I think a lot of this bullshit that spews out of people mouths is because one is making them uncomfortable and they are simply trying to shut one up so they don't have to be uncomfortable anymore. Small and petty but so very human. Until, of course, THEY are the ones needing a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to them. Then somehow it's okay.
I understand it better than is flattering to me to admit because I really thought that way for a long time, without thinking about it, without realizing that I was not only wrong, but offensively wrong
( ... )
I absolutely detest that crap. I makes me nearly incoherent with anger. If that were true, parents would never beat their kids. Nobody would ever take a gun to school and murder a bunch of teenagers before offing themselves. People who believe that stuff are so deluded it isn't even amusing.
I often feel lucky, but it is my way of remembering to appreciate what I have, not some abstract belief that I must therefore be a better person because I've been luckier than many
YES. This. It's a recognition of fact, not a suit of chainmail or a strap-on halo.
I think some people take what they have and make more of it than others could.
YES. Not everyone has the same ability to work with the tools they were given. Doesn't mean the people aren't trying or don't want it.
I loved what you said in your entry: How ironic is it that this idea that thinking positive and avoiding negative has translated into it's your fault if you fail to think positive, so you get a disease, or you lose your job and can't find another?THIS. Because it's like a sickness, so many people act like this. You have to prove you are Virtuous before you warrant help or sympathy, and part of that is proving that you have a good attitude. You have people like the woman with cancer you were talking about who are criticised for not being positive enough,
( ... )
So much word. And relatedly, one of my fave non-fic authors Barbara Ehrenreich showed up on the Daily Show with a new book about just this kind of crap. She not only had to contend with breast cancer, but also the fricken' onslaught of people--fellow cancer patients within the support community--exhorting her to JUST THINK POSITIVE! MAKE YER OWN LUCK! CHEMO IS SUNSHINE ON PUPPY TONGUES IF YOU JUST "ASK BELIEVE RECEIVE"!
FUcks sake, I hate to sound flip about cancer as many have died in my family from it, but shit, if that's part of the treatment process I think I'd rather flee into the woods to fates unknown.
Unrelatedly, you haven't by chance ever employed the phrase "dog-pronger" in your tirades, have you? I was struck by it today while reading the word "pronghorn" and could only recall I'd read it somewhere online...
FUcks sake, I hate to sound flip about cancer as many have died in my family from it, but shit, if that's part of the treatment process I think I'd rather flee into the woods to fates unknown.
Riiiiight there with you. Oh yes. It's really sad when your worst fear about some medical disaster is not "Oh my god will this be hideously painful and cause me to grow tentacles from my spleen?!" but "How much of this are they going to try to blame on me?"
And yes, I use "dog-pronger" all the time in everyday swearing. ALL the time. It's a default. So it's quite likely it's appeared here. Pronghorn. Heh.
This, (well, not the dog pronger part!), with a side of God, how much I would love to take all the people who adhere to The Secret like it's meaningful instead of well-packaged horseshit and spout off about the law of attraction and energy and what we bring into our lives and introduce them to the nifty demonstration of the law of attraction where you roll someone in honey, peanut butter and cashews and let them wander around in bear country.
I agree wholeheartedly. Horrific shit started happening to me* when I was too young to walk. There is nothing I could have done to change that, and those events have permanently shaped who I am as a person. The abuse, depression, car wreck, and all the rest were not some cosmic wake-up call to take charge of my life, and my personal choice to be a good person doesn't make me bleed less with the monthlies. Following a trickster god may alter my view of luck on a day-to-day basis, but I sure-as-shit don't want to wander through that Mindfuck Minefield.
If I have to pick something to call luck, well, meeting my best friend by borrowing her mothers lotion at a busstop was pretty damn cool.
* And a billion or so other people, a lot of whom have had it far worse than me.
Comments 42
(The comment has been removed)
*hugs*
Yes, you need to go to bed.
Reply
They can all go fuck themselves.
*hugs*
Reply
Reply
I absolutely detest that crap. I makes me nearly incoherent with anger. If that were true, parents would never beat their kids. Nobody would ever take a gun to school and murder a bunch of teenagers before offing themselves. People who believe that stuff are so deluded it isn't even amusing.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
YES. This. It's a recognition of fact, not a suit of chainmail or a strap-on halo.
I think some people take what they have and make more of it than others could.
YES. Not everyone has the same ability to work with the tools they were given. Doesn't mean the people aren't trying or don't want it.
I loved what you said in your entry:
How ironic is it that this idea that thinking positive and avoiding negative has translated into it's your fault if you fail to think positive, so you get a disease, or you lose your job and can't find another?THIS. Because it's like a sickness, so many people act like this. You have to prove you are Virtuous before you warrant help or sympathy, and part of that is proving that you have a good attitude. You have people like the woman with cancer you were talking about who are criticised for not being positive enough, ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
FUcks sake, I hate to sound flip about cancer as many have died in my family from it, but shit, if that's part of the treatment process I think I'd rather flee into the woods to fates unknown.
Unrelatedly, you haven't by chance ever employed the phrase "dog-pronger" in your tirades, have you? I was struck by it today while reading the word "pronghorn" and could only recall I'd read it somewhere online...
Reply
Riiiiight there with you. Oh yes. It's really sad when your worst fear about some medical disaster is not "Oh my god will this be hideously painful and cause me to grow tentacles from my spleen?!" but "How much of this are they going to try to blame on me?"
And yes, I use "dog-pronger" all the time in everyday swearing. ALL the time. It's a default. So it's quite likely it's appeared here. Pronghorn. Heh.
Reply
Reply
Eugh!
Reply
If I have to pick something to call luck, well, meeting my best friend by borrowing her mothers lotion at a busstop was pretty damn cool.
* And a billion or so other people, a lot of whom have had it far worse than me.
Reply
Leave a comment