Maybe it’s the echo…g, d&r 
You know, since it’s been brought up a couple times, I didn’t mean I think it’s normal to get pissed off every single time you’re stuck in traffic or in a long line; my point was that trivial things will set you off occasionally, and I don’t know anybody who’s immune. I’ve got a friend who’s been a Buddhist monk for 10 years, and he admits he gets frustrated over small shit at times. Everybody has bad days, despite the fact that they aren’t living in some god-forsaken hovel eating rats for dinner and getting cholera. Sure, it’s great to try and be positive; but it’s not realistic to say you never get whiny or upset over your relatively slight problems, unless you seriously repress shit. My whole problem with this thread was the tone of the OP; “ironic” or not I still read it as obnoxious and holier-than-thou. The general drift seemed to be the same as most feel-good/self-help/utopian fantasies:
“Wouldn’t the world be a perfect place to live if everybody else thought exactly the same way I do”? No, it wouldn’t. I enjoy life’s vicissitudes and diversity. And sometimes, I even enjoy being pissed off. I always strive to better myself, but I have no desire to be some kind of superhuman saint. Mother Theresa was undoubtedly a great person, but she also never got laid. I’m happy with my desires, which sometimes lead me to become depressed or agitated. Real life with all its hassles: still much better than the illusion (or delusion, take your pick).
Well, golly, Jodi, that’s pretty much what you say to me every time you choose to talk to me, only this time you are being a little more honest about it. 
“Blow me” in Stoidal parlance, is the equivalent of “not even!” or “Don’t think so!” or “not likely”, and that would be why I said “no personal offense meant”. But considering that you have managed to perceive my jokingly constructed thread about being grateful into a personal offense, I can see the utter futility of that. Stoid is not for everyone.
** * "If there is another active poster whose words are so routinely and roundly misinterpreted, misquoted and misunderstood, then I wish someone would point that poster out to me; I’m under the impression that Stoid’s cornered that particular market. " * ** xenophon41
Polycarp, you have a sterling repuation around here and I have to say it is entirely deserved. You rock.
May I give you a virtual hug?
stoid
Oh, get off the fucking cross, lady. We really need the wood.
If you’re going to put out a post with such helpdful advice for the depressed and downtrodden as “You suck,” “shut the fuck up,” “stop whining,” and “have a big fat fucking smile on your face,” and then claim that your “jokingly constructed post” was a “rewording” of the serenity prayer, the problem with the misintepretation just might be you.
You’ve got two options: Either several of us are so incredibly stupid and lame that we are not capable of recognizing brilliant satire, or you’re a poor writer, and a stupid bint on top of it.
Bullshit. Unlike you, I do not pretend not to be insulting people when I manifestly am, nor do I routinely accept people accusing me of having insulted them when I manifestly have not. You may take my words – all of them – at face value. I have never to my knowledge directly insulted you before, however richly you may have deserved it, and I only do so now in response to a direct insult from you.
I am unfamiliar with “Stoidal parlance” and have every intention of remaining so. If you use phrases that are routinely considered insulting, at least have the intellectual honesty not to act surprise when people are actually insulted. Not that I broke a sweat over the comment, but I am not above responding in kind.
I am not personally offended by this thread or anything else you post. I neither know you well enough nor have enough respect for you to be personally offended by anything you say. But I have every right to reply to anything posted on this board, and to point out obnoxious dreck when I see it.
Manifestly, this is so. But if you would prefer that I be a little more circumspect and/or moderate in showing just how thoroughly you are not for me, I suggest you refrain from insulting me directly, and from insulting my intelligence by attempting to explain your insults as being part of your own very special “parlance.” If you can exert yourself to do so, I will in turn at least attempt to re-leash my contempt.
Clearly.
Stoid, we’re communicating with words here. Words have generally accepted meanings. When you choose to redefine words or phrases, you’d damn sure better make sure everyone knows your personal definitions. Otherwise, people are apt to interpret “blow me” as, well, “blow me.”
Wow. First you aren’t insulting, and you will not accept anyone accusing you of being insulting, but you don’t know for sure one way or another if you’re insulting or not, really. But all of that doesn’t matter, because while you really don’t know yourself, you know me better than my own mother, and know exactly what I’m thinking and intending.
You are a real piece of work, you know that? It must be exhausting to be you.
Well, allow me to help you out: you insult me nearly every time you choose to engage me. That’s my view of it.
Since you find me so unworthy of anything but your contempt and scorn, how about you just pretend I don’t exist, and I’ll do the same for you. Seems like a really good plan to me.
Except that wasn’t who I was talking to. I was crystal clear about who I was talking to, and the kind of complaining I meant. Not “the depressed and downtrodden” , not folks with a crushing sense of hopelessness and an inability to feel joy – more like “the self-absorbed and narcissistic”.
And you are perfectly aware of that. But because you personally despise me, and because you happen to be what sounds like clinically depressed at the moment (you’ve publicly admitted it, in great detail, so don’t get defensive about that), you decided to take offense as though I was out to get you personally. So who is on the cross?
Everyone reading this thread saw even sven come in and express his (her?) despair and depression, and I did not kick him or dismiss his very real distress. So lose the story that I am some insensitive creep reducing all human emotion into a “Have a Nice Day” poster.
Option 3: Consider the source. If the folks who have a problem getting it also have a problem with me personally, and folks who DO get it include some of the wisest and most respected posters on the board, as well as people I’ve had actual problems with, then I gotta figure it’s you, babe.
Stoid
I know people can and probably will interpret things as harsher than they are necessarily meant. But I also don’t view “blow me”, even in it’s rudest interpretation, to be that big a deal.
Actually, this interested me, so I took a poll of a few friends. The general consensus in my circle is that “blow me” is pretty weak as far as insults go, and everyone I know understood exactly how I use it. (Even my doctor, when he told me he would have to be repeating a really painful test, just laughed when I told him to blow me) I also asked what everyone thought it really meant when used in its harshest sense, and the answers I got were as follows:
“I’ve had enough, this conversation is over”
“I think you are full of it”
“It’s not worth it, I can’t be bothered to continue this conversation”
and, most specifically:
“I think so little of you or of what you just said, that I want you to shut up and give me a blowjob”
Here’s two things, tell me which you find more * personally * insulting or offensive:
“blow me”
"i find you contemptible, unworthy of respect, and everything you say to be obnoxious. "
At least one of them isn’t open to interpretation, eh? 
How DARE you bring up what Phil said on another board. IF Phil wanted the people here to know, he would have said something. What happens on other boards is NOT fodder to bolster your argument, you worthless piece of shit.
That’s why, when life hands you lemons, you stuff 'em in your bra.
(or, your um, jockies, if you don’t wear a bra, I guess, I dunno. Or give 'em to the cat to play with.)
You know what though, in all seriousness, I feel BETTER when I bitch, because I get it out, and then I can go back to being my slighty warped, strange, stupid self. And I like to go into my own little world, but that’s okay-they know me there.
And lemme tell ya, I HATE those stupid little Chicken Soup for the Soul, remember, everyone has bad days, you’re lucky, be gratful crap downright depressing. I mean, come on! I’d rather bitch about it, and then move on. It’s people who keep it all inside and never bitch who explose. Remember Ned Flanders?
BTW, Stoid, when you talk about the “self-absorbed and narcissistic?” I recall a thread in Great Debates, where I told you that a good debator always considers both sides of the argument, and you replied that you didn’t look at both sides, since you were right, and the other side was wrong.
I’ll look it up, but not right now-(I’m gonna go to bed, I’m beat.)
Anyone else see the exquisite irony in THAT?
Good lord, Stoid, I’m gonna call a spade a spade. You aughta have the words “Pot Kettle Black” tatooed on your forehead.
I agree. Nice to see you’re so far above us mere mortals that you won’t sink to pettiness, Stoid. And BTW, I took a poll of some friends on the meaning of “blow me”, too, and I came up with:
- Fuck off.
- Suck my dick.
- Your opinion isn’t worth a shit.
- Shut the fuck up, loser.
So blow me.
Oh, here’s a good one:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=57381
I believe my comments are on the 2nd page.
Fine, Stoid, believe what you will, but in your posts, even if you do not directly state it, you come off as saying, “My way is right, and that’s that.” Frankly, it’s annoying.
And it gets old.
Hmmm. I always understood that if you say something publicly, you say something publicly. If Phil had told me privately in Email, that would be one thing, but he didn’t, he put it out where anyone with a computer could read it.
And if he’s going to speak to me in the ugliest, nastiest terms he can come up with, for the singlular purpose of insulting me, when I have never said a single word to the man (that I can recall), either good or ill, why in hell should I try to be considerate of what he wants? Has he earned that from me?
My god, the way some of you people talk never ceases to amaze me. And I’m supposed to take behavior tips from the likes of YOU? Keep dreaming.
stoid
Where anyone who posts to that BOARD can read it, you jackass. Which is NOT a majority of people here. And to take a CRY FOR HELP, and use it to bolster your own fucking argument…jesus christ, can you HONESTLY not see how WRONG that is?
And please, Stoid, you’re no better than the rest of us, so stop with the holier than thou shit.
I’ve already commented on this sort of thing before, as have others. I liked the OP, but agree, in part, with some of the follow-up rebuttals.
For other persons takes on this, you could check Personal philosophies or Smile? FUCK YOU!
Finally got a chance to read this thread all the way through. What a mess.
I mean, appreciating life and being grateful for manifest blessings are pretty obvious gifts/goals for most people, so not much controversy there. I can’t recall ever meeting anyone who consciously, deliberately set out to make him or herself utterly miserable. ::shrugs:: In my experience people do the best they can. Mistakes, sure; wasted opportunities, you bet; damaging habits, oh yeah. It’s part of being human.
Where I part company is the second part of the thread title, the pseudo-joking extrapolation “you suck, so just shut the fuck up and stop whining.” No matter the rationales or justifications, other people’s quirks and emotions have their own validity. They don’t have to be defended and footnoted–C syndrome or D experience–to exist and be expressed.
Offered strictly as an example…Stoid, I’ve seen you react very aggressively on these boards to even casual comments regarding weight. That’s something that trips your trigger. Well, other people have their own, different triggers. One is no more or less valid than any other. Categorizing some “sore spots” as principled stances and others as negative, life-squandering whining is neither fair nor useful–as amply witnessed by the distinctly unpleasant tone this whole thread has taken.
Some of the ranting done here is deliberately, serio-comic catharsis. People know the issues bothering them aren’t life and death but they’re still bothered. So they vent, often in colorful, over-the-top fashion. This is just a message board. They cut loose and vent in a place where others can jazz with it, tell 'em they’re full of it, one-up or yawn. It’s not a bad place to vent off steam as long as you’re prepared for equally blunt answers.
If people want to vent, that’s fine. If they want to debate seriously, even better. But neat labels offend me, mostly because they’re never complete and rarely kind. If someone feels a particular way about something, big or small, that’s what they feel: it’s a fact. It doesn’t mean they’re any less eager to enjoy life; it just means something’s bothering them. They’re throwing it out for discussion in a very honest forum (used generically) where they’re almost guaranteed few-words-minced reactions. That entails a certain courage in itself, I think.
Labelling other people’s anger, frustration, whatever upfront as self-indulgent and negative is, well, self-indulgent and negative. Speaking strictly for myself, I found it patronizing.
Veb
Veb is wise. Listen to Veb.
Now for me: The Serenity Prayer, in whatever abusive/condescending/supercilious form it’s taking this week, can bite my ass. Or maybe blow me. Rage is good. Anger is good. Bitching is good. Do I acknowledge that being self-involved to the point of dismissing the pain of others is counter-productive? Of course. But the argument here has nothing to do with self-involvement. It has nothing to do with the fellowship of man. It has to do with someone declaring, “You shouldn’t bitch, 'cause there are people who have it worse.”
Yeah. There are people in Rwanda right now who have experienced shit that I, getting pissed at the dickhead in front of me in traffic, can’t even imagine. There are people in the former Yugoslavia who could tell me stories that would make sure I don’t get a decent night’s sleep for a month. So that means that I, living in a country and belonging to a class on the frontier of human comfort, should count my blessings and never mind about how, even here and now, things could stand to be better.
Doesn’t it?
Of course it fucking doesn’t.
I will bitch about the dumbfuck with 16 items in the express lane, I will rant about the bastard making woman-as-sex-object jokes in the workplace, I will cry to the heavens about the fucker being rude to the counterperson at Burger King, and I will spit venom about the hypocrite drawing lines and posting signs saying “Past this point thou shalt not complain.”
I reserve the right to rage against the things I can change, and I especially reserve the right to rage against the things I cannot change. And I reserve the right to be utterly happy doing so.
Falc, thank you for your efforts, but I would expect nothing less from her and I got nothing more. But yeah, you’re right, if I’d have wanted it posted here, I’d have done it myself.
I continue to be amused, whenever she is confronted with a comment from someone like me, at her propensity to at first claim complete disingenuousness and not recall ever having exchanged words with us. Perhaps she honestly doesn’t recall that her comments regarding not caring about the people in Alaska were in direct response to something I said to her, an exchange that lasted for several posts, back and forth. Thus, my opinion of her is based directly on exchanges I’ve had with her. Astounding concept, isn’t it?
Oh, I also love how all the people who agreed with her are “the wisest, most respected posters,” which, by implication, makes me, Falcon, goboy, matt_mcl, andros, TVeblen, et al., pikers and nobodies. Sure, maybe me, but if you think those others aren’t wise and respected, you are a bint.