Mastodawn

Yza May 5

@bengesko *zoomers* are saying this? if it was boomers or gen xers i'd understand

as a millenial, the idea of adulthood we were sold was an absolute lie, made all the more apparent by how it was denied to us by many of its markers (like home ownership and career progression) were made unobtainable. a great deal of who our generation is comes from the reject6ion of the old idea of adulthood. fuck it, we'll watch cartoons and play with toys untiil we're in the grave

Yza May 5

@bengesko normal is a fucking prison

Jhooper May 5

@Yza @bengesko You see, my father is a boomer, and he would watch cartoons with my brothers and I all the time. He was also a big nerd and was into almost any kind of science fiction or fantasy be could get his hands on.

I didn't realize this as a kid, but he was into comics when he was growing up, and still paid some attention to the movies and shows that came from them when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. The last time he visited, he mentioned how he was really into comics in the 70s, and at that time he preferred the art style of DC over Marvel. He also tried to have a conversation with me about how he resented the Marvel movies making Iron Man being just about on par with Thor, but I couldn't add anything to the conversation.

If there's one thing I want my kids to understand, it's what "being true to yourself" means. I never stopped playing games, and I collect Transformers. Don't let age stop you being yourself.

Yza May 5

@jhooper @bengesko for sure. while i generalized about generations it's very worth saying people have always been like this. people have always loved games and toys. who do you think was making toys throughout history? it was going to be adults a lot of the time, and not just to shut the kids up. making toys is a hecking craft. adults made soft toys with a deep love for them. and who made cartoons? adults! often for other adults! adulthood and what it entails are social constructs. nothing more

goog tanking industries May 5

@bengesko

lowkey the choice for plenty of us is either "be normal and have a chance to be employed and live a somewhat healthy life" or "be weird and unmarketable, and also hope something runs you over tomorrow because you can't be employed and you're too able for the state to get any sort of welfare scraps"

not to mention being "weird and unmarketable" in my case only isolated me from everyone else and made my loneliness and mental health even worse than it already was

so no, it's not something you get to choose on a whim when your entire life stability is at stakes

nadja May 5

@bengesko *me, on the way to becoming the witchy old crone 12-year-old me always dreamed of becoming*: Please tell the rocks and mud Hello from me and to enjoy the sun

Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE May 5

@bengesko We wondered for decades "when are we going to start acting grown-up like our parents?"

I eventually decided that the difference between us and them was that we didn't have to live through the war.

Moonglow Constellation May 5

@bengesko we actively became weirder in our 30s and we're not nearly done yet

- 🌟

Kat S May 5

@bengesko "Normal is overrated and borderline oppressive in today's political climate, anyway."

It was always oppressive. "Normal" is beloved of conformists, especially those who want to force others to conform to their personal (usually mind-numbingly beige) preferences.

@bengesko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normopathy

Heather 👻May 5

Normopathy - Wikipedia

Seiðr May 5

@bengesko Even more: in today's economic landscape it is unaffordable. Total bullshit.

Daniel May 5

@bengesko this is why I'm touchy about the "midlife crisis" framing. No I'm not having a crisis I just have some free time for the first time in n years

The Vargarnir system May 5

@bengesko I've defintely become more domestic in my late 30s, but in the way that Baba Yaga was quite domestic.
Comfortable in my personal den of weirdness.

an actual bus May 5

@bengesko Amen to that, fucking *resist*

Bjørn Stærk May 5

@bengesko plus you have a good chance of losing some of the sillier inhibitions and fears that kept you from being yourself when you were younger.

Ripp_

@bengesko any amount of "more normal" I display in my 30s is the result of the system grinding me down and making me tired =(

Moonshine Fox May 5

@bengesko honestly, I think a lot of the problems with older generations is that they did this. They gave up everything when they became adults, and now that they’re retiring, they have nothing.

spacebug May 5

@bengesko
I don't understand "normal" people.
They are the weird ones.

Dan Sugalski May 5

@bengesko Frankly, the whole "you'll be a normal married person with just a job" is mostly trauma response and the propagation of generational abuse that we've eased into. (It *definitely* wasn't the assumption as recently as the '70s and early '80s)

mid_century_Modem May 5

@bengesko I'm an X'er, and the boomers of my parents generation told me "oh you're young and wild now, but you'll get more conservative as you get older."

I'm 50-something now, and I'm more radical than I've ever been, with no sign of decelerating. A product of my experience I guess.

Roger Moore May 5

@BustaMarx @bengesko
My interpretation of this is that the people who say "you'll get more conservative as you age" were always conservative. It's just that when they were young, they were angry at the system because THEY were the ones getting screwed by the system. Once they got older and climbed the ladder a bit, they were perfectly happy with the shape of society and got busy pulling up the ladder before the next generation could climb up after them.

DecaturNature May 6

@BustaMarx @bengesko growing up is learning to see past the mythology of the status quo and understanding that more things are possible than you were told about.

Azuaron May 5

@bengesko Sure, and I'll become more conservative over time as well.

*stares back at teenage "moderate" me, and the radicalization pipeline since then that's turned me into an anarchist*

Ку 🇧🇬🇪🇺

@bengesko I spent a most of my 20s trying to fit in my work environment. I've so far invested the first half of my 30s in testing exactly how unfitting I can go before someone has to speak with me about not being "professional" enough. I expect to get worse in the second half, potentially unemployable in my 40s.

Nomdeb May 5

@bengesko Heh. I was babysitting two little girls some time ago, and my back was hurting so I hung (arched) over the back of the sofa head on the floor. And both little girls looked at me with big eyes and said, "you're not like a grown up at all." :) Plus some other stuff from when I had been babysitting them. :) NEVER grow up, but do be mature and thoughtful. Learn lessons, but never get rid of the whimsy and play and silliness.

@bengesko I tell people I don’t want the “American Dream” and people get concerned. “But, why not”. I mean nevemind I’m gay and don’t need a picket fence, but you all don’t look like the stunning examples of happiness you think you all are.

thedæmon (Clay Ayers) [he / him]May 5

Why don't you want State Mandated Happiness? hehe

CC: @[email protected]

@praetor @bengesko GTA:IV and Mafia 2 have probably the most realistic depictions of The American Dream™

(minor spoilers, but in both games the protagonist starts out living on scraps until they go "fuck it", join the criminal underworld, and only then get to live the high life that the american dream promises)

@reiddragon @bengesko I want the Norwegian Dream. A little cabin where I can read books. I honestly do not know anyone who has the house, and the SUV, and the kids who are honestly happy people. My mother chased after that, and once she got a house with a pristine yard, which a grandkid from the perfect daughter playing on it, she turned into a right fucking cunt. We're not on speaking terms anymore.

@praetor @bengesko I can't understand the appeal of SUVs on any level. Looking at it as a car guy, you get horrible aerodynamics, horrible fuel economy, and all just to let everyone around you know that you feel your dick size is inadequate. Meanwhile looking at it as someone who wants cities to be built for people, just fuck SUVs, they should be completely banned from being built or sold.

@reiddragon @bengesko I'm in Texas. And everyone has a big ass fucking truck. I'm waiting on the VW Jetta in a EV...which is rumored. I have some friends in Europe who drive an ID.4 and LOVE it. But you'll see these small dick men alone in these HUGE fucking trucks. I mean HUGE!

@praetor @bengesko tbh even the ID4 is a tad large by european standards, but I guess the true american trucks are outright illegal to drive on european streets (the Dacia Bigster looks like a baby compared to an F150, and that thing is BIG, really earned its name)

Personally I'd be more interested in something a tad smaller, maybe a Renault Twingo, Volkswagen Polo, or a Mazda2 (though even those got a tad large with the newer generations)

@reiddragon @bengesko That's why I want an EV Jetta. I'm a tiny little twinkly man who is 5'9", and 120 pounds soaking wet, and walking across the street in front of these huge trucks that are like a HUNDRED times bigger than I am is very intimidating.

@praetor @bengesko so the ID.7? I don't think VW has any other electric sedans besides that, definitely no electric variant of the Jetta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_ID.7

Volkswagen ID.7 - Wikipedia

@reiddragon @bengesko A EV Jetta is rumored for North America. We don't have the same VWs as Europe does....sadly. In the EU they have the ID.3, which is like a EV Golf, and the ID.4, ID.5, ID.7 and a couple hybrids. The Jetta (and the Atlas) is a North American thing, and those are only Freedom Crack (aka; Gasoline)

@praetor @bengesko right, I didn't check the list to see they don't sell the ID.7 in NA

Seems the ID.4 (Crossover) and ID.BUZZ (van) are the only ones currently sold in NA

@reiddragon @bengesko Yeah. And that is shitty. Because basically right now under Trump, all the VWs in NA are basically Fords. They're not "real" VWs. Because you can't import cars from the EU without it costing a fortune. And of course, they all run on Freedom Crack.

cstephens2 May 5

@bengesko I reject anyone who wants to gatekeep what "normal" is. I'm perfectly normal. I just turned 60 this year, I'm married, I have no children, and I still have many interests and apparently, low-to-medium grade depression that doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.

I don't understand people who don't have any interests. I understand people who might not have *time* for interests.

mauvedeity May 6

@bengesko it true. During a meeting at a previous workplace, one attendee said “Erm, you know, the purple guy.” Every other attendee went “You mean @mauvedeity!”

I wasn’t in this meeting. Two different people who were told me about it.