Sayings that you hate now

[Tora Ziyal]

I have always hated "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
(cue crappy-ass pop song)
I call BULLSHIT. What doesn't kill you leaves you scarred and limping; don't try to sell it like it's a good thing. It's people trying to make suffering sound like a good thing and it's not. That's why we call it "suffering" and not "fun." If I get hit by a truck or get cancer, that doesn't make me stronger. It weakens me physically and maybe even mentally or emotionally. If I survive it, then good for me but don't sell me the "see how strong you are now?" bullshit.

Just acknowledge that I suffered and say, "Gee, that happened to you? That really sucks," because, yeah, it does.

Amen! You may discover how strong you already were, or, like you said, you may just get weaker.

 

[Captrek]

I always hated platitudes like, “You can do anything if you set your mind to it,” and the corollary, “If you haven’t succeeded, you haven’t tried hard enough. There is no such thing as lack of ability or lack of opportunity, only lack of character.”

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

"Everything happens for a reason."

Well, yeah, everything has a cause. But most people who say this mean that there's some deliberate purpose for this thing to have happened, like the universe did it deliberately, and therefore this horrendous thing is somehow good for you. Grrrrr.

I was just about to post this one.

I think it is much more accurate to say that good can be brought out of bad situations in spite of the evil that has been done, not because of it as though those evil things are right or justified. The means do not justify the ends.

I think that one can exploit even bad circumstances and should try to do so where possible, to bring about better things. It doesn't make the bad circumstances okay.

 

[Kestra]

Anyone who cites "The Universe." The Universe is not interested in you. It will not give you things if you wish for them. If you "put it out into the universe" nobody cares. I know you want to believe in magic or god without looking like you believe in magic or god, but you just sound like an obnoxious hippie.

I like universe stuff but I also believe in god.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Hippie!

 

[lurok]

'Real men don't cry'. Yeah. Right.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'll tell you something I hate: when you buy some food product that claims to "naturally regulate your digestive system". Just drop the mealymouthed doubletalk and admit it already: "This product helps you take a shit."

I hate "Love conquers All"

So does Terry Gilliam...

I have always hated "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
(cue crappy-ass pop song)
I call BULLSHIT.

Of course it's bullshit - Nietzsche wrote it.

As an adult: YOLO (You Only Live Once) - Usually said right before someone does something stupid or dangerous or both.

And besides, everyone knows that you only live TWICE.

 

[Data Holmes]

My most hated saying is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

Wrong.

Sometimes, it's the things people say to you that hurt even worse than a physical injury because you have to live with them forever.

I always liked that one because it's true. The wounds from words are your own creation. If you don't let them hurt you, they are only words that shed off of you like water from a ducks back.

It's a valuable lesson to instill within children.

 

[thestrangequark]

My most hated saying is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

Wrong.

Sometimes, it's the things people say to you that hurt even worse than a physical injury because you have to live with them forever.

I always liked that one because it's true. The wounds from words are your own creation. If you don't let them hurt you, they are only words that shed off of you like water from a ducks back.

It's a valuable lesson to instill within children.

On the contrary, it's a horrible lesson, for many reasons, the least of which incude that it is probably true for only a tiny percent of people, who are either somewhat antisocial or in denial, and that it is part of a greater culture of externalizing blame ("I was cruel to you and hurt your feelings, therefore you are weak!" Bullshit. You hurt my feelings because you were cruel). This mindset of externalizing blame ultimately comes down to not taking responsibility for yourself and your actions.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

"Everything happens for a reason."

Well, yeah, everything has a cause. But most people who say this mean that there's some deliberate purpose for this thing to have happened, like the universe did it deliberately, and therefore this horrendous thing is somehow good for you. Grrrrr.

I was just about to post this one.

I think it is much more accurate to say that good can be brought out of bad situations in spite of the evil that has been done, not because of it as though those evil things are right or justified. The means do not justify the ends.

I think that one can exploit even bad circumstances and should try to do so where possible, to bring about better things. It doesn't make the bad circumstances okay.

There's plenty of bad situations that are bad. Not good. Won't be good. There' nothing good in them. They're ultimately bad. And their results are only bad. If something is in spite of bad situations, it would be there even if the bad wouldn't have happened, so why to involve the bad at all. Let's have the good without that bad.

So I agree with Tora Ziyal and trekkiebaggio, this saying is horrible

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

That ridiculous "everything happens for a reason" bullshit deserves this response from Babylon 5:

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."

No everything doesn't happen for a reason, you didn't bring this on yourself to learn something. Shit happens, that's the real liberation.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

There's plenty of bad situations that are bad. Not good. Won't be good. There' nothing good in them. They're ultimately bad. And their results are only bad. If something is in spite of bad situations, it would be there even if the bad wouldn't have happened, so why to involve the bad at all. Let's have the good without that bad.

So I agree with Tora Ziyal and trekkiebaggio, this saying is horrible

I didn't say that ALL bad situations can be exploited by every person to create some good.

But I do think it happens sometimes, that an opportunity will present itself while you are in a bad situation--one that can be taken advantage of. Perhaps it's one that wouldn't have crossed your path under other circumstances, or wouldn't have been so blatant.

However, it doesn't make the bad right or justifiable. I see it more like salvaging something that is broken for parts. The broken thing doesn't stop being broken even though you got away with something instead of nothing.

The blithe manner in which most people use the saying, "Everything happens for a reason," to suggest being grateful that someone or something hurt you, is bad because it makes the wrong or evil seem justifiable or excusable, and that one shouldn't stand up to it. That is something I don't care for.

Looking for opportunities to escape or take something away from a situation, on the other hand, is empowering because it means not just sitting there and accepting/condoning it. It counteracts learned helplessness.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

But I do think it happens sometimes, that an opportunity will present itself while you are in a bad situation--one that can be taken advantage of. Perhaps it's one that wouldn't have crossed your path under other circumstances, or wouldn't have been so blatant.

However, it doesn't make the bad right or justifiable. I see it more like salvaging something that is broken for parts. The broken thing doesn't stop being broken even though you got away with something instead of nothing.

The blithe manner in which most people use the saying, "Everything happens for a reason," to suggest being grateful that someone or something hurt you, is bad because it makes the wrong or evil seem justifiable or excusable, and that one shouldn't stand up to it. That is something I don't care for.

Looking for opportunities to escape or take something away from a situation, on the other hand, is empowering because it means not just sitting there and accepting/condoning it. It counteracts learned helplessness.

I agree that sometimes something positive can be salvaged from a bad situation. However, it's never why the situation occurred, so "everything happens for a reason" is never justified. Whether said blithely or not.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

A lot of the time I think when people say "everything happens for a reason" it's just a way for them to distance themselves from your pain.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I think we're saying the exact same thing differently: the good happens in spite of the bad, and the saying in question is an extremely poor way of expressing it, with some bad theology to boot.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But the good doesn't always happen. And frankly most people would trade whatever good they wring out of a truly horrible event to not have had the event.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In many cases that's true...though I do think it depends on what a person thinks of the nature of the event, and the eventual outcome. Sometimes I think people apply the saying to something that is only mildly disturbing, and they might not trade it away (like getting fired from one job but taking the opportunity to get a better/more fulfilling one). Other times--you're right in that no real good ever came of it, or what happened was just too awful.

 

[Peacemaker]

It is what it is.

Will somebody please tell what the fuck "it" is!

 

[scotpens]

Any simplistic bumper-sticker slogan like "War is not the answer." Well, sometimes war is the answer. How else should we have dealt with Hitler?

Anyone who cites "The Universe." The Universe is not interested in you. It will not give you things if you wish for them. If you "put it out into the universe" nobody cares.

You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. And whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Wait a minute, is that who's always sniggering at me? Because they said I was just paranoid!