# Why do hypotheticals that push people's comfort zones piss people off? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 4, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592 "2018-05-04T17:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/61 "2018-05-06T22:52:21Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Stuff regarding BigT that belongs in the Pit. Shit–I really thought this was in the Pit. I apologize for the completely inappropriate to IMHO post. All I can say other than “I’m sorry” is that it was an honest accident. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/62 "2018-05-06T22:57:29Z")
just for context, this is his description of the scene: > [@](#): > > You see, when Lindsay was about 18, she had a brief career in pornography. She never told Josh about it; the closest she came to admitting the truth of the matter was to say she had done some nude modeling between high school and college. But in fact, what she did was a great deal rougher. In particular, she shot a gonzo scene in which she not only was verbally and physically abused by the director and male models on camera, but also confessed to having been molested by a funny uncle when she was much younger. Eliciting this confession from her — and making her call her mail co-stars "Uncle " while she cried— was the **highlight** of the scene. “Highlight”? Yeah, like that last sentence wasn’t typed with his dick in his hand. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/63 "2018-05-06T22:57:33Z")
Yup- not appropriate for the forum. Play nice in IMHO, please. No warning issued. > [@Fenris](#): > > You’re expecting BigTard to actually read what he’s white knighting about??? > > Dude, he only posts To try to sound superior to someone since he such an utter, real life failure and this makes him pontificate here because when most people ignore or laugh at him, he can pretend that he’s actually won a discussion for once in his life. > [@Fenris](#): > > Shit–I really thought this was in the Pit. I apologize for the completely inappropriate to IMHO post. All I can say other than “I’m sorry” is that it was an honest accident. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/64 "2018-05-06T23:14:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t argue against someone saying that **Skald** ’s hypotheticals are creepy or disturbing or whatever: If you were creeped out or disturbed, then your post is your cite. Well, you can’t argue if someone found that hypothetical creepy or disturbing, but people are alleging a pattern, and I haven’t seen it. AFAICT, he likes posting weird hypotheticals with random strange details tacked on. If he’s really such an consistently awful poster, always posting creepy things, why isn’t there some evidence in the last five years or so? Why is a thread from 2011 about older posting history even worth digging up? This is one of those ‘warnings’ that makes me more concerned about the warner than the person being warned about. ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/65 "2018-05-06T23:31:52Z")
I would just like it noted that my hypothetical did not give me a boner ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/66 "2018-05-06T23:56:03Z")
I wonder how Josh would have felt if it was some of that “for women” porn. You know where they talk and are romantic and shit. I guess the hypothetical wouldn’t have worked then. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/67 "2018-05-06T23:57:08Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Well, you can’t argue if someone found that hypothetical creepy or disturbing, but people are alleging a pattern, and I haven’t seen it. AFAICT, he likes posting weird hypotheticals with random strange details tacked on. If he’s really such an consistently awful poster, always posting creepy things, why isn’t there some evidence in the last five years or so? Why is a thread from 2011 about older posting history even worth digging up? [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=853747) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=806049) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799989) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799277) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799044) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=798179) [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783054) [Oh yeah, and torture and castration.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=777919) And that’s just a cursory skim over threads he’s started in the past two years in which he wants to discuss stories he’s concocted which feature rape ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/68 "2018-05-07T00:11:43Z")
Well, I won’t be reading those. Do you want to know why? Because I assume they are about rape. Simple. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/69 "2018-05-07T00:12:47Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Well, I won’t be reading those. Do you want to know why? Because I assume they are about rape. Simple. Oh, God. Can you just go back to liking cheese? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/70 "2018-05-07T00:15:25Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Well, I won’t be reading those. Do you want to know why? Because I assume they are about rape. Simple. You only assume that because of how Penfeather chose to code the links. Skald did not choose to title the threads so obviously. You could look for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/71 "2018-05-07T00:17:24Z")
What is it with the cheese shit? Could you quit reposting disturbing crap that many people don’t want to read? Or so they have said. ETA I only know Skalds threads from what people have said, I assume they are pretty messed up. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/72 "2018-05-07T01:02:16Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I don’t disagree with you. But you have been around long enough to know his posts. You have even cited his old threads. Why would you read anymore by him, if you know this? I had no idea. He’s been gone awhile, and prior to that I only knew him as posting long-winded hypotheticals. I didn’t know what was in them as what I remembered was boring. Of course, I’ll continue to avoid them, but that doesn’t mean I or anyone else can’t voice our disgust with the gratuitous rape or other pornographic scenes that denigrate women, and the people who get off on them. If you don’t like this thread, why do you continue to read it? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/73 "2018-05-07T01:03:41Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What is it with the cheese shit? Could you quit reposting disturbing crap that many people don’t want to read? Or, conversely, you could say to yourself "How simple it is to not read what you find off-putting, disturbing or squicky. " rather than stifling people’s discussion of cheese.\* \*Since when are cheese discussions in general “disturbing crap that many people don’t want to read”\*\*? \*\*Unless you’re talking about that maggot-cheese…um…Casu marzu. Now _that_ shit is nasty. But even then, it’s apparently simple not to read it, right? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/74 "2018-05-07T01:26:50Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=853747) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=806049) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799989) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799277) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799044) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=798179) > > [Rape.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783054) > > [Oh yeah, and torture and castration.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=777919) > > And that’s just a cursory skim over threads he’s started in the past two years in which he wants to discuss stories he’s concocted which feature rape So it’s just me that finds this sort of stalking to be creepy? ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/75 "2018-05-07T01:33:07Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > So it’s just me that finds this sort of stalking to be creepy? **Pantastic** said s/he hadn’t seen the pattern. **Penfeather** provided it. That’s not stalking. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/76 "2018-05-07T01:39:02Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > And that’s just a cursory skim over threads he’s started in the past two years in which he wants to discuss stories he’s concocted which feature rape Yeah, on the basis of the evidence I’m going to fail to be worried about participating in the threads. One example (7) is about what would prompt you to note vote for a presidential candidate, and includes ‘if they were involved in covering up some actual rapes that were in the news’. Two of them explicitly involve no rape, one is about a consensual sex deal (5) and the other is about being voluntarily being tortured for money and explicitly has no sex, consensual or otherwise (6). In one (3) there’s a racist who accuses someone’s black in-laws of being racist. In another (2) the subject saved a woman from being raped in the distant past. So other than (1) and (4), your claim that the posts are about a story that featured rape is simply untrue. In the 2/7 examples, the point of the hypothetical is to look at a disturbing situation and examine how ‘you’ would react. While I find it perfectly reasonable to find those discussions disturbing, the implication that they must be for purient purposes just doesn’t fly for me. And just to make it clear for people who don’t want to click the links labeled ‘rape’ (most of which do not actually contain rape), this is an example of what people are referring to as "gratuitous rape or other pornographic scenes that denigrate women, and the people who get off on them.: > [@What accusation about your preferred pres. candidate, if proven, would cost him/her your vote?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accusation-about-your-preferred-pres-candidate-if-proven-would-cost-him-her-your-vote/745101/1): > > Now I _could_ say that, if she were proven to be an accomplice in Bill Cosby’s rapes, I’d become a Sanders supporter – but of course, not even Rush Limbaugh has accused her of that. But while I don’t care about her tolerating her husband’s infidelities, if it was proven to me that (a) Bill Clinton had actually committed a rape, and (b) Sec. Clinton had participated in a cover-up of that fact, I’d switch candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/77 "2018-05-07T01:39:05Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > I had no idea. He’s been gone awhile, and prior to that I only knew him as posting long-winded hypotheticals. I didn’t know what was in them as what I remembered was boring. Of course, I’ll continue to avoid them, but that doesn’t mean I or anyone else can’t voice our disgust with the gratuitous rape or other pornographic scenes that denigrate women, and the people who get off on them. > > If you don’t like this thread, why do you continue to read it? Okay, I didn’t know that about him being gone awhile and returning with a rapey hypothetical thread. You live and learn. I have no problem reading this thread. I totally agree that his threads are creepy and disturbing. I don’t understand why everyone is pushing back. We are of the same mind. He shouldn’t be allowed to continue. It’s not my call on these things. So there you have it. I will not read his hypotheticals anymore. Because it’s on me to protect me from what hurts me. And BTW, I do like cheese. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/78 "2018-05-07T01:39:39Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > So it’s just me that finds this sort of stalking to be creepy? So, putting together cites to prove a point is creepy, but obsession with rape and humiliating women is not? ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/79 "2018-05-07T01:45:29Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > **Pantastic** said s/he hadn’t seen the pattern. **Penfeather** provided it. That’s not stalking. Penfeather linking threads while slapping the label ‘rape’ on the links doesn’t actually provide the pattern. I don’t think that it’s reasonable to claim that a thread in which a racist’s nature is shown by having them accuse black men of being indiscriminate rapists as a variation on “If there were a nuclear bomb set to go off in New York, and the only way to get the information to defuse it is to rape a woman, would you do it? What position? Would you use a gag, or just listen to her cry?”, ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592/80 "2018-05-07T01:46:13Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > So it’s just me that finds this sort of stalking to be creepy? Are you kidding me? You’re serious? Holy fuck, you’re serious. How in fuck’s name is doing a 5 second search for threads started by Skald, skimming some OPs, and posting the links to cite your argument (don’t we encourage being able to back up our claims around here?), somehow worse than frequent, gratuitous mentions of rape, degradation, and sexual assault of attractive women? (Ever notice that girl characters that have been raped or somehow degraded in his made up stories are always attractive, amazing, awesome women?) Doing a search is creepy. Frequent, gratuitous, masturbatory mentions of degrading women - it’s cool. Jesus Christ, some of you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hypotheticals-that-push-peoples-comfort-zones-piss-people-off/813592.md?page=5)