People Are Sharing Things That Need To Be De-Normalized, And Some Are Controversial
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Recently, Reddit user u/Buttercuppy44 asked the question, "What's something that people should stop normalizing?" People came through with some super-accurate, specific, and important examples.
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Here's what they said:
1."The entire 'game' involved in modern dating or even most social interactions. The playing hard to get, the 'arriving fashionably late.' Like, people, can we please keep it simple?"
2."Bragging about getting less than six hours of sleep."
3."Unhealthily obese pets. You took a warrior and domesticated it! They aren't happy if they're fat! They just eat on instinct! Stop inadvertently hurting the beings that love us unconditionally!"
4."Ads on stuff you've paid for."
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5."Diamonds and gemstones as gifts. They're shiny rocks with artificially inflated value. They're only expensive because people are willing to pay so much for them. If everyone stopped buying them, the price would fall faster than the Hindenburg. Or faster than the employment rate this year."
6."Coming to work sick. People tend to get praised for that, but they are in fact just endangering others — and in the end, it costs the company more than if they had just stayed home."
7."Working while on vacation. You go on vacation to relax and enjoy yourself, not to try to fill out spreadsheets and deal with work bullshit in your hotel room."
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8."Having an opinion on everything. It's OK to say, 'I don't know enough about this to have an opinion.' People seem to have some strong opinions about shit they understand very little about."
9."Throwing tantrums in public. Time to openly admit that the person flipping out is usually in the wrong."
10."Married couples disliking each other. Normalizing abusive and toxic elements in marriage is not OK."
11."Alcoholic-mom culture. No, you don’t NEED to bring wine to your daughter's soccer game. It’s not quirky. It’s awful. Wine-mom stuff on social media only strengthens it and makes it more popular."
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12."Filters that change the shape of your face to fit a beauty standard. Kids are growing up with an even more distorted view of what they should look like than previous generations."
13."Students overwhelmed by homework when it isn’t necessary. I’m excluding situations like when the workloads from classes are reasonable and happen to pile on one day, or students who aren’t organized, etc. This whole thing is a gray area — but sleep, burnout, and mental health exist."
14."Taking pictures of strangers without their knowledge and posting it on the internet. It's toxic as fuck, and it wasn't that long ago when it was seen as creepy."
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15."That anything is possible if you try hard enough. Don't get me wrong — a lot is possible, but not everything. There are factors beyond ourselves that determine our success. The best we can do is to give our best and be happy that we've done so."
16."Throwing cigarette butts on the ground."
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17."Hopping from one relationship into another, especially from an unhealthy, handsome manipulator to the wounded nice guy. It's a trope in all the Hallmark movies — makes me want to scream, 'Take some time alone to heal!'"
18."Being shitty to retail and food workers. We work hard all day, deal with some of the worst customers bar none, and really don't get paid enough to support families, but we do it anyway."
19."Bullying. It's absurd how society will frame it as a 'stage of your life,' rather than supporting individuals more so that they know how to deal with it, especially academically. Still majorly overlooked."
And finally:
20."People being assholes on the internet because of anonymity."
Did they miss anything? Let me know in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.