Re: The Rant Thread (v 1.2)
Gahhh I can hardly believe some of the nonsense on Facebook coming from people I grew up with lately.
Most of you know me, but for those who don't, I grew up in Canada (west coast). My town is a really divided mix of really, really left-wing people (Island hippies and spillovers from Vancouver's urban liberal culture) and staunch (Canadian) conservatives. That being said, I never really knew people to ridiculously racist or sexist beyond the standard misinformation that you get in small towns. There are people who were ignorant and pretty ridiculous, but they were never *hateful*.
But lately, it's like things have changed for a certain subset of the people I grew up with. It seems to come from a specific crowd that moved to Alberta after high school, and I don't really get where it's coming from. First it was the sheer racism. Posts about how Europe was becoming a "hellhole" (and not wanting to believe it when I said that I've lived in a major European capital for 12 years and that it's not like that) and how Canada should "watch out." Hating Trump like the rest of Canada, and then saying that we need to put a hold on accepting immigrants from Muslim countries. And sometimes, it the racism gets really, really hateful. I'm sorry, but I CANNOT believe that Edmonton has descended into that kind of chaos sheerly due to refugees. Canada as an entire country has accepted about as many refugees as the city of Berlin has on its own, and it's not like we're burning. It's just really frustrating to read. It's like these people believe everything they read online and take it as fact, unless it's coming from someone who doesn't agree with them (even if they've experienced what they're supposedly afraid of first-hand). Then it can't possibly true.
Then there was the blatantly anti-gay post from a friend visiting Van. The billboard he posted is honestly laughable. It's caused controversy in conservative American states (http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/op...lace-in-dallas) but I didn't think we cared about stuff like that. I thought "Maybe it's just me...in Berlin we have billboards like that everywhere, all the time, and no one cares." But then I brought it up with my mom and a couple of friends from home, and they were like, "no, most people find that a non-issue."
And today there was a post about asking fathers to marry their daughters. I mean, WTF? If you want to, fine...whatever. But to criticise not doing it? What year is it again? Honestly, if my fiance had asked my dad if he could marry me before asking me, I would have been kind of pissed, because it has nothing to do with my dad. It's not his choice. It's my choice. My parents heard about my engagement from me, and I don't see how that can possibly be "disrespectful." I'm a 32-year-old woman with her own agency.
Sorry, sort of a random rant, but it's weird. It's kind of a form of conservatism that didn't used to show its face where I was from, and suddenly it's all out on the open.
I wish I had stayed off Facebook permanently.
- - - Updated - - -
Germany too. And tomatoes, aubergines, zucchini and other things grown in Spain are super expensive because of the frost they had. Meanwhile, I'm laughing, because I belong to a co-op and only eat local, seasonal produce. Plenty of beetroot and parsnips to go around!
Gahhh I can hardly believe some of the nonsense on Facebook coming from people I grew up with lately.
Most of you know me, but for those who don't, I grew up in Canada (west coast). My town is a really divided mix of really, really left-wing people (Island hippies and spillovers from Vancouver's urban liberal culture) and staunch (Canadian) conservatives. That being said, I never really knew people to ridiculously racist or sexist beyond the standard misinformation that you get in small towns. There are people who were ignorant and pretty ridiculous, but they were never *hateful*.
But lately, it's like things have changed for a certain subset of the people I grew up with. It seems to come from a specific crowd that moved to Alberta after high school, and I don't really get where it's coming from. First it was the sheer racism. Posts about how Europe was becoming a "hellhole" (and not wanting to believe it when I said that I've lived in a major European capital for 12 years and that it's not like that) and how Canada should "watch out." Hating Trump like the rest of Canada, and then saying that we need to put a hold on accepting immigrants from Muslim countries. And sometimes, it the racism gets really, really hateful. I'm sorry, but I CANNOT believe that Edmonton has descended into that kind of chaos sheerly due to refugees. Canada as an entire country has accepted about as many refugees as the city of Berlin has on its own, and it's not like we're burning. It's just really frustrating to read. It's like these people believe everything they read online and take it as fact, unless it's coming from someone who doesn't agree with them (even if they've experienced what they're supposedly afraid of first-hand). Then it can't possibly true.
Then there was the blatantly anti-gay post from a friend visiting Van. The billboard he posted is honestly laughable. It's caused controversy in conservative American states (http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/op...lace-in-dallas) but I didn't think we cared about stuff like that. I thought "Maybe it's just me...in Berlin we have billboards like that everywhere, all the time, and no one cares." But then I brought it up with my mom and a couple of friends from home, and they were like, "no, most people find that a non-issue."
And today there was a post about asking fathers to marry their daughters. I mean, WTF? If you want to, fine...whatever. But to criticise not doing it? What year is it again? Honestly, if my fiance had asked my dad if he could marry me before asking me, I would have been kind of pissed, because it has nothing to do with my dad. It's not his choice. It's my choice. My parents heard about my engagement from me, and I don't see how that can possibly be "disrespectful." I'm a 32-year-old woman with her own agency.
Sorry, sort of a random rant, but it's weird. It's kind of a form of conservatism that didn't used to show its face where I was from, and suddenly it's all out on the open.
I wish I had stayed off Facebook permanently.
- - - Updated - - -
Originally posted by Tylluan Penry
View Post
Comment