A couple things have been drawing my ire
lately.
Two: This article from Jezebel about "Caveman
Diets" (which inaccurately lumps them all together anyway)
Now, I am a self-admitted devotee of both of these topics (Ryan Gosling and the
Paleo Diet), but I would never get on anyone's case for not being one. So when
I read both of these, I really felt like the writers/commenters were getting on
MY case.
I believe that people should like whatever
they want to like and eat whatever they want to eat. You stay out of my way,
and I'll stay out of yours.
I understand that both of these things were
supposed to be kinda funny, ranty, "anti-" pieces, and I'm no
stranger to those, because I've written a few in my day. But those were a while
ago, and my life philosophy has changed a lot since then - I feel that I was in
the wrong then, and I feel like the individuals who wrote/compiled these two
pieces are in the wrong as well - not for what they believe, but for the
hypocrisy of their complaints about others being judgmental:
* In the Facebook comments to the Ryan
Gosling article, a Bitch Magazine rep says, "I thought it might be
interesting to hear from women don't feel that way, and who in fact get a lot
of pushback from their friends just for not finding him attractive."
But for all the
complaints (as much from the commenters on both threads as the writers
themselves), they are being EXTREMELY judgey.
The Jezebel article tries
to disclaim that they are talking only about "jerks," but the article
doesn't go on to criticize just the jerks, it attacks everyone who follows this
way of life. If the writer was really so annoyed by people being judgmental,
then attack the issue of being judgmental and leave it at that; it should've
been an article of "We should all just eat what we want to eat."
Instead, she felt the need to go on and on about how we're ALL wrong and we're
ALL stupid - essentially doing the very thing that she's accusing us of doing. (And
there are a lot of assumptions/inaccurate premises in her article besides.)
Look, I try really hard
to keep my Paleo conversation to just other fellow Paleo people and anyone who
actually asks me about it, and if other people don't care to read my posts,
they're welcome to hit "unsubscribe." If someone tells me that they
aren't interested, then I leave it at that. If I post that I'm happy about
losing weight, and people want to know how I did it, then I'll tell them, and
I'll leave the door open for further questions, but I don't proselytize. If you
tell me that you are interested in trying it, I will only help you as long as
you actually want to do it - if you start whining about the food you miss, I
will tell you, "Look, if you don't want to do it, then don't." I've
been saying all along that following Paleo requires a certain frame of mind,
and if you're not ready or willing, then it won't go well.
I don't appreciate the
anger and the nastiness in the article and the comments. I don't know what kind of friends
these people have, but if you have a bunch of judgey a-holes in your life,
that's really unfortunate for you. I'm sorry. But it's not my problem. And it's
not who I am, anyway. Maybe
all of those angry people need to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with all
the judgey people in their lives, and keep their vitriol out of my life. (I did,
finally, decide to click "unfollow" on Jezebel's FB page. It was the
last straw.)
The Ryan Gosling one
annoyed me because the quotes there were just petty and mean. Again, I'm sorry
that apparently, a lot of women who don't like Ryan Gosling have a bunch of
a-hole friends who try to make them feel bad about it, but seriously? Was this
necessary? Your hatred of someone who essentially has nothing to do with you
was so strong that you needed to band together in solidarity? Solidarity in hatred?
Some people don't
understand the appeal of Ryan Gosling. That's fine. But honestly, it doesn't
matter if you don't understand it - just move along. The comments on that site
nitpick at his looks and his voice (the "lisping voice" comment was
borderline anti-gay) in a really uncomfortable way. It's mean to bash on
someone because of their looks, and the fact that Bitch Magazine, which is a
feminist magazine, chose to share something like this is hugely hypocritical.
If they caught wind of a similar page or article saying similar things about
women, they'd be like, "This is wrong!" But apparently it's okay if
it's a guy? I call that a double standard.
There are lots of things
that I don't understand or don't care for (organized religion, Oprah Winfrey,
huge fuzzy Ugg boots), but unless I feel like there is some injustice being
done (as I am feeling right now), I'm not going to waste my time on it. And I'm
certainly not going to attack people who disagree with me and judge them for
it.
SERIOUSLY. Love what you
want. Eat what you want. Stay out of my body. Live
and let live.