I am the guy with the truck.
The truck is proof that Americans can and will accept socialism.
It’s brocialism.
A.k.a. community
"What if we had a system where people could get the assistance they need. We could call it… Communityism.
But see, it’s not fair if people just get what they need! You need to make sure people are paying for it!
We can make it part of the system that each person gets help according to their needs, but each person also gives help according to their abilities. Yes yes. This is now definitely capitalism because it’s transactions.
This is now definitely capitalism because it’s transactions.
Capitalism has nothing to do with transactions. Capitalism would be if the truck was owed by Benny, who would not show up, not fill it up with gas, not repair it, but would still receive half of pizza and 2/3 of beer.
You are correct that I was not describing capitalism.
I was participating in the silly by creeping closer to full communism and still saying it’s something else.And I’m not sure why Benny would only get half and 2/3s respectively. They owned the truck, so they’re the one that did the moving. The others are just employees.
The crazy part is it doesn’t matter who you voted for, everyone on both sides would generally love to help their neighbor and would offer a hand. It’s just when people get involved in the macro sense that they get filled with hate and anger. Makes me sad. Let’s just all move couches.
Conservatives are often nice to people they know. The in-group. The problem is when it’s a scary other. So they’ll let Jose couch surf for a week while he sorts out his housing situation, because he’s a good guy down on his luck, but they’ll rage against Those People getting anything.
That’s my understanding too. It’s like empathy just ends at one’s own line of sight. If I can’t see it or touch it, there may be something wrong with it. It’s infuriating.
Can we do that without the latent ableism that comes along with it, like the idea that if you can’t help people move couches then you don’t deserve anyone else’s help either?
This especially effects people with invisible disabilities, who are already viewed as lazy, but who also might be the most helpless when it comes to moving their own furniture.
I think it’s kind of ablist to assume a disabled person has nothing of value to offer, like if they can’t move a couch then they are excluded. “Moving a couch” could be anything, it could be filing taxes or cooking a meal. Disabled people are good at stuff too. I think it’s really weird for you to make this assumption.
Honestly it’s both. Plenty of people with disabilities have plenty to offer. A lot actually don’t though, and they still deserve that helping hand.
A family aquatintance has some mental and physical disabilities. They’re just not going to be able to help in any way that isn’t superficial. And that’s okay. Their worth isn’t defined by their utility.Attaching how worthwhile it is to help someone to their ability to provide a service inherently says the person who can’t isn’t worthy of help.
We should be good to people because it’s the right thing to do, not out of the expectation of a future repayment. More pragmatically, we should help based on the assumption that the other person would, and that if everyone acted like that the world would be better.
I think the other person read a bit much into it, but their base point isn’t wrong.
Thank you! You phrased it better than I could.
I find it wild that most people here can’t see through their own assumptions. Like, everyone else needs to examine their own biases. Not them though, they could never be biased. It shows such a lack of self-awareness on their part.
My dad had a prosthetic leg, and he bristled at some of the polite or accepting ways that people would talk about disability in a way that stuck with me because he explained it. Basically a dislike of “handicapable” or the notion that you “make up for it” in other ways. To paraphrase: “getting my foot cut off in a car accident didn’t come with some perk that balanced things out”.
I think a lot of the pushback you got came not from a place of rejecting that they could have a bias, but from the topic being broached as a confrontation of bias instead of an explanation of ignorance.
People, like the poster above, who are being conscientious according to their understanding will get indignant or frustrated when that’s met with an unmatched response.Assuming positive intent colors implicit “positive abelism”, or other “positive -isms” that I’m personally less knowledgeable about, as unfamiliarity or ignorance rather than callousness or rudeness.
In those cases, the person is very unlikely to disagree or pushback if informed about their blind spot. The key part in their head was “disabled people are just as important”, sitting right next to “good people chip in and contribute”. So they respond to “disabled people can’t always contribute” with “disabled people are important!” phrased as "disabled people can contribute!”.Addressing it as a bias against disabled people doesn’t fit because that part is correct. Need to address it at where the problem is: a misconception about the relationship between human worth, labor and utility.
Kevin and Tony would definitely move a sofa for a person with disabilities. No doubt in my mind. They’d still expect pizza and beer tho, that’s non-negotiable.
Okay well what about when they ask that person later if they’ll help move Tony’s fridge? Like this un-negotiated yet obligatory repayment. If you say “sorry, I can’t” then they’ll immediately lose respect for you, and probably tell everyone they know not to help you in the future. Even if you explain that you have a condition that prevents you, if that condition isn’t visible to them they’ll think you’re just selfish and making excuses.
Also, are you willing to guarantee that Kevin and Tony aren’t racist or homophobic? Are you willing to guarantee they would help move a sofa for someone who’s gay or black? This is about more than just disabilities.
This is about “good ole boy” culture and relying on the benevolence and altruism of people who likely as not only care about helping people they view as a part of their in-group. And if you think that’s not a real problem in america, then you must not live here because it’s literally all over the place here.
We do socialism all the time.
Neighbors bring each other gifts. Friends feed one another. Someone is struggling and we give them what they need, no questions asked.
Fyi, if you are moving one piece of furniture, sure get the truck guy and a couple buddies. If you are moving ALL your stuff, hire movers. (Unless you and your buddies are in their 20s)
If you are moving ALL your stuff, hire movers.
In my experience, that’s what Dad is for.
It starts with Dad moving you to and from dorm rooms. Then apartments.
When my wife and I moved to our house I hired movers. It was a lot easier and not terribly expensive.
When my wife moved her business to a new building, my mom told me my dad insisted on helping us move, so I didn’t hire movers as I had planned. When we were moving the tons of furniture, cabinets, and massive boxes stuffed full of files, my dad mentioned that my mom told him I had asked him to help me move. I have never been able to determine why my mom manipulated us into nearly killing ourselves.
Now I’m the dad. I’ve moved kids to and from dorm rooms and apartments. I’ve rented trucks for huge moves. My daughter and I are moving a couch, a dresser, an end table and all her cooking utensils on Saturday.
Not only do I have a truck, I also have straps, furniture dollies, moving blankets, mattress bags, etc.
My most recent purchase was a shoulder dolly. If you haven’t seen one, picture two harnesses with a wide strap running between them. Two people squat on either end of the item being moved with the wide strap running under it. You take up the slack in the strap, and just stand up to lift it off the ground. It’s a game changer.
I’ve become my own moving company.
You are the exception, and bless you. Yea shoulder dollies are cool as hell, I only know cause I hired movers a time or two.
Youd get along with my older brother. He is also a one man moving company, even having worked for moving companies and having his own side hustle as a mover/guy with truck/guy with plastic wrap and dollies etc. Id use him when moving, but when it comes to chores he is a fuckin nazi ill never ask him unless its important.
There’s a point in your life where “all your stuff” is maybe two non-IKEA pieces of furniture that your parents forced on you when you moved out. And then there’s the point at which “all your stuff” fills a 1600 sqft ranch house and half of it is made out of granite for some reason.
Just, baseline, ignore the meme. If you have to move a refrigerator down a flight of stairs, this is no longer a “buy me a pizza” tier work.
Moving a fridge down a flight of stairs is easy enough – who’s your dolly guy?
If the guys that frequently move furniture describe you are “strong for your size”, that is a powerful compliment.
I miss work for trade…
You just took care of a guy and when the time came, he took care of you.
“Today you… Tomorrow me…”
You just took care of a guy and when the time came, he took care of you.
I mean, thats just how it still is in my village. It does not seem to be a particularly endangered way of living and rather the norm in rural areas.
I am “the guy” at my kids’ schools. I love it. When they need a last minute volunteer for something, they know how to reach me.
Clay pigeon signal hits the night sky
This was surprisingly funny and surprisingly positive for something to do with Americans.
Most of us are just regular, friendly people who are glad to help out if needed. There are pockets of shit people who thrive on hate, but that’s true for any country.
They’re pretty godamn loud too
Would Kevin and Tony offer to move fridge for a black guy though? Bet you can’t say for sure.
Having been someone’s Kevin and/or Tony in this country, they could be green and have antennae. They’re a neighbor, they need a couch moved, and I happen to have nothing to do today. This is the code.
Ignore religion, politics, and hard drugs and this is just normal.
Americans are a very friendly people, all things considered. The whole smiling at everyone you see, helping out strangers for fun thing is not universal. Thus, this post.
My partner is from America, and visited Australia for two weeks to see Me. We spent two weeks going on dates together, visiting cool places like the museum, the zoo, a local pirate bar, a book shop. My partner says Australians are much friendlier than Americans and we smile more.
There are a lot of ‘good cunts’ in Aussie, for sure.
Its tricky when grumpy or upset but that’s a human thing - often they’re better at expressing it
(Bear in mind, this is all coming from a kiwi male - I’m scared of my feelings or expressing stuff generally)
I could believe it. It’s not that it’s unique to America, or anything. But like I’ve read stories about Dutch people for instance thinking Americans on public transportation were simple, due to all the smiling and the like.
That ending was damn near wholesome. Also I think my favorite part of the whole thing was “the pizza is not negotiable.”
it’s hard to remember that the average person is a human just like yourself
As an american, I think it’s toxic positivity because it ignores all the invisible social rejects who live on the margins of society and don’t have the type of community support that makes this possible.
The OOP happened to luck out and knew some nice people and also happened to be accepted by those people as someone who’s worth helping.
The same Kevin might be a completely different person when he drives through a city and sees a homeless person struggling to move a tent with all his possessions…
The American lower-working class economy is predominantly favor and goodwill-based, yes. Pain in the ass sometimes but also more fun imo. Community is important to keep alive.
Also strongly depends on the community and your perceived level of acceptance within the community.
Anyone who’s ever been viewed as an outsider knows that it is not this simple unless you happen to fit in.
Yeah, small town community always sounds warm and fuzzy until you end up on the outside.
A while back, I knew of a family that moved into a house in the center of a town near where I grew up. A couple and two kids. The town had a big clock with a bell that rang hourly. Even in the dead of night. Right across the street from their house.
The family asked the town if they could silence the chimes between sunset and sunrise so that they and their kids could sleep. The town said no, the chimes are a local tradition.
The family then brought up state noise ordinances that the town’s clock was violating. The town still refused. So they petitioned the state, the state got involved, and made the town silence the clock at night. The locals threw a fit.
The family didn’t last long in their new house after that. But they were at least lucky enough to have the means to pack up and move somewhere else.
The less lucky are stuck. They get to spend the rest of their lives as the local “problem”. A skewed nail to be hammered down. I’ve known enough people where any utterance of their name is met with a cautionary “you shouldn’t associate with them”, even when it’s been so long that no one can tell you why. But it’s often the case that those are the people most worth knowing.
Thank you! So many people elsewhere in this comment section don’t seem to understand this.
And yeah, it could be over something so benign as that, or even more benign. But too many people assume that if someone is being ostracized, then they must have done something to deserve it. That’s not always the case though, especially in puritanical smalltown USA.
Some of these towns, if you’re not being ostracized by most of the people there, then something must be wrong with you, because there are places where you’ll be ostracized for not supporting maga or for believing in climate change or empathy.
This is why I’m saying we shouldn’t romanticize that “smalltown vibe,” because there absolutely is a dark side to it. But people are reacting with such hostility. Clearly they haven’t lived in the kind of area I’m talking about…
Not just American. It’s poor people’s economy everywhere. American working class has more in common with working class in every other nation than American wealth class. The real division in the world is class division, everything else is distraction.
This is a wild concept for other cultures. Like, in Germany people will help you move. Your friends that is. Maybe a coworker or neighbour - if you even know any neighbour at all. That is all but a given here as well. But some random guy? Nah…
Oh and you absolutely have to rent a truck. I don’t know a single truck person. There is no such thing as having a truck, unless you need it for business. Long story short: I just paid a company >2k to move just one town over
This can absolutely also happen in a place like Germany. Yes, no one really has a truck for personal use (or rather a box truck), but you know a guy who knows a guy that has a truck for his business and doesn’t need it on the weekend, et voila. Maybe it’s not that extreme, but especially for ‘poorer’ working class people, helping out is still essential even in Germany.
Non-toxic Masculinity
Except women also have those connections.
The price may be different, like a baby blanket for their neice.
Men doing something negative is readily called toxic masculinity. Men doing something positive however can’t be non-toxic masculinity because women do something similar but different…
Is it really that hard for you to admit that masculinity can be associated with positive things?
All the virtues associated with manhood in the 1970s and 1980s turned into general adulting in the 1990s and aughts.
In 2026, what it is to be a man is asserted by social media personalities like Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, the Tate brothers. The conversation on masculinity is dominated by the manosphere on social media and far-right television.
Expressions of manhood are on full display when Josh Hokit disparages Michelle Obama, when Trump intervenes in the world cup to cancel a red card and lift the one game penalty on Folarin Balogun. Or when US Representative Max Miller doubles down on his innocence in a video making common DV gaslighting arguments in the face of credible abuse allegations, on the presumption that his MAGA base won’t care and will still vote for him.
Masculinity in 2026 is demonstrated when you discharge your strength in malice or cruelty or bad taste to show the world you are beyond the reach of consequences, or do not care what consequences occurr.
But sure. I’m AMAB and have been criticized for half a century for being inadequately masculine. I’ve been repeatedly bullied and disregarded because I’m a wuss or a wimp. But I’m still game. I’m still open to an argument:
Tell me of a positive human trait that is particular to men that is not also expected of women by our society?
I’m not saying good men don’t exist. To the contrary, there are plenty. But I am saying what makes them good is not a feature of their masculinity, rather it’s a feature of being a functional adult in a (rapidly deteriorating) liberal society.
Tell me of a positive human trait that is particular to men that is not also expected of women by our society?
Tell me of a positive human trait that is particular to women that is not also expected of men by our society.
Ultimately there are things that men tend to do that are positive and there are things that men tend to do that are negative. This post is an example of the former.
In other words, you’re over-complicating things because a handful of jackasses want to redefine what being a man is, and you declare that because they exist there cannot be anything (left) that is masculine. That makes no sense and is caving to their whims.
That handful of jackasses dominate social media in contrast to their opposition counterparts, and it’s creating a public divide between the sexes, hence the 4B movement and the choose the bear thought experiment.
I don’t know to what degree this factors into the observable trend that zoomers are having less sex and less romance than prior generations at their age. (I’m sure the affordability crisis is a major factor.) But in the US in 2026, our exemplars of masculinity are demonstrating they are entirely transactional and only understand the power of brute force.
And it’s going to be a long, long time before stereotypes of masculinity change for the better.
Feel free to set a counterexample. Plenty of men do. And we need more of them. But when they do, they’re not demonstrating what it is to be a man. They’re demonstrating what it is to be a functional adult in a cooperative society.
I also think society gender roles should be abolished, and that every gender identity (including non-binary ones) should be respected.
You’ll have no disagreement from me that there’s far more profit - and a resulting niche of people capitalizing on that - in teaching kids how to be masculine in a toxic way.
My point is it simply doesn’t follow that all forms of masculinity are toxic any more than all art is AI because AI art is on the massive rise.
Some people just hate men and can barely contain that. They may not even know it themselves.
I don’t hate men, but masculinity is a millstone.
There’s a difference.
Elaborate, because your eagle-eye poetic view just seems like a rewording of misandry.
Men are fine. Masculinity in 2026 as an ideology or a cultural institution is a problem.
Men exist in concerning numbers who submit to the manosphere logic, who follow the far-right influencers I’ve mentioned, who vote R because letting the libs win is effeminate. And curiously, conservative, tradwife-minded women don’t like them much either.
Manhood as expressed in media isn’t much better, with scriptwriters diegetically presuming the alpha male model is a valid theory. (It’s been debunked even for wolves.)
There are plenty of men who do not submit to these notions, and generally they tend to not be concerned about expressing their manhood or being seen as inadequately masculine. They are more concerned about being adult or being functional than being manly.
Men are fine. Masculinity in 2026 as an ideology or a cultural institution is a problem.
Is this more or less stating “Men are fine as long as they aren’t masculine?”
You’re going to have to define what “man” “woman” “masculine” and “feminine” are in your mind then, because that statement doesn’t logic with any of those definitions that I agree with; it’s like saying “water is fine as long as it contains no H2O.”
I fucking love these.
My favorite is the Waffle House: https://wandering-nobunaga.com/stories/a-waffle-house-at-three-in
There is more?! Thank you for linking this!
This is the way.
You engage in the economy of helping people to move stuff. One person has a dolly, another has a truck, they come, they move the thing, you pay in pizza and at least one IOU of “I’ll be there for you next time”.
When the time comes you are enlisted, you go, you help, you recieve pizza.
The cycle continues.
This is the way.
This is the only way.
No matter where you come from , once you can say “I know a guy” you’re an American.
Societies that run on favors are corrupt societies.
Societies that run on neighbours, friends, acquaintances, and that guy over there helping each other out in exchange for sharing pizza and beer afterwards are wholesome societies.
I think I didn’t say it how I meant to say it. I meant in a political sense, there’s no law, just who you know.
I think what you originally said makes sense in the strictest sense. Technically, not favors. The payment was pizza.
In Frieren, the main hero would always charge a “fee” even to the poorest people who needed help. Often at the cost of totally worthless items because “now they don’t owe me”. The transaction is complete, no furthur obligation. Even “token” fees are better than ambiguous favors imo. Thats where I usually charge the friend price of a meal for most of my services.
Today would be my brother’s birthday, he was my truck guy (and so much more).
“would be”, “was” — am I to take this to mean that your brother is no longer with us? If so, I am sorry for your loss.
If I have intuited this correctly, then I hope that some day, you can be the “truck guy” for other people. The truck is optional honestly — just as long you carry with you the spirit of helpfulness and trust in reciprocal community support.
Yep you’re right, its the first year since a lung cancer got him, fuck cancer and fuck smoking.
He had a way to connect people that I just can’t, but I’ll try anyway. Thanks for the kind words.
“He had a way to connect people that I just can’t, but I’ll try anyway.”
Yeah, I feel you. I lost my best friend to COVID back in 2021. He was a charismatic whirlwind of a man, who seemed to exude an aura of safety and welcomingness. I’m a pretty loud person myself, so I would’ve never seen myself in the “sidekick” niche, but alongside a big personality such as him, it was a role I was happy to fill.
When he died, I had a moment of going “well damn. I thought I was going to be the inevitably doomed sidekick to his hero story. Does this mean I need to try ‘be the hero’? How the hell do I do that?”. The world needs energy like his now more than ever, so it feels like it’s my duty to learn from him and help fill the niche that he left behind. It’s a tricky job though, because I’ll never be able to be like him. I have made some progress in learning how to emulate the impact he had on the world but in a “me” way. If nothing else, trying to do this helps me feel closer to him, and helps me to grieve his absence.
It sounds like you’re facing a similar challenge. I wish you luck on that quest, and again, I’m sorry for your loss
IIRC, Japan_Nobunaga is a slop account.
Also extremely racist.
It’s been a blast to see the death of the internet as fraudsters pollute the world with books they hope to make a quick buck on and which they did not write themselves. Real fun. /s
Can we not romanticize american truck culture? Those people’s heads are already swollen enough without telling them everyone around them relies on their condescension to help.
Sure, there might be a few decent people out there who have trucks, but they’re not the majority of truck owners. They’re also more likely to help their friends and family, maybe a friend of a friend, but hardly a stranger.
And if you’re viewed as an outsider or unliked? Forget it, you’re SOL.
Also, this expectation that everyone “just knows”, without being told, is unrealistic. It is real, in that people do expect that. And perhaps most normies do “just know.” But the social rejects, the neurodivergents, the new neighbors who just moved to this state, etc.? Life is made far more challenging to these people as a direct result of that expectation that everyone should “just know” without being told.
Yeah fuck Americans! I hate all of them tbh, even the supposed “good” ones. Every single one is a pig and deserves to die. They should really learn to be more tolerant and not to hate people based on one characteristic that they think tells me everything they need to know about a person
Dude, I’m an american myself, and having grown up surrounded by americans I think I can say that it’s not always sunshine and rainbows like it’s depicted in the post.
The people around me who drive trucks are the biggest assholes for miles. Rolling coal, denying climate change, flying trump flags, shining high beams in your rearview mirror. Pretending this isn’t a real pattern and a serious issue isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Sure, there are exceptions. Some people who drive trucks are nice people. They usually drive smaller, older, more beat-up and well-used trucks. But then again, lots of assholes drive those too. As for the big, shiny new trucks that never leave the pavement, there’s a reason people say they’re compensating for something. They’re more likely to run over a cyclist than they are to help you move a couch.
Thing is, like you say, they’re willing to help a friend of a friend, but frankly the bar for a friend is pretty low for a lot of people. As someone who’s also neurodivergent and has had approximately three friends on average for most of my life, but recently moved to America and so had a full reset, I’ve been reminded that the majority of people like to think they’re good people, even if they have questionable beliefs or cut you off in traffic or whatever, and thay extends to helping out people that they know.
Given I’ve been in the country a month, have autism, and live out of the city, I’m probably as in the group you describe as you can get, but I’m still fairly confident if I needed a neighbor to take me to hospital, or someone to help me move a couch, or whatever else, I could find them even through work or the neighborhood pretty quickly, as it just takes one connection to flip a switch in people’s brains from “fuck that guy” to “they’re in my tribe, I’ll help them”
as it just takes one connection to flip a switch in people’s brains from “fuck that guy” to "they’re in my tribe, I’ll help them
That’s the thing, not everybody has that connection, and the people who lack it tend to be invisible in these kinds of situations, and there’s always a lot of overt hostility directed towards those people whenever they point out that they don’t have this thing that everyone else seems to be pretending that everyone has, which is community support.
It’s great that you feel like you connect and have the support you need, but that doesn’t justify the erasure of people who don’t have that.
Yeah, I completely agree, but it also doesn’t mean that the people who don’t have that connection to you suddenly aren’t willing to help their community, it just means that you have trouble integrating into communities, which is very valid and I can completely relate and understand, as that’s kind of how being neurodivergent works.
As much as it sucks to hear, it’s absolutely an “it’s not them, it’s you” situation, and I’ve been in the same position, and still do get in the same position, where I’m feeling out of place, unsure what to do and unwelcome, and very sensitive to confirmations of that, which is part of at least my experience of being autistic, but I’ve learnt that a lot of the times you don’t actually have to pick up on social cues or whatever to make connections, as most people aren’t even that invested anyway, and to most people talking to someone, even if they’re weird, is better than talking to nobody. You may say “but everyone’s already got friends they’re always with” but even that’s just an autistic lens over it, as you’re just noticing when other people are having conversations but not you. And it doesn’t have to be everyone. Like you said yourself, being a friend of a friend goes a long way, so if you just have a few connections with people who are friendlier or more similar to you, then that just gets you into circles. You won’t exactly be neurotypical all of a sudden, but it definitely helps with feeling less different or isolated.
I do have trouble integrating into communities, that’s the whole point. That people like me experience erasure. Even now, as I point out that people like me exist, most replies I’m getting have been combative in trying to double down on that erasure.
Like, can we not just acknowledge that there are people who slip through the cracks of society and as a result face challenges that most people never even have to think about or consider? Things that most people view as so easy and simple, that suddenly aren’t so easy and simple when you have no friends or community.
But no, people don’t like that reminder, so they’re hostile towards it, which only reinforces the marginalization and erasure of people like me…
I think it’s harsh on to call it erasure, but completely understand that in effect it’s the same thing, because to me it seems people are hostile because what you’re saying doesn’t match their lived experiences, and so they’re saying “that’s not how it is” because they believe that you’re pre-judging situations based on how you think people will react to neurodivergent people, when that’s not the case at all. I like to think it comes from a place of good intentions, but yeah in reality it’s no different to saying “just cheer up” to a depressed person, when it’s really not that easy or how it works. The most important thing is that as irritating as it is, harboring resentment over this kind of thing helps nobody, and the best thing you can do is accept that they’re trying (badly) to help, and that they just don’t fully understand what the issue is.
Maybe it’s not erasure, just passively enforcing the invisibility that people on the margins of society already have to deal with, and then being actively hostile towards anyone who brings it up, because it conflicts with most people’s worldview that those invisible, marginalized people don’t actually exist or have to cope with these systemic problems. I guess that’s different from erasure, somehow.
I’m not pre-judging situations based on assumptions, I’m sharing my lived experience as a neurodivergent person who’s always struggled to fit in and find acceptance. And if the hostility I’ve received in these comments is any indicator, then I have a good fucking point.
It’s the normies who are pre-judging the situation based on what they view as “normal” and their disbelief that other people could exist outside of their worldview and need to cope every day with problems that “normal” people don’t experience and are blind to. It’s like a white person who believes racism doesn’t exist. Neurotypicals believing ableism doesn’t exist. It’s the same fucking shit.
First of all this is a shitpost community.
When I moved states, we introduced ourselves to the neighbor and they offered to mow our lawn cause we didn’t have a mower yet. Gave em a bottle of wine, chill neighbors all the way until they moved out.
Most people are decent, even more than the 80/20 rule.
You’re really only acknowledging that you’re part of an in-group that can move to a new neighborhood and be immediately accepted. Not everyone enjoys that privilege, and you pretending that your experience disproves that only highlights the erasure.
It doesn’t disprove what you’re saying. I’m saying that coming into a shitpost community where the vibe is supposed to be fun and communicating negatively might be a symptom of not being able to communicate positively irl.
It can be hard and I’m sorry if it is for you, but what do you expect from people? Good vibes are contagious
“Good vibes” and toxic positivity are tools of fascism. I can’t talk about climate change around people cause they’d think I’m being a debby-downer.
Same thing with wealth disparity, poverty, starvation, disability, disease, conflict, displacements, etc. Can’t talk about these issues, serious problems in the world, cause everyone’s like “dude, good vibes only.” Can’t talk about corruption and fascism itself because people don’t want that “negativity.”
Maybe I’m cynical, but it’s not without good reason. Maybe if the world held space for more cynicism then we could actually start working on some of the problems we face. But no. Can’t have that. Good vibes, dude.
If I need to keep my mouth shut about all the bad things going on in the world in order to be accepted by others, then I’d honestly rather be an outcast…
This is the kind of stuff to bring up in therapy, not with strangers on the Internet.
If people can only discuss systemic issues in therapy, then we’re all fucked.
Do you say the same thing to women or people of color when they talk about sexism or racism? Gay or trans people when they talk about homophobia or transphobia?
Why is ableism any different to you?
You don’t have to keep your mouth shut about the bad things going on in the world to be nice to people.
The same way an ongoing climate collapse, the rise of real fascism in america (not just ‘being friendly’ to people as you say) multiple wars and multiple capital G genocides does not mean you’ve got to be shitty to everyone around you just because they’re not perfectly aligned with the way you speak.
Maybe try to take a minute and instead of reading everything in bad faith by instantly thinking the worst of someone who you know nothing about based purely on an internet comment, use the phrase “Dont make perfect the enemy of good.”
If you want to stay a self imposed outast, that’s fine too. But remember nobody is making it out alive if everyone tries to make it alone.
I didn’t say “just being friendly” makes a person a fascist. What I’m saying is that even fascists can “just be friendly” to the people they accept, and they often do. This is part of what allows fascism to perpetuate.
Someone could be casually sexist or viciously racist, but if they’re nice enough to the people in their community, people will say “he’s just a great guy,” because he’s nice to the people who they think matter. They have a word for it. They call them “good ole boys.”
I’m telling you my personal experience from living among these people and yet everyone seems to be in denial that this could be the case. But I bet a large proportion of them know an aunt or an uncle or a family friend who’s a narcissist or a fascist, but other people don’t see through that disguise because they’re nice to the ones who “matter.” I bet most people here have some experience of not being allowed to call those people out because their friends and family will come to the person’s defense and dismiss any criticism.
I’m telling you this happens on a larger scale, and the glorification of these “Kevins” is inextricably tied to it. Maybe not every Kevin with a truck is like that, but I’m telling you a lot of them are.
Also, on a more personal note:
If you want to stay a self imposed outcast
Fuck you for implying this is some sort of choice I’m making. I’ve been coping with ostracization and rejection my whole life, and you want to assume I’m doing it to myself for some inexplicable reason?
That’s a fucking “what was she wearing” moment.
I’m not saying it’s an inexplicable reason.
Im saying that you’re making a lot of assumptions about people that are harming your ability to connect and learn the truth about them by jumping straight to “You’re a fascist/ableist/[insert a label that allows you to maintain your supposed moral high ground by not engaging in converssation.]”
Your attitude of assuming fascism based on one drop of ignorance, either through their poor upbringing, susceptibility/exposure to propaganda or through, in this post for example, their choice to drive a truck, is part of what’s causing your social life harm.
Now, to clarify; I am in no way suggesting that you need to make nice with actual fascists. I’m saying you should treat people with differing opinions like human fucking beings, because judging people based on your own assumptions about the miniscule amounts of information you can garner by a short interaction IS some fascist shit.
I, to suffer from being a neurodivergent and more often than not, being an antisocial person, but what I do is actually talk to people like they’re actual people, instead of painting then with a wide brush by labelling them.
I have genuinely changed someone’s mind on what’s going on in Gaza by actually talking to them about it, instead of shutting down any form of communication and cutting them out, because I KNEW they weren’t actually a racist, but instead were a product of the absolutely monumental propaganda campaign that is modern mass media and social media manipulation.
this is a shitpost community
And I think this post is shit, so there you go!