Before you read this post, hop on over to this link here and skim the article. Or read it in full.
Today (5/12), I am going to politely disagree with some of this article. I saw it on a friend’s facebook and thought to myself, “cracked.com is funny most of the time…let’s read it!” As I read, I wondered if this was supposed to be funny, since I didn’t think it was that great. Since I read the article I’ve been thinking about one of the topics specifically, and will most likely devote the majority of this post disagreeing with that topic. I hope you’re ready for some flabbergasted word vomit! Do you have your beverage in hand and some sweet tunes to read by? (I would suggest this, it is soothing)
"We are more racist than we think” Sure, people are secretly more racist than they seem. But it’s hard NOT to be considered a racist. If I say “I’m not a racist” it sounds disingenuous. (note: I am really glad that I decided to re-read and edit because originally this said rapist not racist) Anything that I could possibly say to try to convince my audience that I like people who aren’t white sounds racist in itself. Why? Well, probably because I would use “us” and “them” or “they” instead of “us”. Confused? Here’s an example “I like black people, they shouldn’t be racially profiled by police officers”. Now, this is probably something I would say, and would feel bad for a) using the word black, because I’m afraid it’s offensive but at the same time think saying African American is bad too b) “they” since it implies “they” are separate (but equal! But not really, that was an awful piece of litigation/legislation…) So in reality, I like everybody and do my very best not to judge based on appearance but no matter how I say it, it seems like I’m being an asshole. Maybe I am hypersensitive and that in itself is racist. Eh, moving on.
“We think we are nicer than we are” I think this is definitely true. I know that I’m not as nice as I would like to be. All that smack talking and hobo ignoring that I do while drinking my $5 coffee and smoking my $8 cigarettes probably isn’t too nice to homeless people and people who can’t afford frappacinos. I guess it’s also mean to the people who I shit talk, butI doubt they’ll find out since mostly I rant at my sisters/friends/passersby about people at work and since people at work don’t know my sisters/friends I think I’m covered. ANYWAY, I think the point here is that people want to feel good about doing something nice, so they hype up this act of kindness. Remember the ARK (Act of Random Kindness. Thanks Morgan Freeman). I gave money to a homeless dude and spent the rest of my day patting myself on the back, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels some sense of accomplishment/happiness from doing something nice. Is it as significant in the grand scheme of things as I tell myself it is? Probably not, but to me it’s important and meaningful.
We have no idea how attractive we are (or aren’t)” Now this is the part where if I haven’t lost any readers already, you should buckle your seatbelts because the ranting is about to begin. This article claims that people think they are more attractive than they actually are (which is sometimes true) but then tries to argue this is a bad thing. I find self confidence very attractive, and do my best to be confident as well. Just because I don’t have flawless skin and a constant (and sexy) pout doesn’t mean I am not attractive, it just means that I am not an airbrushed makeup ad. But I do look in the mirror and go “damn look at how good I look! Everyone! Come see how good I look!”, and then when photos are taken I wonder what the fuck happened in between looking in the mirror and taking a picture. I actually really like the article’s use of “scientific studies” (cite your sources please, cracked.com) to explain that people trick themselves into thinking they’re more attractive than they are. So if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean that my perception of other people is altered as well? If I like someone for reasons besides their physical appearance, doesn’t that enhance their fleshy packaging? (that wasn’t meant to sound as naughty as it does but I will leave it). I guess I just fail to see how thinking that you are attractive is a bad thing. Sure, there are a lot of those myspace angle photos taken in bathroom mirrors with the girls making the duck face and wearing tank tops where their nipples are about to burst out, and that is probably a result of them thinking they are hot shit. But let them think they are hot, because it makes them happy. (the ultimate point of this post is to basically argue that if it makes you happy, then do it. Except being a racist which is sort of the outlier here).
We think our problems are the worst” I would actually like to switch gears from polite disagreement to agreement. Fuck those people who think that because their boyfriend of 1 week broke up with them that their world is ending and then post their angst on facebook. Or people who post on facebook about their problems in a cryptic way so as to get people to go “oh no, what happened?” and thus start the cycle of bitching and moaning. The “my problems are worse than yours” way of thinking isn’t surprising since people don’t often think “other people are experiencing worse things than me”. I can understand that someone would be upset that the person they really liked ended up not liking them back and how it would make them sad. The posting on facebook for all to see is the part I don’t get. I know that I whine. I do not whine on facebook. I do not complain about the ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense that I put up with, or the way that I am spoken to like I am an idiot, or the way that people who have something to say about what I’m doing tell someone else who then tells me. I don’t write “OH MY GOD WORK IS SO STUPID ARGH” and then sit back and wait for people to ask me why. I like all the happy and fun things people share on their pages, and if something really sad does happen and someone feels the need to share, I can appreciate that they want to reach out and not feel alone. But seriously. Stop and think before you post that cryptic status about feeling nauseous or posting shitty nickelback songs. I think I’m done ranting here…
So there you have it, a numbered list style response to a cracked.com article that was probably meant to be funny but failed. I tried to be kind of funny as well, but I’m not sure it worked. I’m trying this new stream of consciousness style writing, which means most of those little parenthetical asides were thoughts that I had as I was typing the first thought.Oh! I forgot to basically make my closing statement before Judge Judy tells me I win. As much fun as this article might be because it is telling it like it is, I think it’s a real downer. There are a whole lot of people on this earth, so we have to be responsible for our own happiness. I can’t rely on my family/friends/pets/scoobert to make me happy, I have to make myself happy. If I want to feel attractive, I have to convince myself that that is the case, and if that means that I think I’m prettier than I am, then fine. That’s called healthy self-esteem. If giving a homeless person a frappacino makes my day, then that’s wonderful and I should be able to equate myself with Mother Theresa in my head if I want to. Stop raining on my parade, cracked.com!
The point that I want to make and that I’ve probably already made is that cracked.com sucks at writing articles about sort of serious topics and I suck at making a cohesive argument.
<3
MeggyB
p.s: comment with thoughts? Please? I’m excited to try this new “type whatever it is you’re thinking” style but I don’t want to keep at it if it's irritating/bad.
I'm looking forward to posting an entry about the past few days and all the wonderful stuff that's been going on since my last post :3
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