One Thing About Me: I Will Objectify That Old Man

Tyler William, 32, he/him. my gender? glam rock 80s band frontman. BYF: no terfs, no whorephobes, no radfems, no ppl who interchangeably use amab and afab as shorthand for “men” and “women” (this includes you fuckers who constantly pit trans men and trans women against each other in an imaginary binary)

[deafpool]

stopped to pick up smokes after work. forgot i drove. walked halfway home before I remembered.

[vixvigil]

it’s never a normal temperature anymore it’s always some fucking bullshit

[deafpool]

no way i was driving home and said “hey siri open gate” and instead she called my grandboss

[the-supernatural-atheist]

I did not have parasocial relations with that man

[chillyfeetsteak]

i gave the venus of willendorf a brewski

[deafpool]

put on a pad. went to pee. yanked underwear down. pad had somehow flipped entirely around and glued itself to my bush.

[deafpool]

cant stop thinking about the strange interaction I had yesterday with a new guy in my work building. he’s been there two weeks and we were introduced by my direct reports (who he evidently did not realise were my staff) whereupon he said “it’s nice to not be the new person anymore”. …and I had to be like “im…a manager? I’ve been here 10 years”

[nat-20s]

out of curiosity, how many books have you read this year

0

1-5

6-10

11-15

16-20

21-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

45-50

over 50

Voting ended onJun 5

[venerable-thief]

I am a huge fan of retiring to my quarters

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

In this economy you'll be lucky to retire to your nickels

[quinnception]

[charl0ttan]

[probuccalfat]

people will describe their incredibly nebulous sexuality to you that they’ve never been able to define and the whole time you’re thinking that sounds like bisexuality brother

[probuccalfat]

these women did wonders for the “i’m single and i like it that way” community… i’m having a sexy ass life!

[orpheuslament]

im the person they keep adding gratuitous & unnecessary violence & sex in movies for. im running every studio executive ragged asking for even more cock & gore in cinema they simply cant keep up

[miss-wizard]

DO NOT LET SOCIAL MEDIA TURN YOU INTO AN AMERICAN

[coleblackblood]

As an American: Seriously, please don’t

[miss-wizard]

ok well i don't

[alatismeni-theitsa]

"Americanization" is a real phenomenon, and how non-Americans should be cautious of it is taught in different countries at school. It's taught in Greece and people from other countries told me their elementary or middle school teachers (using the American grades, to make it make sense to the majority on the site) talked to them about it.

It's common sense here, except for USians, so I'll analyze it a bit more for the dominant demographic here. In a globalized setting, the most dominant culture affects the others and sets the trends. The way our language works, how we think, our levels of politeness and intimacy, and our levels of respect. (flash news, they are going down 😂)

I don't want to imply that there is nothing good in the US. There are plenty of positives in the country. It's just that for the rest of the cultures online it's a constant daily fight to not forget our roots, with the degree US media and brands have permeated our lives. In Greece at least we watch more US American media than Greek media nowadays, and many of our shows are rip-offs of USian ones, with little adaptation to Greek reality and culture.

And to demonstrate the amount of this exposure, a 22-year-old Greek asked me the other day "if something happens we call 911, right?" This might have literally cost them their life, in a dangerous situation! Because all the movies and songs they consumed (not an unusual thing for the Greek youth) were what they knew. And I found a similar comment in this comment thread.

[kingwren]

Lots of Americans in the notes failing to understand this post. It's not about not liking the US. It's not about you feeling ashamed or guilty for being American. It's not about you.

It's about American media drowning out native language media all over the world, and workplaces requiring the English language in your repertoire more and more. It's about proper translations and foreign language dubbing of films disappearing because "everyone speaks/should speak English anyway." All of this is leading to the deterioration of native speaker groups of languages worldwide.

In my country, Dutch language courses can't find enough people who want to study the language, while English language courses are overflowing with people who want to study the language. There is even widespread distaste for the Dutch language for being crude or sounding rough or what have you. That's our native language!!! That is our culture in its purest form!!! That is knowledge we inherit from our parents as they did from theirs!!! That is how we learned fairytales and folk stories and myths!!! That is the language that shapes our communication and our way of thinking!!! To hate your native language is to hate yourself at the deepest level.

And yet it's so normalised. Droves of foreigners living in the Netherlands will never learn a word of Dutch, because "everyone speaks English anyway." We are the world's leaders in non-native understanding of English, but it comes at a cost. A grave cost we will continue to pay.

If you're looking to support your non-American friends in any way that is not performatively shouting "I hate being an American" into the void, first of all, unlearn that hatred of yourself and your culture. You are of no help self-flagellating, and there is a difference between holding your country accountable for its issues, and denying yourself your culture because your country is doing and has done bad things.

(I am not going to get into arguments about whether or not US American culture exists. It does, and if you think differently you are welcome to change your mind.)

Secondly, learn about other countries. Learn a bit of Chinese. Take an interest in the Italian political system. Ask your friends about their countries' folklore. Watch documentaries about art from Nigeria. Absorb information that is not fed to you by American media.

And thirdly, quit expecting your non-American friends to communicate in a way that appeals to you. The French and Dutch will always seem rude to you because our way of communicating is far more direct than the way you communicate. People from other cultures may seem vague to you because their way of communicating is far more indirect, and you're not used to that either. Quit being frustrated when you don't get what we mean exactly. Quit assuming we mean the absolute worst thing you could imagine just because you didn't get what we meant the first time. Ask us to explain if you need us to, and learn to accept that we are different from you.

We are already adapting to your culture 100% of the time we are online. It's your responsibility to adapt to us, too. At least do your friends the courtesy of learning about and adapting to them.

[onedivinemisfit]

We are already adapting to your culture 100% of the time we are online. It's your responsibility to adapt to us, too. At least do your friends the courtesy of learning about and adapting to them.

[van1llaskys]

[woman-respecter]

it’s so hard for me to listen to heartbroken/angry breakup songs by straight men bc no matter how good the song is i’ll be like i’m not sure if i fully believe you. let’s hear her side of the story.

[fishyaudio]

All the yellow wet floor signs always remind me of strange animals because they stand on four legs. Like what if they gather around leaking roofs and pipes to drink like a pack of animals seeking an oasis in the desert

This one was drawn over my photo of a metro station that I now think does anything but renovate it's roof. 3 signs and 5 buckets is kinda embarrasing