I've Talked About This Before, But It Leaves Such A Bad Taste In My Mouth Whenever The Character In A

I've talked about this before, but it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth whenever the character in a movie or series who is meant to be the comedic relief due to his constant flatulence is fat.

Not because — as some of you might incorrectly and sensitively assume — I think the idea of something as innocuous as fart humor should be limited to a certain body type, but because it feels so in line with the "Fat Slob" trope that assigns most, if not all unpleasant bodily functions to those characters who are not conventionally attractive.

It goes without saying that gross actions like burping, farting, sweating, etc., are things that everyone does, so I needn't write an entire think piece explaining how much more socially conscious we should be.

However, what I find funny is that if we are to employ the logic that the reason why fat people do these things more often because of their "worse" diet, there are so many food choices that thinner, conventionally attractive make that cause them to do exactly the same things.

For example, it's a commonly used joke amongst those who frequent the gym especially on social media, that in order to build muscle you have to eat a lot of protein and that this often involves adding lots of whey powder to things which makes people gassy given that it's a component of dairy products.

There's already many depictions in media of the typical douchey, frat-bro, jock gymbro who in some instances uses bodily functions as a way to convey his arrogance (namely in the form of belching loudly in someone's face after drinking a beer). How hard would it be to extend this concept to men like this that lack these antagonistic qualities?

I know subversions of the "Fat Slob" trope are already out there, but I think it would be a great way to continue this subversion as well as contributing to more range and inclusivity in plus-sized characters.

Imagine a friendship or relationship where it's the guy who's 6'2 with 6-pack abs, bulging biceps, and thick legs who blushes whenever he accidentally lets one go and people chastise him for it?

It's worth noting that the series Tacoma F.D. does a great job of accomplishing this with it's predominately male cast that has many muscled-up, in shape guys, and an abundance of fart scenes when compared to other shows.

Take notes Hollywood.

I love how the mentality that's been pushed lately on social media has been one of "being in your you era" or "entering your villain era" or worst of all "not owing anyone anything" which, as I've mentioned in a previous post, is nothing more than the same hyper-individualistic self-isolation, and apathetic mindset that many gymbros participate in that's simply being repackaged and marketed femininely as "self-care".

Meanwhile, and not to sound like I'm "not like other girls", the mindset I've been in has been one that's completely the opposite in which I seek to strip myself of any and all egoistic tendencies, while simultaneously looking towards those who are very talented and skillful but are low-key and humble about it as inspiration for what I one day aspire to be.

Hell is real, and it's called watching in increasing annoyance as your parents have what I can only assume is an anxiety-induced frenzy in which they will somehow find every way possible to avoid walking out the door for as long as possible by aimlessly walk around the house claiming they "just need to do this" or they "just need to grab that" and then they'll supposedly be "ready to go".

Me when I'm in a "thinking being passive aggressive is a personality trait" competition and my opponent is a 16-22 y/o white girl who does e-girl adjacent makeup, and condescendingly uses the words "babes", "bestie", "hope this helps!" and the ":)" emoji as if she's the "edgier" equivalent of a stereotypically mean girl from a Disney Channel show.

It's such a funny thing because given the blogs that I follow and how they make such overtly and unabashedly personal posts informing everyone of how "in the mood" they are with posts that often sound something like:

"Feeling really [h-word] and just want to [something gay and raunchy] with [their preferred type]"

I feel like it wouldn't be that big of surprise to anyone who follows me, or anyone who happens to stumble upon one of my posts if I were to carry out the same action of making similarly toned posts.

I always stop myself before making them though, because there's this mentality I have that says that I need to maintain a so-called "professional and academic integrity" (as if I were the New York Times) in my blog.

In essence, it allows me to communicates similar in-the-moment feelings of arousal without straying too far into the territory of things that I couldn't say on YouTube without immediately getting demonetized.

That said, many of my posts are literally about how I would write the perfect fart scene, so who am I really fooling?

Digital Nuance, Public Discourse, and Public Approval: The Steady Decline of "Having a Dialogue"

Being on the internet as someone who operates from a place of nuance and complexity as opposed to simplistic and impulsive knee-jerk reactions feels like being a masochist because there's so much you could say but it would take too long to write out and mostly fall on deaf ears.

It also doesn't help that although there are many people out there that are happy to have these complex discussions, you're much less likely to find people who are capable of doing so in a way that doesn't convey the idea that the only perspective they're open to is theirs.

This mentality is not just aggravating to deal with as someone who wants to contribute to these discussions, but actively drives people away from having them, which is incredibly counterintuitive given how much stress and importance is constantly placed on speaking on issues.

This, if anything, calls into question why stress is even placed on having discussions about any topic. If there's supposedly only one right view and thus solution to an issue, why even start a dialogue in the first place? To talk in circles? Unless, they're not that simple...

It's a rare occurrence, but my faith in humanity is slightly restored whenever I see what could've easily turned into a heated argument about a topic beautifully and amicably resolve itself with each party respecting each others views without attacking them.

Though, I feel like the concept of "ratioing" people is what holds us back from these occurrences happening. I can't help but feel that people on the internet are less concerned about actually defending their argument, and more about whether other people will back it up.

Saying this, I can already hear people defending ratioing because of how it supposedly "puts people in their place" and makes them feel shame for what is mostly agreed to be the morally or intellectually incorrect way of analyzing a topic.

Again though, why should the focus of having an opinion be attempting to "prove" that it's the so-called "right" one through public approval which is also nothing more than simply a larger group of people's opinions?