Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton look alike contest to a fucking drag queen.
Charlie Chaplin once failed to even place at a Charlie Chaplin impersonator contest.
Hugh Jackman went to comic con as Wolverine, only 2 people noticed him and one told him he was too tall.
Christopher
Reeve use to go to a restaurant in costume when filming Superman. When
he went in the Superman costume he was mobbed by people all the time.
When he went in the Clark Kent costume no one realized he was
Christopher Reeve.
sometimes neurodivergence questions will be like ‘do you find activities more enjoyable when they are activities you enjoy’ and it really makes me wonder if this ‘neurotypical’ thing has just been a big practical joke all along
‘do you find it disruptive to your focus when your focus on a task is disrupted suddenly and without warning’ this CANNOT be diagnostic criteria. they are playing us for fools
“Do you find it difficult to make yourself complete dull or unpleasant tasks with no immediate benefits or rewards?” Not at all Margaret, I’m actively excited to take part in bad activities I don’t like that make me feel bad
moment of silence for everyone who relied on AI chat bots for research when it’s going around saying shit like this.
[image description: search that reads “country in africa that starts with K”. the featured snipped is from www.emergentmind.com and reads “While there are 54 recognized countries in Africa, none of them begin with the letter “K”. The closest is Kenya, which starts with a “K” sound, but is actually spelled with a “K” sound. It’s always interesting to learn new trivia facts like this.” /end ID]
Cringe started as a verb describing a physical reaction, i.e.: “I cringe when I see [x].”
Modern slang has turned cringe into an adjective describing anything to which a person might have such a reaction.
.
This shift in language is illustrative of a shift in culture.
.
For a while there, in the early 2000s, there was this big sex positivity movement and we talked openly about kink and queer sexuality and creating a culture of consent that broke away from traditional conservative ideas of moral respectability.
And now we are in the midst of this giant purity culture backlash, this giant push for rigid conformity all over the internet. Anything that deviates from the norm even remotely is ridiculed.
And this cultural shift is perfectly encapsulated in this singular linguistic shift, this verb becoming a noun.
The Revenge of the Pearl Clutchers
That’s what “cringing” is. It’s pearl clutching.
When the pearl clutchers turned cringe into an adjective, they turned a reaction into an accusation. The pearl clutchers don’t want to take responsibility for their own kneejerk emotions. They want to blame YOU.
They are saying, “My disgust isn’t the fault of my own backwards prejudices. It is YOU who are inherently disgusting. My inability to cope with even the slightest deviation from norm is not the problem here. YOUR refusal to rigidly conform is the problem. I am not the one who is cringing. YOU are the one who is cringe.”
