The Prison of Self-Consciousness

version

version

Well-known member
The Adam Curtis articles and the discussion on Twitter's a perfect example. Every opinion has to be tempered and qualified in anticipation of somebody, somewhere taking issue and catching the author out.

The stuff we were discussing the other day re: anything you like allowing someone to stick you into a negative category's part of this too,
Corpsey said:
I was thinking that when I saw this twitter post a while back taking down "that guy who..." followed by a load of cultural markers. And yes they all applied to me and yes it stung!
But I also thought well you could say that about anyone, just change the signifiers.
Click to expand...
 
version

version

Well-known member
I'm assuming this is partly what's feeding the irony currently swamping the internet. You can't be made fun of for the things you like if you never admit to genuinely liking anything.
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
the internet amplifies the personalty's neurotic edges, eg people who define themselves by what they're against

beardy mumblings about twitter is d'evil

yours faithfully
a stoned dad
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
just you and me now @version

it doesn't even have to be remotely online, eg visit to the in-laws, nightmarish events for a goyim who mouthed off jokes about Liverpool FC over the phone while her parents had it on loudspeaker, all before the formal "this is my new bf, Dad" then meeting and from that first handshake i knew he disapproved

overall far worse condition if you're English, the one nation with a whole subculture of self-conscious strife, even to the opposite degree when you go at it like rabid cunts on the highway to intoxicated oblivion

the overly-curated self is a tragic waste of time and effort
 
B

boxedjoy

Well-known member
one of the things I've enjoyed about getting older is the grim but ultimately liberating realisation that there's no point in trying to play respectability politics with people who just aren't going to like you. I can try and say the right thing at all times to all people and there would still be people out there who wouldn't like me, for reasons trivial or significant. And if I can't be liked by everyone then I shouldn't try, I should just carry on doing what works for me and as long as kindness/respect/decency are still going concerns I'll be happy. I don't like everything or everyone so why should I expect as a default to be liked?

Don't get me wrong - it's hard work to not be self-conscious all the time, isn't it.
 
B

boxedjoy

Well-known member
when I was a student I was really bored of going to gigs alone and never going to nightclubs to see acts I actually wanted to see. All my pals were into indie and high-street discos and I wanted to go raving etc. So I put an advert on Gumtree to see if anyone local was interested in similar stuff, there can't only be one of me etc. My pals thought it was sad and pathetic that I did that, but then they wouldn't entertain humouring my niche interests by coming to slightly weirder things with me. It made me really self-conscious about downplaying my interests.

I love hearing people talk about their passions though, even when they're absolutely of no real interest to me. Football, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, anime, horror movies, WWE: all things that my close friends really love that I don't get, but I could talk to them for hours about it because I love to see people become alive and excited about stuff.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
you're right, they really do come alive, you move into a state of arousal, the whole body engaged and the light behind the eyes comes on
 
B

boxedjoy

Well-known member
I did and I ended up drunkenly snogging the lad before finding out that he was known for being a bit of a sleaze around a few other folk I knew tangentially. He wasn't a #metoo story or anything like that, I think he was just a bit lonely and overfamiliar with a lot of people.
 
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