Thousands of years of this stuff.
I’m probably just another old idiot who can’t see things for what they really are, but social media does scare the hell out of me. It’s hard to imagine it being a good thing when personalities are shaped by algorithms that exist entirely to drive engagement so a company makes a buck.
It isn’t just rich chocolaty ovaltine. The kid isn’t being brainwashed to drink a sugary drink from time to time. The kid is a constant revenue stream.
I initially thought it was a funny way to address it. I’m straight, but I got bullied and called gay constantly in school because I didn’t fit the rural, huntin’, big belt buckle, rebel flag, cowboy boot wearing stereotype of masculinity.
To them, being called gay was the worse thing you could do to them because it called their masculinity into question.
When I was 17 I called this cowboy hat, belt buckle kid a homophobe for calling me gay. At first he thought I was calling him a homo, and it was so funny to say, “it means you’re such a pussy that you’re scared of queers.”
I think it was worse for him than if I had called him gay. Then he had to go on a tirade about how he wasn’t scared of queers, so I replied, “Ah, you’re just scared you might be queer. I see.”
I went home with a blacked eye, but I never lay in bed wishing I had said anything different with that one haha.