people that have more money than they could ever spend trying to accumulate more money
When I go to poor countries I tip/donate well beyond what I’m told is normal, because $10 or $20 is nothing to me, but potentially more money than they’ll earn in days/weeks. It always makes them so happy.
What happiness I would make with a billion…
And that’s why you’ll never be a billionaire. See how that works out?
Edit: they don’t get there by caring about people.
I don’t think that’s the reason. It is part of it, but the main reason you’ll never be a billionaire is that you would need to take from people.
Nah, that’s not why. A billionaire can give millions away without any impact on their life.
There are two paths to becoming a billionaire. The first is to hit the Goldilocks zone of a good product with mass appeal, good distribution and to have significant ownership of it. The second is to already BE rich. Most billionaires are the second one.
Some species of chimps beat other chimps that horde to the detriment of the group to death
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This is just a nature fact.
It’s an addiction for some. For others, it’s like a security blanket. For others, it’s a source of power.
It’s not about the money; it’s about the power.
Mr Crabs: I like money 💰
Real life incremental game!
There’s a lot of human behavior I don’t understand. Used to make me feel like an alien as a kid.
Like the super unhealthy parasocial relationships people think they have with famous people, and more appalling is the way the media feeds right into it. People acting like it’s normal to obsess over details about celebrities personal lives is very weird to me.
I don’t understand cheating… just break up and then you can fuck who you want. Why does deceiving someone and breaking their trust have to be a part of it? Why is that necessary?
I don’t understand how you can be the richest elongated muskrat in the world, so rich you just doubled your wealth, and not do anything to help people who need it. I don’t know how he can live with himself. And what I really don’t get is that he clearly wants the world to see him as some sort of important amazing brilliant person. So why not do the thing. DO THE THING AND HELP YOU SELFISH FUCK
Don’t even get me started with bigotry. It just does not make sense. Why does someone’s skin pigment effect people so drastically? Why does the gender or sexual orientation of strangers matter? People need to focus on themselves and mind their business. If someone would like to make minding your business the new fad of 2025 I’m here for it.
Top shelf response. I’d happily have a drink at a bar or Cafe with you, and chew the fat.
Wow thanks friend, that’s really nice to hear. I’d be up for it
Can I join?
Hell yeah you can, anyone whose up for noncombative conversation is welcome to hang out with me
I don’t know how he can live with himself.
There’s a thing our brains do when we have power like wealth, status, fame, etc. - the parts responsible for empathy are suppressed. The rich and powerful are neurologically less capable of considering the suffering of others.
Oh I’m aware, I meant the ‘I don’t know how’ more like the very idea of being ok with that is incomprehensible to me
There are so many heinous people do because of their primal sexual drives that everything just seems so bizarre to me. I have never had the ability to experience such desires that are supposed to be instincts that everyone does. So it’s really odd as an outsider to see what sex does to people.
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Causes them to cheat on others. Why? Why harm people instead of breaking up like you said.
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Causes them to r**e others. Why? Why can’t you just masturbate? Why do you have to harm others to get this?
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Causes them to murder others out of jealousy. Why?
As an alien, I only see the downsides to sex. It’s honestly saddening how common these are.
2 and 3 are violent crimes, and horrid. 1 tho? Really? How about if it’s (hypothetically) cheating on 1 person, whom has cheated multiple times, and lied reptitively about it, to keep doing so? And what if, again very hypotheically, the person who retaliated by cheating did so with say… more than one person, at the same time?
Edgecases are are to be considered with these things, even when definitely not real life, personal experience. 😶
There is always nuance in everything. Didn’t mean to imply that there wasn’t. Actually, my mom was a cheater. But she cheated on her abusive husband that she was afraid to leave. So I didn’t consider it to be immoral. In fact, I was amused when I found out.
In a majority of cheating cases, that’s not how it all plays out. So a majority of times cheating is incredibly immoral and hurtful to the other person. Occasionally it isn’t, but that isn’t the majority of cases.
I definitely agree, dingus. Most cases tend to be kind of sad, and pretty self-centered. Escaping an abusive relationship almost always complicated, and I’m glad for anyone who gets out of them.
Also, I know someone with a cheating proclivity… The dude is loyal and committed, but enjoys the experience, which is unfortunate for all parties involved, really. At least he knows how to avoid the allure, and is happily with someone he loves.
Stonger than I am, because if a person told me to give up almost anything I find enjoyable, I’d tell them to find someone else, no matter the type of relationship. Hedonism is only a treadmill when the payoff decreases, which means one is probably bad at hedonic pursuit.
Your last paragraph reads rather odd to me. Poly relationships exist but involve mutual consent. That’s the reason why cheating in many cases is not at all ok. Because the other party doesn’t consent to it and it’s done in secrecy and deep violation of the person’s trust. It’s ok to have multiple partners or have sex with other people. You can too if you want to! But everyone involved has to agree with that kind of a setup for a relationship. Hiding it and hurting the other person is almost always immoral and wrong, even if it “feels good” to you. There are ways that all parties can consent to make your “feeling good” not hurting or taking advantage of others.
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I think we truly are “alien” souls, being brought into this world for the first time. I can empathize with the people who allow themselves to be wrapped up in our modern society but I always wonder, when will we realize that our way of life is absolutely miserable and we need to change our society ASAP if we want to survive through the next 50-100 years.
Devil’s advocate/explainer here:
Parasocial relationships are real, just one-direcrional, and can lead to really unhealthy tendencies, but don’t have to.
Cheating isn’t cute, but can be hot. Hear me out. If cumming became entirely illegal, disallowed, and frowned upon, you can bet your bottom dollar at least ~40% of people would do it more often, just because taboo is the (often fun) flipside of social norms. And social norms suck ass, in a not fun way.
And mega-wealth isn’t a money thing. The pieces of shit get off on power over other people, and use it to generate, or further misery. There isn’t much they seem to care about outside of that.
I’m not about to make a case for bigots though… Fuck that shit lmao.
I don’t understand cheating either, but I come at it from the perspective of a queer polyamorous person. I think many people are capable of loving more than one person, but society tells us monogamy is the only ethical/viable way. My partners are totally fine with me sleeping with other people, and that’s because we have clear and open communication and trust. Why cheat when you can be poly or open?
I don’t understand why relationships are portrayed as such a burden in media. Why do people who don’t trust one another even get into relationships? Why do so many couples seem to hate eachother? Why do so many romance books have such a creepy power imbalance, do people want that? It’s all so confusing, and I’m glad I’m not apart of it.
Celebrity gossip. I’m just not interested in who married who, who’s wearing what, who’s doing who.
And reality TV, but if ratings are any indication, I’m the weird one on that.
Littering is one of those things I struggle the most to understand.
I can somewhat grasp it in extreme cases, like when you’re dealing with something really dirty and there’s nowhere to put it. But I’m talking about casual littering - things like throwing candy wrappers on the ground when you could just as easily put them in your pocket.
I don’t think anyone sees themselves as a bad person. Even when we engage in bad behavior, we usually have some story we tell ourselves to justify it. But I can’t put myself in the mindset of someone who casually throws trash on the ground for someone else to clean up. It’s kind of like walking around and cussing at random people - it just doesn’t make any sense. You have to know that you’re the problem.
Cigarettes are one that particularly bother me, because they’re so gross even compared to most other litter, but throwing them wherever is so normalised among smokers.
I still refuse to understand why littering is so common in my country. It seriously makes the cities look horrible.
Still remember the just piles and piles of garbage at the beaches and shrines around Mumbai.
I thought it couldn’t get any worse.
What?
I meant that I thought the garbage situation in my country was bad enough, I didn’t expect something worse.
I don’t think that dropping rubbish is necessarily that bad. The problem comes when it persists in the environment for hundreds of years because it’s not biodegradable.
How do you separate the two? The fact that it persists in nature for hundreds of years is what makes it bad. I don’t mind someone throwing banana peels into a forest.
Yea, that’s what I mean. I call rubbish anything that gets thrown away though, so for me a banana skin is still rubbish but it is not bad in the same way as a plastic bottle. I probably wasn’t clear enough in my downvoted first comment. But I am sick, so forgive me.
Banana peels take up to two years to decompose, unless they’re in the right environment such as a compost heap where the process speeds to 6-9 months
That’s still lightyears ahead of cigarette butts and plastic bottles, but a lot of people don’t realize how long their trash lasts for
I’ve argued with litterers before and it goes along the lines of “it’s already messy, everyone’s doing it”. Same sort of excuses you get from cheaters and such. I don’t mean to go all edgy Joker but there’s probably things you and I do that are a problem but we don’t see it because everyone else does it too. Eating meat and emitting tons of co2 for example.
“Then don’t add to the mess” is my usual response,
I’ve had smoking friends who refuse to stand further from a doorway and blowing it in peoples faces with the “air is already polluted with cars” argument
Me:”then don’t add more!”
It’s a weak argument. One with the easiest hole to poke. Also great answer if you’re trying to filter out the idiots from your friends group.
Most people are courteous enough not to idle their car with the exhaust pipe right in a doorway. Their analogy is some serious mental gymnastics.
I feel this a lot. Many criminals who have done wretched things at least have a comprehensible motivation, but littering? Cigarette butts in a nature reserve? It’s nihilism, solipsism. That honestly scares me more. I can grasp that some people’s care is misguided or distorted, but a lack of care at all? How do you even contend with that?
Going to church by choice. That shit is boring.
Though I don’t go now non-Protestant or high church is significantly more personally and religiously entertaining. Garage band Protestantism is the bane of my existence
I’ve never understood why everyone has their phone out recording at large public events. Surely someone is going to post a video of the event and you don’t need to be recording it
The worst is when it’s a highly televised event (e.g. fireworks), so it’s already being recorded in 4k by pros, drones, etc.
Nobody will ever watch your crappy phone recording, including you.
Because I’m not paying $15 for access to the “professional cinematic experience” (aka access to their DRM-infested meh edited cut), or recording it on TV laced with ads and annoying people who love to hear their own opinions every 60 seconds. It’s the same reason people sneak food into movie theaters or steal music. Fucking the man.
People want to share their own perspective. And everyone thinks that maybe their video will end up being the one everyone else watches.
I prefer to live special moments with my own eyes instead of staring at a phone screen the entire time.
Usually when I record something like a band playing, I point the camera and then watch the stage with my eyes. I also make sure the camera is not visible to anyone behind me, because that’s annoying.
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I realized this a while ago. I was always watching the event through a camera lens, and like you said, it was rarely worth the effort.
Now I’m more likely to forget to take any photos.
I recently went to a live event at night and I noticed how many people didn’t take the time to wipe their lens to avoid giant streaks in the image.
I have a theory that social media makes it hard to put time into just about anything that you might consider art. You get a constant feed of the best quality art that the internet has to offer, so when you do take the extra minute or two to figure out your settings, wipe their lens, and actually try and take a good picture, the chance of taking a good picture is still pretty low because phones still just aren’t that good at taking pictures.
I brought my DSLR to the event and even with the much larger lens, getting enough light was pretty tough. The few pictures I did take on my phone just didn’t really have a good sense of scale due to the lens’s fixed focal length. Don’t even get me started on aspect ratio.
If you spend those few extra minutes and it still doesn’t look like what your friends are posting to their social media because they’re loading it with filters, why not join the crowd and do exactly that. Put in zero effort and let the filter fill in the gap of making it look interesting, even if it doesn’t look good.
What you did do is show all your friends that you did something interesting, which a few hundred to ten thousand or so people might see that for a couple of second before scrolling into the next 400 things they’ll see that day in their feed.
Feeling some kind of national pride. You didn’t choose to be born where you were born. Borders change and move, etc. The place my grandparents were born in has changed countries at least 3 times since then.
We should take pride in our country in terms of making it a better place, and by that I mean making it better for everyone. Not turning it into a right wing hellscape which is what is happening to most countries.
If we could internalize the notion that real patriotism is the drive to create a better tomorrow for the people instead of blind conservative hatred of the unfamiliar we could do so much good.
Exactly. That’s a much better written version of what I was going for. Instead we have Musk spending money that could be used for good to make places worse. I’d love a leftist to have a sit down with him and pick his brain.
Tribalism in general
Being proud of anything you didn’t do or choose is odd to me. Like, there are plenty of things I’m happy about being, but not proud of them, including where I was born, appearance, (except for the parts of it you DO, like fitness or makeup, I can see those are accomplishments), ancestry, heritage. I don’t get national pride unless you are someone making the nation better and are proud of those improvements.
The need some people have to be part of a group.
I’ve been “alone” for such a long time that it probably affects how I see things like this, but I just don’t get the need some people have. I’m thinking from things like worshipping a politician just to be part of a group to more simple things like needing to insert yourself into a group at work just to be “one of the guys.” I’ve always just done my own thing and never considered myself part of anything, whether friend groups, work “cliques,” or whatever. If it was “Tim, Tom, and Tina” I could be friends with all of them, but I never felt like I needed to be, or even ever was part of “their” group. I just come and go as the situation arises.
Some things like politics I obviously fall into one category or another based on my beliefs, but I don’t conform or alter my beliefs just to maintain a position within that group.
Going to concerts. It’s too loud and it’s crowded, I just don’t see the appeal.
And while we’re at it, dancing. It’s unnatural, I tell you!
You must be fun at parties.
Don’t know, never been :P
I’m not a fan of dancing. Love going to my local symphony concerts though. Never crowded; there’s no moshing at an orchestral concert. You get your seat and you sit in it, and you clap when the piece is done.
Plus the music’s just so much better.
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There’s something about going to an event with like-minded people, listening to a band you like live with (often, not always) optimized sound for the space, and 99% of folks uninhibitably jamming out and having a good time.
I can definitely see how the experience would be unappealing to some folks, though. And I should note I’m more of a gig goer than concert attendee - so sound optimization is hit or miss, and the jamming out % is lower. Still fun, still not everyone’s cup of tea.
Edit: Idle thought that came up reading this back: what is music, for you - as in, what is your relationship to it? Where does music live in your world? Is it something that comes out of a machine to fill silence in your space or block out noise? Is it something produced by humans, of which MP3s/FLACS/CDs/Vinyl/radio waves etc. are just imprints/simulacrum for wider dissemination?
Basically, is it an activity, or a product at its core? Not really expecting anyone to answer (though they can), just a reflection I personally found interesting. Many acceptable answers.
I know this is old, but I liked pondering the question because I made me sappy as heck, so I’ll share it with you:
Music is like a cheat-code to life, especially my internal life. The music I listen to determines my emotions, my energy level, my focus and drive, and what activities I want to do. Without music playing I’m like an empty shell. With music I recognise my existence.
I am not musical myself and I know nothing of production or quality, only what I enjoy and how it makes me feel. I was born to be an audience, and that’s a huge part of who I am and how I operate daily.
A happy-ish medium is a well-captured live performance or jam. Alive 2007 (Daft Punk) is a pretty good example of how that can be a thing, for me at least.
Music is so hecken different to everyone, talking about it feels odd. Even sound feels/sounds different to a lot of folks, in enjoyable (soft music for a nice vibe, or a loud af chest-rumbling show) and not-fun-at-all (jarring or unwanted sounds, near-total silence for some) ways.
But yeah, I tend to crave the decibels, because I still have the ability to hear, and must not value it lol… Skull rattling is better to me than unevenly-mixed-in-room jamming, but both can be great in different ways. A fun, more personal experience is nice, but I need sensory overload to recover from, or it’s almost not worth the outing.
Hmmm I think I will go with “fandom”, or being a fan of something. Like, I enjoy concepts. But there’s no universe or product or franchise or sports team or whatever in particular I would consider myself a fan of.
edit hope this counts as behavior lol
I never got plastering logos for whatever brands you love to consume on everything you own. Like buying decals and stickers and shit to put all over your car, laptop, whatever else. Since when do we pay to advertise for brands…?
Being a fan can make you part of a group. Especially great for people without identity. Slap a sticker on that empty personality!
Shitting on weaker people. I mean I kinda do get it, because I had the instinct when I was little. But I very quickly got taught respect by people who refused to be bullied by me.
I guess what I don’t get is … how can people still be doing that as an adult? Have they literally never had someone stand up to them before? Or are they addicted to it, unable to control themselves?
I had the impulse toward evil, but it got beaten out of me really young. It really didn’t take much — just one kid being like “no I’m not doing that”.
Agreed. And in the same vein…people who are unkind to others for no discernible reason. I’ve heard people give the excuse that they were just “stressed out” or “XYZ unrelated thing happened so I was upset”.
Almost never in my entire life have I ever understood putting down innocent people because something was going on in my life. It’s the absolute lowest form of the low to me. But people taking their anger out on innocent people is so fucking common that it’s so fucking frustrating.
I’ve snapped at people when stressed out but will apologize if so. Stress does change your thinking and makes all sorts of bad decisions more likely. As I get older it happens a lot less, fewer things bother me emotionally, age is a great moderator of mood. But I would accept that as an excuse for uncharacteristic behavior in someone.
Sport hooligans
This one hits a little too close to home. I always feel unsafe when going outside during a football match, especially if it’s between Raja and Wydad (two Moroccan football teams based in Casablanca with the most hostile fanbases I’ve ever seen). They’ve definitely killed the appeal of football for me.
I will say, as someone who does not come from a soccer playing country, it certainly seems like the worst sporting behaviour comes from soccer fans. You get it sometimes with American football and even more rarely with Australian football or rugby league, but 9 times out of 10 a story about violence erupting at or after a sporting event and it’s soccer hooligans. Even here in Australia where the audiences are tiny compared to our main football codes, the violence is likely to be with soccer.
I hate it when a small handful of people ruin the fun for everyone.
No one cares about other sports in my country so the football hooligans (or soccer hooligans as you call them) only get more attention.
Watch Green Street. It’s a fun and entertaining hobby.
The refusal to try something just because it’s popular.
Fuck pickleball.
I played pickleball in secondary school for gym. I’ve had enough of it for you.
So it wasn’t just me?
The gym teacher was an Olympic badminton athlete. Anyone who could beat him in any sport automatically got to marks and never had to show up again. It never happened.
I do this sometimes but typically more because I want to see if people still think it’s good post-hype.
It’s social signalling, and it’s supposed make the curmudgeon seems better than the common rabble and therefore high-status.
That is a reasonable explanation of people who announce their refusal to participate in a fad.
What of the people who just ignore the fad, without publicly declaring their refusal?
For me, it’s kinda the other way around. I’m often the sort of person that does exactly that, refuse to try something exactly because it’s popular.
Why? Well, when everyone around you is doing a certain popular thing (let’s think like video games or sports, but could be anything really), I sit on the sidelines and realize it’s becoming an addiction for them, and I’ll literally count the years my friends and others waste away partaking in that addiction.
Don’t ask me how many years I watched friends waste playing Call Of Duty. For me, I like to mix it up, a different hobby or project or whatever almost every day.
If you’re enjoying your time, it’s not a waste.
You do have a point there, I’ll give you that 👍
My skills, projects and hobbies just tend to be a bit more diverse than people that seem to get stuck in ruts.
Sure, sometimes I like playing games. Sometimes I like fixing stuff. Sometimes I like modding and inventing stuff. Sometimes I like programming. Sometimes I study mathematical theories. Sometimes I like riding BMX flatland.
…
I’m the same except I don’t have productive hobbies like you. I refuse to do things which are popular. Not all but most things. I don’t refuse them because they’re popular but when I feel they’re popular for no reason.
I refuse to use Instagram, tiktok because they have no reason for me. I don’t posts pics or videos of mine on the internet and content there is largely trash. But I use YouTube.
I refuse to watch mainstream movies and series because for some reason I don’t like watching humans act. But I watch anime.
I can’t understand how getting in an argument with a family member cannot be solved by explaining my side then listening to their side so everyone’s on the same page. I think this is why it’s sometimes said women want someone to listen whereas men want to solve the issue. I cannot understand not trying to solve the issue. If I think I was right or logical then I want to explain it but I also want to hear the other party and arrive at a middle ground then hug. That never works and I cannot get it.
It seems to me that you’re very focused on the end result of ‘issue is solved’ potentially without understanding and/or acknowledgement of the other person’s efforts to solve the issue on their own.
Of course they should take the time to reciprocate when you’re the one seeking resolution.
Listening to someone and allowing them time to vent to their own conclusion is to take part of their emotional journey. They may want your solutions eventually, but they want to have the human connection of going through that journey together so that way you have all the context for their feelings/stress.
People don’t come to others for help and want to defend their previous actions. They just want to say that they’re frustrated, this is what they did, this is what happened, and maybe that’s all they want. Listening = validation of the human experience. Maybe after venting, they’ll want some solutions.
Personally I have a hard time telling if someone wants a venting session or a solutions session. So I just straight up ask what they need and if they’ll want to check in on the solutions after venting. This saves you the emotional labor required to try to help someone that doesn’t want it and keeps the chance of frustration/unfulfillment low for both parties
Family though is a mixed bag. Unless both parties are operating under the same expectations, it’ll lead to what you described. Understandable that you just don’t get it since the fault is not on you
In some of those situations, you can “solve” what you think is the problem, but it’s impossible for her to explain the aspects that make your “solution” inadequate. Your life experience is just so different, you think you understand but you don’t. And that just upsets her more. Women aren’t against solutions, they’re just done with men not actually understanding, even when they think they’re listening.
Breeding
Just today I was thinking about how we’ve folded basic animal instincts (breeding) into elaborate social constructs. Humans are so weird…
