gonna grow you a place safer than this

Gamergate was like 200 people. And now look where we are. “A lot of emails” on a topic to congressional staffers is like, 20. Are politicians spineless idiots? Yes. Use that to your advantage! Is this the only thing you can be doing? No! But it can be the first.

The internet has completely short circuited our sense of scale. The number of people required to move almost any needle is remarkably low. Your involvement in local causes, political pressure WILL have an impact.

Ok, get out there.

This homeless person is making me uncomfortable. Should I call [a man with a gun]?

My neighbor is having a loud party. Should I get [a man with a gun] involved?

There are some teenagers skateboarding. Do you think [a man with a gun] would get rid of them for me?

cause you can only prove you’re not a piece of shit a certain few times until everything you do is just to prove urself. Approaching shit with curiosity? I want to find out what I can do? I want to see what kinda guy I am when I really try?

an example is the gym or calisthenics. You’re stressed over not reaching your pull-up goal today? Some people don’t even get the chance to even learn how to do one pull-up. Isn’t it amazing that you get to discover the strength and beauty of which your body is capable?

ah yeah because girlhood being defined by pink and glitter and unicorns and shopping makes so much more sense than someone feeling gender envy towards vampires or mermaids or dragons

gender isnt real. what we think of as gender was socially constructed around the idea of "male" and "female" genitalia and left no room for intersex experiences, instead leading to intersex people being forcibly medically operated on and assigned one of these two genders against their will.

there is no basis for imposing pink and dresses and makeup onto all girls/women or blue and suits and sports onto all men. that has no basis in what genitals one was born with. all of that was constructed under the false notion of two genders/sexes that are opposites of one another.

a lot of people are giving examples in the notes of things they just find annoying like not using headphones in public, but OP is talking about actual literal scripts of things to say in awkward situations

if you have a date or two with someone and you don't see a relationship developing? most millennials / gen Zers just end up ghosting. but a social script that might have been taught and rehearsed in the past could be:

"I really appreciated getting dinner with you the other night and I enjoyed your company, but I'm afraid I didn't feel a spark. I wish you the best, and hope you find that special someone!"

Remember things about your friends! Ask people about their weekends, hobbies, holidays, studies, and jobs! Listen for the concerns people have and what they are working on! Draw connections between one person and another to get the ball rolling. "Oh, Maura, you just got your first cat! You should talk to Felix, he used to work at a rescue. Felix, please tell Maura all the new-cat-guardian pointers."

"Bill, Sheila, Xan, this is my friend Kale. Kale is really into Star Trek, Bill you and them should talk about it!"

If you're looking for a manual on these sorts of things; social etiquette, social scripts, how to handle difficult and/or awkward social situations, etc. then I highly recommend picking up any book by Miss Manners. Her books really are the gold standard for learning the types of skills this post is talking about. I should also mention that Miss Manners is witty and hilarious so her books are also fun to read.

The best book by Miss Manners to get started with would be Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. This one is probably the best starting point because it gives the best overview of all the basics.

Sorry @darlingdear but I couldn't let this stay in the tags.

I say this as someone who is neurodivergent had grew up very socially awkward, but recently I find the "screw small talk, I wanna get to know the REAL you" attitude to be pretentious as well as a demonstration of a lack of boundaries.

But also, I think a lot of people who have this attitude don't actually really know what does qualify as small talk. The definition of small talk is any topic that's of no real consequence and includes topics like food, pets, sports, music, whatever show you're currently streaming, whatever book you're currently reading, and yes, the weather. A lot of people who have this "I hate small talk / I don't do small talk" attitude probably think it's only reciting a bunch of secret scripts about the weather, and don't realize how much they engage in small talk whenever they talk about their pets or their favorite foods or the really cool show they're watching right now.

Small talk is a way of sounding out a person’s attitudes. It’s about finding out if they’re a rabid asshole or someone you want to spend more time with.

I had a professor who got angry at a group of (mostly women), from five countries, all of whom met yesterday, for talking about daytime TV. He basically insulted us and called us shallow.

I want the survivors to be so, so, so, SO angry and I want them to be RIGHT to be angry and I want to see each individual character's rage explored as a key facet of who they are.

I sadly don't, can you share more on how the control is happening? I don't know a lot about this, hopefully someone else reading this can offer a resource?

I made a secret bank account when I was 19 and never shared the card or password so my money was safe from theft, and abusers had no idea how much I had, if asked I would repeat 'I don't owe you this information' until they would leave me alone. They tried various stunts like making me open accounts they had access to but I never used those. I assume in your case they have access to your money or you rely on them completely? It's worth secreting away any amount you can, if you're able to, physically hiding it in discrete places works too.

If you have no income it's way harder to gain financial independence from abusers, some people stay in contact just to get that financial support to avoid homelesness.