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PaperclipPerfector  17d ago (text post)   3046 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 14, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Halfway serious question:

We've all heard of coping mechanisms. But what seething mechanisms do humans have?

I think rumination, especially the type that does not lead to any resolution, insight or action, can be described as such.

Complaining about the weather as small talk.

Some former coworkers and I had to make a rule that we were only allowed to bitch about our former employer for 15 minutes when hanging out before switching to other topics. We realized it was like junk food: extremely satisfying in the moment, but unhealthy if indulged in. A shared contempt is a dangerous thing.

My mother has something similar with her friends (70+ year-olds). Whenever they get together there is an "organ recital" where they each complain about their latest health problems then quickly move on to other things

  • Kvetching: complaining about something not because you want to change it but simply because you enjoy the act of complaining.
  • Complaining on social media about bad behaviour in public. For every ten people complaining on Reddit about e.g. people playing music on Bluetooth speakers in public, there must be only one who actually confronts the person and asks them to turn their music off. When asked why they don't just ask the person to turn their music off, they will inevitably say something like "I shouldn't have to" or "I don't want to get stabbed" when the real answer is "I'm a coward who fears confrontation". Either ask the person to change their behaviour, or try to ignore it. Refusing to confront the offender but moaning about their behaviour on social media is pure seethe.

If 9/10 people are cowardly, what meaning does the word have?

To give more meaning to the the word "brave." Something is only praiseworthy when it's the exception.

A descriptive one.

At night, [Otto von Bismarck] slept poorly or not at all. Often, he lay awake until seven a.m., then slept until two p.m. Lying in bed he mulled over grievances. “I have spent the whole night hating” he said once. When no immediate object of hatred was available, he ransacked his memory to dredge up wrongs done to him years before.

But 7am to 2pm is actually 7 hours of sleep. It’s not a great sleep schedule but it it’s a healthy amount of sleep and you could perform pretty well indefinitely on it.

Awful for his circadian rhythm and hence for his respiratory system.

Is this a case study in why we should all hate more? Seemed to have worked well for Bismarck. Hate can be a powerful motivator, after all.

If you compare the long term costs and benefits of sleep vs hate, I'm pretty sure sleep wins out.

Curious now that you mention it. Is there any other emotion that comes to us more naturally than hate? Hatred isn’t a hard won emotion at all but it’s damn hard fought over.

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