Subject: Stream of Consciousness: a thread that cannot be hijacked

badda-boom

Operation Hummingbird

The biggest power grab known to man.

Working title: "The $7,000,000,000,000 Grift"...

That is not power but is a really big grab. 

I’ve had some ppl I either don’t know at all or barely know say some extremely crappy things to me lately. It’s abnormal and seems very odd.

I’d say the first quarter of life I got the standard crudeness you get during that time, as many idiotic “adults” tend to see kids as second class citizens, just below taxpayers and barely above animals, so tend to say crappy things. That isn’t special for me, we were all kids once and can remember how people can talk to you- akin to middle class management taking out their frustrations on the workers. Then in teenage years we all say crappy stuff to each other on occasion. 

But during and after your 20s, it’s like the world goes sane for a while. You don’t have to worry abt ppl just being randomly rude wherever. UNTIL lately, apparently. Anybody else having this? Because I can’t see how it’s anything I’m doing. So either I’m a statistical anomaly or ppl are getting defensive as hell. I’d lay my money on effects of social media or political stuff but I honestly can’t tell and it’s truly creeping me out. 

I still remember, with amusement, when I was 60 a 30 year old co-worker told me I was old. I took it as a compliment.

I wish I meant things like that. No, I’m afraid I mean pretty cruel things. Ok, just a recent example:

One night last week I went to gas station. There’s an old guy driving a taxi, sitting in car, smoking a cig and literally ashing right at the pump. I used to smoke for many years so I don’t judge it-nor anyone’s choices, unless they can hurt others—and ashing a cig right on the pump scares me. Personal sidebar, as a kid, my granddad witnessed his dads death due to an accident with a cigar or cigarette and gasoline, which I always found horrifying &disturbing, esp. as my granddad was the kindest person I’ve known.

I walk up to station. On door is sign, “Back in 30”. I realize the guy’s just sitting there smoking for a while. But since it’s habitual to smoke, I thought maybe he didn’t realize what he’s doing, right? So on my way back to car, as I approach his, I smile, wink, and sweetly say, “be careful with that.” 

Was gonna leave it at that and kept walking but he starts chewing me out so I stop to listen while he tells me to mind my own business (risk of my death is not my business?”) and calls me all sorts of things. When he finally lets me get a word in, I say, “sir, I didn’t mean anything, but my great granddad died in a fire like that, so only meant be careful.” He responded with “HE SHOULDVE TAKEN YOU WITH HIM!”. I walked to my car.

GoAdoptADog!, it's a complex issue, but I think you've touched on some of it. My observations are that people are isolating themselves from real-life interactions, and they are losing their ability to relate to people. Social isolation started awhile ago, magnified by the internet and even more by Covid. There also has been a tendency for people to work from home as much as possible. 

Social media apps allow you to filter out negative interactions by blocking certain people or eliminating comments altogether. Discussions on message boards are anonymous with minor consequences for posting horrible comments. 

The political/social climate up until recently was restricting speech that was deemed hateful or judgmental. The pendulum swung so far that it was challenging to navigate normal conversations. For example, you might want to know if someone you are talking to has ever met one of your friends; try describing any of your friends in words without mentioning skin color, age, size, or (apparent) gender. The pendulum was recently cut loose, and the swing in the opposite direction is back to the bad old days of homophobic comments, body shaming, and openly racist remarks. Clearly, a segment of the population feels unfettered by civil discourse. 

I will also say that around the age you're describing, I became a bit more sensitive to people's comments. Ignorant, poorly phrased comments that once merely bounced off were became a source of irriation. It took me a long time to figure that out (work in progress). 

EDIT: You and I were posting simultaneously, so I missed your gas station story. Your interaction with the smoker is not unusual, and that kind of reaction from smokers has existed forever. Smokers often feel like targets, and they tend to be prickly. Two of my best friends had brothers who were big smokers, and they both were totally inconsiderate about it. They would smoke indoors and get very aggressive if any dared to comment. One of them threw his cigarette in the face of one of his detractors. My personal approach to smokers is to give them a wide berth -- not unlike my approach to porcupines, skunks, scorpions, and hornets. 

No, she meant it mean and petty. And she barely knew me at all. And when I thanked her it probably pissed her off because I wasn't provoked. The same woman didn't know how to read a quarter pound on a meat scale, working there at the deli, and had to call me over to ask. A lot of it is just plain stupidity.

2025-05-12 16:00

Thought of Deepness

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." 

Please ladies, just let them hang.

Brew and Buzz, don’t think I told it right. I don’t have anything against smokers, I chainsmoked cigs for abt 16 or 17 years, starting at 16 yrs old. It was the ashing his cig directly on ground inches away from gas pump for a while that scared me, esp. with my granddad having seen his dad burn to death that way. Still, I wasn’t rlly intrusive abt it. 

One thing I learned from college friends who weren’t from the south is strangers tend to talk to each other more often here. I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a shop without saying hi to someone I don’t know, or giving a polite “how ya doing?” or at least a nod, and generally someone else does the same to me. Once had a roommate from another country who’d been in the south a week come back from a gas station to tell me her “really bizarre” story where an old guy asked her “how are you today, darlin?” with a wink and she was taken aback, then some lady struck up a chat with her about a relative. She wasn’t used to strangers doing that, while I was shocked because that’s all I’m used to, and to me it’s a friendly, normal thing. 

Anyway I just gave the old man a wink, smile, nod, and a simple “careful with that” on my way back to pump. It incited much wrath, is my point, and that wouldn’t be so odd to me if it were a one time thing but lately I’ve been seeing a lot of it.