1) Unfortunately, I was always stubborn, and many years of learning to hone and dissect arguments in cutthroat academia means that it is hard for me to disengage from certain discussions. Bryn Mawr, where women are taught to speak articulately and firmly, also sharpened my fangs.
2) I have no patience with the "emo" term being bandied about lately (or, hm, has it been 5 years or so now? I'm not up on children's slang). Then again, I think kids were calling their peers "sissies" when I was in school. Working on a PhD in psychology has not, unfortunately, made me more patient with the prejudices and name-calling maneuverings people use to bolster their own egos at others' expense. One of the many things broken about society is that children taunt one another for daring to grapple with and express their feelings. If we were all animals who ate, slept, and reproduced without any enhancements to our life experience that would be fine, but humans think and feel-- that's what makes us human. Denying either one (hello, Shrubya) diminishes us.
3) I do feel bad for dropping into
dagas_isa's LJ recently with fangs honed because of #1. Hence this post. I do not wish to sow dragon's teeth in someone else's LJ, so I have stepped out lest I find myself wishing to reply to her rude visitor again. I have the sneaking suspicion that he's young enough to be my son, which makes his "older and wiser" posturing both tiresome and amusing.
Dagas, if you see this, sorry for going off a bit and disturbing the peace and quiet of your LJ. It's hard for me to keep my opinionated trap shut sometimes, even on silly comments that don't deserve a reply. ;)
2) I have no patience with the "emo" term being bandied about lately (or, hm, has it been 5 years or so now? I'm not up on children's slang). Then again, I think kids were calling their peers "sissies" when I was in school. Working on a PhD in psychology has not, unfortunately, made me more patient with the prejudices and name-calling maneuverings people use to bolster their own egos at others' expense. One of the many things broken about society is that children taunt one another for daring to grapple with and express their feelings. If we were all animals who ate, slept, and reproduced without any enhancements to our life experience that would be fine, but humans think and feel-- that's what makes us human. Denying either one (hello, Shrubya) diminishes us.
3) I do feel bad for dropping into
dagas_isa's LJ recently with fangs honed because of #1. Hence this post. I do not wish to sow dragon's teeth in someone else's LJ, so I have stepped out lest I find myself wishing to reply to her rude visitor again. I have the sneaking suspicion that he's young enough to be my son, which makes his "older and wiser" posturing both tiresome and amusing.Dagas, if you see this, sorry for going off a bit and disturbing the peace and quiet of your LJ. It's hard for me to keep my opinionated trap shut sometimes, even on silly comments that don't deserve a reply. ;)
Comments
Though, I do want to thank you for standing up for me, although I really didn't feel like I should say that on my journal and continue baiting the person.
You're welcome! It was silly of me to let him get under my skin, but it felt like someone else ought to speak up, since, as you say, if you'd asserted yourself, he'd have patted himself on the back for getting a rise out of you.
(And ack. Someone poke me for getting on my high horse and calling anyone "children". I've got sixty year old relatives who are just as mature as this fellow, and I've got online friends young enough to be my kids who have far more sense than I do.)
Some even wear the emo badge with pride or irony. My younger sister, for example, is quite smitten with the current pop Emo and yet she has a sense of humor about her sub-culture.
I've seen a few online discussions where people ranted about "emos" as losers, wimps, dysfunctional persons who are inferior because they wear their hearts on their sleeves. It reminded me of high school peers tormenting one of my classmates for studying ballet and calling him "twinkle toes".
I guess it's a spectrum, like "dyke", which several of my friends use as an enthused compliment ("wow, that woman is SUCH a DYKE!") but which was nothing of the sort in high school!