I’m attempting to make use of an opportunity for enlightenment here, by asking someone to explain why it’s pleasurable and fun to skip over the substantive content of a disagreement and just call people ugly (fat, old, smelly – the usual shame-labels) instead.
It starts with someone who is a complete stranger to me tweeting at me.
WaddleDee @chsvns
@OpheliaBenson @thunderf00t I agree. Nice of you to admit that thundef00t is right about something.
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
@chsvns You agree with what? Right about what?
WaddleDee @chsvns
@OpheliaBenson @thunderf00t the part about him being a mensch, and the part him observing that you are ugly.
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
@chsvns So, to be clear, you’re tweeting me to tell me I’m ugly?
WaddleDee @chsvns
@OpheliaBenson Oh no you’re beautiful. How could you think that?
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
@chsvns So that’s a yes. Question: why? What’s the point? What’s my being ugly got to do with anything?
WaddleDee @chsvns
@OpheliaBenson To be an asshole of course. Is it really that difficult to figure out?
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
@chsvns In one way, no. In another way, yes. Why be an asshole? It is hard to figure out why that’s pleasurable.
WaddleDee @chsvns
@OpheliaBenson You pretty much explain it it your second sentence. It is pleasurable. It’s fun to watch, so I wanted to try it out.
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
@chsvns But my question was & still is WHY is it pleasurable? What’s fun to watch about it?
I’m not very confident that I will get anything that is actually explanatory, but I thought I might as well try, because it is something I’m permanently curious and puzzled about. It truly seems the very opposite of pleasurable and fun, to me. If I try to imagine engaging in it myself it feels actively painful – not just boring or meh but acutely horrible. I’m curious about why it feels like fun to other people, and why there are so many people who experience it that way.