HEGEL SMOKE A J posted:

There's a new thread in GBS which promises to be ripe for the picking:

Girl I know IRL, on Facebook posted:

a guy was staring at me through the window of his car for like 20secs and the driver behind him who was beeping his corn shouted at me:
-you're pretty can you blame him?
Both were middle aged though :P

Serperoth posted:

"Religion is totally mega super dumb, complete baloney." ~Albert Hawking

And for some content:


I have never seen anything remotely like that happen, ever. Not even with pretty girls, much less her (she's not exactly The Smog Monster, but most likely not leaning towards the side of "pretty").

quote:

a guy was staring at me through the window of his car for like 20secs and the driver behind him who was beeping his corn shouted at me:
-you're pretty can you blame him?
Both were middle aged though :P

quote:

(I am working the weekend shift in a popular fast food sandwich chain with an older gentleman of Middle-Eastern decent. He is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. A customer and his buddies come into the store. I am busy in the back prepping bread and cookies, so my coworker goes out to help them. When I come out I hear shouting.)

Customer: “I SAID, AIN’T THERE ANYBODY ELSE BACK THERE THAT CAN HELP ME?! I DON’T WANT TO BE SERVED BY THIS SAND-N*****!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir. What seems to be the problem?”

Customer: “The problem is this d*** sand-n*****! I ain’t gonna stand here and let him touch my food!”

Me: “I’m sorry you feel that way, sir. However, I can’t stand here and let you speak to a fellow employee that way. [Coworker] is a stand-up guy, and doesn’t deserve to be treated the way you are treating him. Please calm down and let us do our job.”

Customer: “Well I don’t give a d*** what you think! I don’t want him serving me, so you’re gonna.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but I will not. I have the right to refuse service to those that I feel are being abusive. I’d like you to leave the store right now.”

Customer: “I WANT TO SEE A MANAGER RIGHT NOW!”

Me: “Well, my manager is off at another store right now. If you’d like to go across town to the other store, you are more than welcome to speak with her. I’m sure you’ll find, though, that she’ll agree with me. Please leave right now, and never come back.”

Customer: “I don’t want your stupid food anyway. F*** you guys!”

(About 20 minutes later, my manager calls me from the other store. She tells me about an irate customer who came in and complained that he was kicked out from my store. When he explained why, she told me she kicked him out of there, too. Thankfully, I never saw him in the store again.)

ddinkins112 posted:

I know this is rather par for the course as far as STDH goes, but I wonder why the man of "Middle-Eastern decent" didn't say anything at all to the raving, racist caricature of a customer. Or to his coworker.

quote:

For months, every morning when my daughter was in preschool, I watched her construct an elaborate castle out of blocks, colorful plastic discs, bits of rope, ribbons and feathers, only to have the same little boy gleefully destroy it within seconds of its completion.

No matter how many times he did it, his parents never swooped in BEFORE the morning’s live 3-D reenactment of “Invasion of AstroMonster.” This is what they’d say repeatedly:

“You know! Boys will be boys!”

“He’s just going through a phase!”

“He’s such a boy! He LOVES destroying things!”

“Oh my god! Girls and boys are SO different!”

“He. Just. Can’t. Help himself!”

I tried to teach my daughter how to stop this from happening. She asked him politely not to do it. We talked about some things she might do. She moved where she built. She stood in his way. She built a stronger foundation to the castle, so that, if he did get to it, she wouldn’t have to rebuild the whole thing. In the meantime, I imagine his parents thinking, “What red-blooded boy wouldn’t knock it down?”

She built a beautiful, glittery castle in a public space.

It was so tempting.

He just couldn’t control himself and, being a boy, had violent inclinations.

She had to keep her building safe.

Her consent didn’t matter. Besides, it’s not like she made a big fuss when he knocked it down. It wasn’t a “legitimate” knocking over if she didn’t throw a tantrum.

His desire — for power, destruction, control, whatever- - was understandable.

Maybe she “shouldn’t have gone to preschool” at all. OR, better if she just kept her building activities to home.

I know it’s a lurid metaphor, but I taught my daughter the preschool block precursor of don’t “get raped” and this child, Boy #1, did not learn the preschool equivalent of “don’t rape.”

Not once did his parents talk to him about invading another person’s space and claiming for his own purposes something that was not his to claim. Respect for her and her work and words was not something he was learning. How much of the boy’s behavior in coming years would be excused in these ways, be calibrated to meet these expectations and enforce the “rules” his parents kept repeating?

There was another boy who, similarly, decided to knock down her castle one day. When he did it his mother took him in hand, explained to him that it was not his to destroy, asked him how he thought my daughter felt after working so hard on her building and walked over with him so he could apologize. That probably wasn’t much fun for him, but he did not do it again.

There was a third child. He was really smart. He asked if he could knock her building down. She, beneficent ruler of all pre-circle-time castle construction, said yes… but only after she was done building it and said it was OK. They worked out a plan together and eventually he started building things with her and they would both knock the thing down with unadulterated joy. You can’t make this stuff up.

Take each of these three boys and consider what he might do when he’s older, say, at college, drunk at a party, mad at an ex-girlfriend who rebuffs him and uses words that she expects will be meaningful and respecte, “No, I don’t want to. Stop. Leave.”

The “overarching attitudinal characteristic” of abusive men is entitlement.

duralict posted:

A metaphor equating knocking over toy castles to rape

jalopybrown posted:

I literally have no idea how to feel about this modern day Aesops fable.

Vulpes posted:

That would actually be a pretty good metaphor if the author hadn't decided to pretend it actually happened.

Vulpes posted:

That would actually be a pretty good metaphor if the author hadn't decided to pretend it actually happened.

quote:

When I came out to my parents at 18, my mother warned me that "Society isn't ready for your lifestyle" and rattled off a list of reasons I should keep my sexuality a secret, suggested I take a female friend as a date to parties and family gatherings, and to even marry a woman and that being on the Down-Low is for the best. Over the next seven years, I learned quite the opposite: I've had far more friends and coworkers be accepting than not, and had no trouble finding places to go where male couples are accepted. One day I flat-out told her, "Society isn't the one with the problem. YOU are." And that was that (btw, my father is ironically neutral, but he had a more liberal upbringing).

quote:

On that same note, a day prior This Troper also got him when his father lashed at him again how 'He always just thinks about those stupid video games and doesn't care for the important stuff' (Seeing a pattern there?). I replied that he did not say 'That he could not help with X because he wanted to play a videogame but that he said that he wanted to finish X as fast as possible so that he could play the videogame relaxed'. And top top it off he added that he (His father) has been making that mistake for years and would fling into a rage whenever this Troper said anything like that.

quote:

This troper once thought about saying what he was about to do out loud in a very dramatic and anime-esque fashion. But then he remembered that he was actually existing in real life, not an animated show, where such things are treated as naturally as musicals treat spontaneously bursting into song instead of seen as a sign of a severe psychological disorder, and he thought better of it and never, ever, did it after that. It seems to have worked out OK.

Djeser posted:

Troper self-awareness? STDH

Squalitude posted:

The thread is called "Chasing Faeries", enjoy.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3550977

duralict posted:

Block castle rape analogy

Djeser posted:

If you can't loving parse this, don't worry, other tropers had no idea what he was saying either.

quote:

Evidently, a friend of a friend’s father had passed away recently. On his deathbed, his final words indicated that there was some type of buried family fortune on a piece of rural land they owned, which surprised the hell out of everybody. Unfortunately, he died before he could explain where it was, and the only directions he was able to give were in CUBITS, and described like “24 cubits north from the medium size tree” and such nonsense. I am not making this up.

These people had tried to find the treasure on the land but had no luck, so they decided to call my dad to ask him for help. Apparently they ran in similar religious crazy people circles and thought his Stupendous Prayer Powers and impressive wavy-armed baby babbling could help him find it, I guess. He arranged for a percentage of the findings — a man of God’s gotta eat, and prayin’ aint free! — and set to work.

First, he visited the house where the man died to search for clues. He entered the bedroom and walked around it praying for God to ask that dead guy to tell him where the buried treasure was. (I realize now that was basically like a seance, except, like, way more Jesusy.) However, as the old saying goes, dead men tell no tales, so it was time for Plan B. We loaded into the car with shovels, trash bags, LOTS of rope and a Bible. Our Extremely Suspicious Items To Have In Your Trunk collection now complete, we drove out into the middle of goddamn nowhere in search of buried treasure, and any clue how big a drat cubit actually is.

quote:

Math, English, Science, all that stuff, was taught to me in simple little workbooks that taught me fairly well from grades 1 - 8, with a blessed minimum of obnoxious religious overtones. (“If the angry crowd has 150 stones, and they hatefully hurl 125 stones at the bound and gagged adulterer, how many rocks does the angry crowd have left?” The answer, of course, is “kill your only son.”)
One cool aspect of homeschooling I actually liked was when my mom would take me to museums and science centers and such to supplement my education. She would also let me check out books from the library to read to count as schoolwork. (“Son, you sure do like the National Geographic issues with the tribal natives!”) That part of it was pretty cool, except for the fact that most of the museums in Oklahoma were basically giant apologies to Native Americans for wiping out 80 million of them. “Here we have an authentic Native American(tm) water pouch, which was created from the troublingly large scrotal sac of the American Bison. We are so, so sorry about that whole genocide thing. Buy a commemorative pox blanket in our gift shop!”

Fuego Fish posted:

"Apparently there's some fortune buried out here, but wouldn't you know, dad gave the directions in cubits. Who knows how big a cubit is? It's lost forever!"
"That seems like the kind of information one could look up fairly easily, so-"
"LOST. FOREVER."

I'd find that story a teensy bit more believable if it involved the metric system. Nothin' baffles folk more than metric-imperial conversions.

crowfeathers posted:

Here's some things from a blog called "A Comically Tragic Childhood"

Enilev posted:

Good to see stdh existed way back in 1862:

(from The Marin Journal)

Esroc posted:

I got dragged to church with my Aunt and Uncle every Sunday until I was 9. Until the pastor gave a sermon about the rapture and how all those who accepted Jesus would go to Heaven and all those who rejected him would burn in eternal hellfire. He then went on to speak about how important it was to save your friends and family so you wouldn't have to be separated from them and possibly see them burn for eternity.

Nine year old me piped up, in front of everyone in the church, and asked: "How is Heaven so great if I have to spend it knowing people I love are burning in hell?"

I was never invited back to church, and I'm better for it.

poor opressed white guy posted:

I saw Flight in a mostly black theater and a baby was crawling around half of the theater crying and poo poo. With 5 minutes left I went to customer service and complained. They said since they didn't hear the baby they couldn't do anything. I upped this poo poo to the next level. I invited the guy to come with me to listen to the baby. He got really nervous because I insisted. We walked over and the woman was standing outside the theater with her baby. I confronted the woman with the guy and she flat out denied it. The girls that worked in the theater were holding the baby for some odd reason and were saying "it's okay, don't listen to that crazy man." I asked why they think she was standing in the hall in the first place. I went into crazy mode and when people started walking out I asked each one if they heard the baby. A few people gave me clueless looks but once one black woman acknowledged the baby was incredibly annoying, EVERYONE began agreeing. I literally lead half of the theater to get free tickets.
It was one of the proudest nights of my life. My stupid bitch ex didn't even give me sex that night.

KaneTW posted:

All on Black posted:

For content, cross posting from the childhood experiences with religion thread:

"I got dragged to church with my Aunt and Uncle every Sunday until I was 9. Until the pastor gave a sermon about the rapture and how all those who accepted Jesus would go to Heaven and all those who rejected him would burn in eternal hellfire. He then went on to speak about how important it was to save your friends and family so you wouldn't have to be separated from them and possibly see them burn for eternity.

Nine year old me piped up, in front of everyone in the church, and asked: "How is Heaven so great if I have to spend it knowing people I love are burning in hell?"

I was never invited back to church, and I'm better for it."

DrHerpington posted:

I get so many of these from SRS, it's not even healthy.

DrHerpington posted:

I get so many of these from SRS, it's not even healthy.

All on Black posted:

My god, it's brilliant. Racism, misogyny, a feeling of entitlement to sex for mundane acts...I can practically see the fedora on this guy. I can't help but notice that no one in the theatre applauded him, though.

E: ^ I was going to mention that. I don't think I've ever been invited to church as such. I think I'd really like to receive one in the mail.

Khazar-khum posted:

What's SRS?

Fuego Fish posted:

ShitRedditSays, a "subreddit" (user-created forum) on reddit that basically finds the worst posts on reddit (not hard) and links to them in order to show people what an absolute festering shitheap of sexism/racism/bigotry/etc. reddit can be. Often dismissed as "misandrist trolls" by, well, most of reddit. Is actually a pretty cool place to hang out, provided you can tolerate being exposed to some of the worst opinions ever held by mortal man.

Fuego Fish posted:

ShitRedditSays, a "subreddit" (user-created forum) on reddit that basically finds the worst posts on reddit (not hard) and links to them in order to show people what an absolute festering shitheap of sexism/racism/bigotry/etc. reddit can be. Often dismissed as "misandrist trolls" by, well, most of reddit. Is actually a pretty cool place to hang out, provided you can tolerate being exposed to some of the worst opinions ever held by mortal man.

quote:

Rape is only bad in human cultures because sex is expected to be a consensual thing. For most of human history, sex has been rape. In most of the animal kingdom, all sex is rape. Heck, some frogs have a barbed penis designed to rip apart the female frog's vagina so that his semen can stay inside since no other frog can gently caress her.
Rape being bad is a purely cultural thing that stems from the concept of self-ownership, which is really the basis for property and hence it's deep into the core values of our society.
Tip: If you want to rape someone; go for a communist.

Fathis Munk posted:

jalopybrown posted:

Let us completely disregard how all mammals primarily mate and look to the mighty amphibians who overwhelmingly converge and engage in external fertilization willingly.

Seriously, this has to be a troll.

All on Black posted:

E: ^ I was going to mention that. I don't think I've ever been invited to church as such. I think I'd really like to receive one in the mail.

Irony Be My Shield posted:

Presumably he means his family never asked him to come again

walrusman posted:

I embarrassed my family in front of dozens of their closest friends, and now they don't call me to hang out anymore. Clearly I have blown the lid off of their stifling theology with my brilliant, "from the mouths of babes" commentary.

edit: I refuse to believe rape guy is not a troll.

quote:

Working in the ER last night, I treated a guy from a heavily Muslim country (studying abroad at our local college). He has a complaint that may be caused or exacerbated by alcohol, so as I do with everyone having this problem I ask: "do you drink alcohol and if so how much?"

You would have thought I spit in eye slit of his mom's niqāb. Dude lost his poo poo and started screaming at me that I should know that alcohol has never passed his lips because he is a devout Muslim. I almost just got up and walked out (I'm your doctor, not your verbal punching bag, rear end in a top hat).

However I looked him straight in the eye and said "I don't look at the color or your skin or your accent or where you are from and make assumptions about you. That goes for being a Muslim, abstaining from alcohol, or bombing a plane or beating your wife."

Dude stopped short and apologized. When I go in later to go over his results with him he says how he was thinking that he was making assumptions about how Christians in America think about Muslims and that's what made him so upset. Now I am not super out as an atheist at work, but I figured we have good security and if I am in for a penny...

Me: Actually I'm not a Christian.

Him: You're a Jew?

Me: No, I'm an atheist.

Him: (blink. blink. pause. laugh.) Ah, you had me going there! Now you will tell me you are married to a man.

Me: (Nodding and pointing to my badge with a small red A pin and a rainbow caduceus) Both, actually.

Him: (At this point I can almost see the cogs turning and poo poo shorting out in his brain. He's half freaked out but still in that introspective space about his religion and assumptions) Well maybe that's why you do not make assumptions about me. I think many people make assumptions about you.

Me: You are exactly right.

Him: Well tonight I just assume you are a good doctor!

And he didn't even behead me.

tl;dr Muslim exchange student gets offended, I end up telling him I'm a gay atheist and that makes it better?!?

Wabznasm posted:

A typical r/atheism post, behold:


The Smuggening XVIII

quote:

However I looked him straight in the eye and said "I don't look at the color or your skin or your accent or where you are from and make assumptions about you. That goes for being a Muslim, abstaining from alcohol, or bombing a plane or beating your wife."