather exquisitely sad, so sad I really feel I need to share it with you all.
Make sure you watch the embedded video, though, to really appreciate what makes this tweet so sad.
HOW IS IT PATHETIC TO ENJOY CUDDLES WITH THE WORLD’S CUTEST FLUFFY CAT?
There’s a lot wrong with far-right attack journalist Ian Miles Cheong, but this tweet is just so silly and sad. DO YOU HATE JOY, IAN?
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Though slime has done a video on this. Check out “soft link breaks the chain.” Hardness is a trait that only benefits wealthy elites.
That video makes me happy to be alive and restores my faith in men. Also I miss my fluffy black boy kitty 🙁
I wanna pet and hug the kitty.
Only a soulless piece of shit sorry excuse for a hoomin would think this video is sad. The video is wonderful. Those floofs!
Yes, Ian hates joy. And he thinks we all need to hate joy right along with him because misery loves company. No, Ian. You’re on your own, and I’m not even a huge fan of cats.
I was waiting for the sad in the video & it kept not happening. I’m used to sarcasm, so I was waiting for the “pathetic” as well, but prepared not to find anything pathetic.
I didn’t realize it was Ian Miles Cheong until after watching the full video & reading your comments, & suddenly I was like, “Wait, he thinks this is bad?”
Totally did not compute. I seriously thought there was going to be a subtweet about how the cat had died or something.
I’m cuddling my fluffy white cat right now.
100% that Ian is jealous. No animal or human would ever love him like that, and he’d never be as happy as the person in the video.
@Naglfar
100% in agreement.
Not all of us have a forgotten, lint-covered, dried up gummi bear rattling around where our heart should be, Ian
It’s a cat video.
It’s like a thousand thousand other cat videos that clog Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and the rest of the net. It’s a mainstay of social media and those who make a living by making certain that said social media is sufficiently supplied with feline cinematics.
It’s not even that special of a cat video. Here’s a guy with a somewhat floofier than average cat gushing about said cat. This plot accounts for some 39% of extant cat videos (and yes, I am making that statistic up out of whole cloth).
And yet, it is also the most pathetic thing Mr. Cheong has ever seen.
I can only assume that he’s been blind (or nearly so, at least) all his life, and has only joined the ranks of the sighted recently.
Oh, mother of Christ, that was a joyous and life-affirming video! My heart is giddy from seeing this! Thanks, pathetic hooman “Miles”. (And thanks, non-pathetic hooman David!)
Screw Ian and the broadband he rode in on.
In summary: Ian Miles Cheong is incensed that someone out there has love, joy, and pussy and it isn’t him.
Aside: the unfluffy cat is pretty cute too.
@Robert: speak for yourself, ALL cat videos are special to me.
Plus it’s a story video by The Dodo, who appreciates ALL animals.
@ mouse sparrow
Oh gawd, Dodo videos are my biggest time sink; they’re just unignorable.
It’s a good job I don’t work in nuclear engineering.
“The reactor is going critical! If we don’t shut it down in three minutes there’ll be an explosion the size of Nebraska!”
“I’m right on it! Oh wait, there’s an aardvark playing football!”
I had a wonderful cuddle with my cat this morning.
Cheong is being rather pathetically bitter and jealous here, clearly. And I suspect he’s also put out because the human partner of the bloke in the video is not shown on-screen for him to criticise. (there are certainly regions where it’s usual to use “us” to refer to oneself, but this guy uses “me”. On second thoughts Cheong probably didn’t even listen).
Idyllic! ::sigh::
(Long and somewhat sad post, but I will get back to the cat eventually.)
Cats can be wonderful, there’s nothing pathetic about that. I half-joke/half-for-real call my cat my “emotional support animal”. His love means a lot to me, and has helped me through some tough times.
A few years ago, me and Mr Gatecrasher discovered that we couldn’t have children. I wrote a comment about it on this blog, and I want to thank Susan, Rabid Rabbit and others for their kind words in response.
As all people facing a life crisis (in my case together with my partner) I had to prioritize what was important to me. It turned out that my relationship with Mr Gatecrasher, my friends, my family and actually, my work, were more important to me than becoming a parent. All of these would be risked in a prolonged fight for a baby.
It was, of course, not an easy decision. There isn’t a universal answer for everyone. I can certainly see how one can stand at the same crossroads as me and choose differently.
When me and Mr Gatecrasher had made our decision, life became much better. I started to exercise again, I started to spend more time with my friends, even those with babies (Susan’s comment made me more aware of how much a friend can mean to a new parent, and I have kept that in mind), I started to read more (I have always loved books). My job is one of the few remaining nowadays where you have mentor-adept-relationships, and I started to take my mentoring role more seriously.
And then came COVID.
The pandemic has made parts of my coping strategy more difficult to do, and has also otherwise had an impact on well, the entire world, and also me. My town has been very lucky and we haven’t had that much COVID, but the restrictions affect us. I work a lot at the ER and there’s an increase in lonely elderly found on the floor unable to get up (their friends and relatives don’t visit, so they don’t see the old person get gradually weaker, finally resulting in them falling), various illness and injury related to alcoholism, and people taking overdoses in suicide attempts or desperate self-damage behavior. The isolation takes it’s toll on people. I am not the person to feel sorry about here, but seeing all the misery is really disheartening. And it is definitely more misery than usual.
And now I get to the cat. He doesn’t care if I’m a “barren non-woman”, he loves me anyway. (Actually, he probably loves me more since no children means I have more time for him.) When I come home from work, tired and sometimes sad, he always comes to meet me. And he is happy to see me, even if there’ve been patients I couldn’t help. He doesn’t care if I’m tired or grumpy, he wants to be with me anyway. I sometimes joke and tell Mr Gatecrasher that our cat knows what the meaning of life is: food, sleep, play, and love and cuddles. It’s kind of true though.
One should not underestimate the love and support an animal can give.
@ gatecrasher
Indeed.
Your story illustrates a really important point about how animals can be more than just pets. For a lot of people they truly are companions; and they do provide essential emotional support. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that they can sometimes literally be life savers.
This cropped up in a discussion recently. It was about things like how people who are already vulnerable can face dilemmas where they have to choose between being housed or losing their only friend in the world. And the work that some very wonderful people are doing to try to remedy that.
Here’s a link that gives a bit more detail. If/when a video of the webinar goes up, I can post a link if anyone would like that.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bitesize-series-animal-law-social-justice-and-interconnectedness-tickets-129297541427
ETA: It appears you have to click on the ‘view details’ button. It won’t let me link directly to the relevant page.
Knew he were an unlikeable arsehole, but this actually makes me feel slightly sorry for him. Such a joyless life he leads.
Not only is this incredibly joyless, but Ian’s pomposity and fragility mean that (no matter what he thinks) he’s just so far from winning whatever masculinity game he mistakenly thinks he’s competing in.
As a case in point, Mr LollyPop is probably by these alt-right types incredibly unimaginative measures manly enough for them. He likes traditionally masculine things. He lifts weights and climbs. He also looks pretty tough – when a bloke tried to pick a fight by stealing Mr LollyPop’s pint, he went over, put his arm around his shoulders and said “hey fella, I think that’s my drink”, and the guy gave it straight back. Obviously thought better of it.
And he LOVES our cat. She falls asleep in his arms while he chats to her and tells her how pretty she is. Because she’s lovely and cute and brings more love into our lives.
TD;LR Loving something does not make you pathetic, making fun of other people for loving something kinda does.
@ lollypop
I like any excuse to post this pic.
ETA: It’s quite a cute story
https://www.boredpanda.com/biker-saves-kitten-party-cat-pat-doody/
I just. Want to smoosh my face into Eric’s tummy. HE’S SO FLUFFY HELP.