ONTD Original: Pop Culture References Due for Retirement
"This is the bad place."
Why? The Good Place didn't turn out to be as good as it should have been, Kristen Bell is a disappointing gentrifier who overshares about her toxic relationship with an ugly man-child, it's unoriginal, and it doesn't make sense; as soon as Eleanor realized she was in the Bad Place, her memory was erased and she started fresh. As far as I can tell, we're stuck here.
[You can still visit every other Sunday]
"We're living in the darkest timeline."
Why? Though this reference to multiverse theory had a peak in Google popularity in early May 2020 (with a prior spike in November 2016), it made its pop culture debut in Community's "Remedial Chaos Theory" episode - which aired in 2011. Most often said by people who are not actually facing the harshest of what our world has to offer, it's a glib response to actual suffering. Also, things can always get worse and you're jinxing it.
"They just have to die."
Why? False. The progression of time is not the same as progress and the elderly and aging are not the only bigots among us. As should be obvious by now, there are plenty of young people happy to embrace racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc., not to mention the individualistic bootstraps mentality their rich or wannabe rich parents imparted. Thinking it'll be smooth sailing once the younger generations take power is naive (and gives us an easy out for our own blind spots and biases).
"Get_rid_of_Florida.gif"
Why? Dumb. Florida may be terrible, but so is most of the rest of the United States. Sure, there are better places to be, but Florida is hardly unique in their outrageous behavior or bigoted residents/politicians. People elsewhere aren’t living lives free of prejudice and violence simply by virtue of their zip code. We'd do well to remember, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” [Matthew 7:5]
"It’s been 84 years."
Why? It’s been 84 years.
SOURCE: Y'all, the Bible.
Which overused phrases drive you crazy?