“Nobody Said A Word”: 42 Times People Saw The Biggest Elephant, No, Blue Whale, In The Room
Have you ever been in a situation where something happens in a room full of people, and you’re sure others saw it, too, but no one dares to say a word about it? When you’re forced to share the space with that huge elephant in the room until you can get out safely?
It’s arguably safe to assume that most of us have been in such a situation at least once. It’s clear that many Reddit users definitely have, as a number of them have discussed their experiences in a thread started by a member of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community. Said member asked fellow users about the times they had to share the space with not even an elephant, but a whole blue whale in the room, and they had plenty of stories to tell. Scroll down to find their accounts on the list below, and feel free to add yours in the comments section, if you, too, have ever been in such a situation.
On the list below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with Professor of Psychology at Stetson University in Florida, Christopher J. Ferguson, who was kind enough to share his thoughts on why we avoid talking about the animal in the room.
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Donald Trump has admitted twice on camera that he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness, because he likes to think he’s a good person who doesn’t do anything wrong. Also, he doesn’t have a favorite Bible quote, but rather, “It’s the whole thing, all of it.” Really, all 4,000+ pages? (That he also claims to have read.)
He’s the closest thing to the Bible’s description of the antichrist the world has ever seen, and Christians just bury their heads in the sand because he plays for their team.
He was created BY a cult of impressionable Christians.
Load More Replies...As a Christian myself, I feel he may be the antichrist. He scares me
Indeed, out of all the idiotic and problematic things he's done, this is the least troublesome.
Load More Replies...Trump is not, nor has he ever been, a man of the faith but he plays at being one because so much of the base that support t him are self-proclaimed "christians" (who go against the main teachings of the bible in their daily life but cling onto little sub-anecdotes with a passion). Those who harm and hoard wealth while spewing hate towards thy neighbour ain't gonna do well with JC and his pops in their precious afterlife.
His sway over 'the faithful' would be one of the hallmarks of the beast. They keep his symbol on their foreheads (redhats) or in their hands (ballots)
But if I wear a blue hat and my ballots' left of center, then I'm all good, right? 🙄
Load More Replies...I grew up with people who were always looking for the antichrist and they are all MAGA supporters. They're not seeing how they are pretty much working with him to fulfill their own prophecy and falling for the the things they warned about. Personally I believe it's nonsense and folklore but people earnestly live their lives believing and making decisions based on their beliefs so, consequences and whatnot. Odd.
Yeah, we do not have this level of Christianity in NZ and it does just seem really quite backward.
Load More Replies...None of the Christians in Canada fall for Tr*mp's ideas. We see through the lies of the states.
You obviously don't live in Alberta... I have a ton of MAGA idiot neighbours and family friends. Alberta, the Florida of Canada. I wish we could send all of our Trump loving conspiracy theorists way down south and replace them with some of the reasonable Americans.
Load More Replies...The antichrist's role is to oppose Jesus Christ and falsely substitute himself as a savior before the Second Coming. He is seen as the chief agent of Satan during the end times, promising peace and unity while leading us astray. The antichrist will use promises of peace and economic stability to gain power and control the world. The antichrist will persecute those who do not follow him, including Christians and Jews. Or so the story goes. Trump doesn't seem to have the respect or following that an Antichrist would need. However he could be a precursor, like, He will f**k everything up so much that the next guy will fix and we will all love him for it as he leads us right off the cliff.
Or we just nap in the dirt, our lights extiguished forever. whichever. Edit: Third choice, we reincarnate back into this mess. Just put me in a little hut on Sentinel Island. I'll be fine.
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That the post-WW2 boom in the American economy was a fluke, and that it was unsustainable even with our military dominance. Many of the issues we're facing as a culture are a direct result of this.
The golden era that the MAGA movement keeps calling back to -- huge U.S. manufacturing, demand for American products, outsized credibility and influence with foriegn governments -- all originate from a time when the rest of the world was crippled from the most destructive series of events in human history. America was one of the very few countries to benefit from it, and it lasted long enough that it created an entire generation who then assumed that the boom was the natural order of the world.
It's baked into their worldview, and that will never change.
But the world has changed. Instead of accepting that, or ceeding power to a younger generation with a better understanding of the actual realities of the modern world, they would rather live in the fantasy. It's infantile and entitled beyond belief, and it's also very obviously unsustainable.
It's killing our country and our planet, but instead of just acknowledging that things have changed we're arguing about how much more money the rich old people need for things to get better.
Under the last decent Republican president (and the only one the DoD couldn't push around), Eisenhower, the top take rate was 90%. He argued correctly that wealth was not created in a vacuum. The rich only got there because of the work of others. images-682...41ae9.jpeg
Thinking of Boomers who act like showing up for work every day was an heroic act. I've worked 40+ hr/week since I was 15, and didn't shy away from 80-100 hr/week jobs either. Where's my medal? Better yet, where's my g*****n union? Since you people only cared about cheap disposable goods and reverse mortgages, you will leave nothing behind but debt and a dying planet.
You and others like you have to form the union or introduce an existing one into your workplace. No one is just going to give it to you.
Load More Replies...This post is a d**n good summation of what is going on in this country. We will be better off when baby boomers are out of power.
Pointless generation war... Can you get over it soon please, and stop blaming each other FFS?
Load More Replies...They still want SO badly to believe in this fairytale called "the American Dream" that they cant let go of it, no matter what. And to be fair - Americans are not the only people who fell for it.
Following a lying, p**o felon unqualified for anything while you all open your mouths to suck his shiveled d**k hanging on every word is WAY better than liking "influencers" In addition you dumb f**k, anyone outside of the archaic gender binary have always existed you were just too disgusting and hateful and violent they didnt announce it.
Load More Replies...Let's see... he's gutted and hamstrung vital and necessary scientific agencies, is going to give tax cuts to the rich while putting the poorest of us at risk, will increase the national debt by trillions, just accepted a bribe from Qatar, is deporting people who are here LEGALLY without due process, has destroyed international relationships, has increased prices on nearly everything, and stated, OUT LOUD, that he "isn't sure" if he has a duty to uphold the Constitution. Pull your head out of your a$$ and get some oxygen to that dried out walnut you call a brain.
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I've been the elephant. I had a substance abuse problem and went to rehab. Went twice in 2021 then 2022-2023 spent the better part of 18 months in a long term facility. I've been clean and sober since getting out and have been very open about my time and where i had been but a side from my parents the rest of my family refuse to acknowledge my treatment or rehab. The word and that place is taboo. It's like for 3 years I just disappeared then suddenly I'm back and nothing ever happened. Rehab has an awful stigma around it even though it has been the best thing I've ever done.
Rehab is a gift that many people don't receive. Shame on the part of society that believes differently.
Congrats, and I am so sorry that your family does not allow others to learn and benefit from your experience.
Congrats, but 'rehab' has far less stigma than 'a****t', so be proud of yourself.
We wanted to learn more about why people often ignore the elephant—or the blue whale—in the room, so we got in touch with Professor of Psychology at Stetson University in Florida, Christopher J. Ferguson, who pointed out that most people aren’t dying to get involved in conflict.
“Whatever the issue that came up, it may not be one they either were prepared to have a conflict over, or one that's important enough to them to have a conflict over,” he noted.
The expert added that choosing sides in a conflict is also something not many people are eager to do, as it usually comes at a social cost. “Often the conflict occurring may have broached the norms of typical social engagement, so viewers may not really know the social rules of what to do either.”
We can kick the orange man out but we still have about 70 Million people in the US that are laughably easy to brainwash and take advantage of.
Its not going to be easy at all to fix. We need to start with the functional literacy rate and critical thinking skills, and unfortunately grown adults don't like to be told they aren't as smart as a 5th grader.
WHy do you think republicans want to destroy the department of education? To make people even dumber so they can keep being fooled.
Only 65% of eligible voters showed up. 1/3 of you sat on your asses and let it happen. You people did this to yourselves and the entire rest of the world is sick of watching you get worse every year.
While meh yeah true to an extent, if people shared this sentiment during Hitlers reign or any of the many facist dictators throughout history, they would have remained in total power and literally destroyed the world. Sorry it sucks, I hate it here too but ignoring the issue or being "over" hearing about it is gross and dangerous.
Load More Replies...Trump could only get as far because the society allowed a person to behave so s****y and still not be laughed or kicked out of polite society. Trump is merely the symptom of the American Sickness. And until the USA acts like an alcoholic and admits its issue, it will continue to fall for him and those like him.
I wish there was a twelve step solution for this!
Load More Replies...It's not just those 70M, it's also the millions of others who are so easy to "trigger" that they stayed home on election day and allowed the brainwashed minority to take over.
Most Americans still fail to understand that the rethuglican party has been actively working to undermine our public education system since the 1960s, when it was first desegregated. Their goal has been to make public schools so bad that anyone who could afford it (almost exclusively white people at the time) would send their kids to private schools, leaving non-whites to exist as a permanently under-educated "servant class," also knowing that the uneducated are far more likely to vote rethuglican, even though doing so goes against their best interests. 😮💨
20% of Americans read at the 4th grade level or lower, and almost 50% (includes the 20%) read at the 6th grade level or less. They do not have the ability to research whether stuff that a politician says is true
It's the common sense and critical thinking that KILLS me. I seriously cannot understand why people don't WANT to learn and think for themselves? I've never been able to comprehend it.
The fact that the US Government is trying to slash the Endangered Species Act because of Colossal Biosciences' so-called "dire wolves". Like everyone's roasting the hell out of them for their grift or making analogies to Jurassic Park but nobody's pointing out the more insidious implications of the project. With the flimsy excuse that "we can just sort of recreate species if they go extinct!" they're fighting to be allowed to cause untold ecological damage without consequence.
Talking about why it can be difficult for people to address certain things even when they’re pretty obvious to them and others, Prof. Ferguson explained that this might be related to a certain tendency.
“There is a tendency people have to try to go along to get along. People don't want to be seen to be in the minority or a contrarian, even if the truth is pretty obvious. Being the contrarian often comes at social costs, even if the contrarian is correct.”
The ongoing g*nocide in Gaza.
There is a genocide. They were attacked yes, and retaliated which should not have come as a shock. However there is never an excuse to starve innocent people.
I'm going to address the elephant. It's time people get their FACTS straight. Innocent people are indeed starving, because Hamas STEAL the food.....it's just one of the ways they terrorize the civilians (in Gaza) to"keep them in line" & basically do whatever the Hamas terrorist want. OBVIOUSLY I CANNOT PERSUADE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH, BUT I DO LIVE IN ISRAEL & WE DON'T WANT THIS WAR. WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES LITERALLY.
Load More Replies...I can't reply to Elvis, but he needs to know WHY israel was attacked. The folks in israel have been stealing land and resources from the Palestinians for decades. So yeah, some Palestinians got pretty frustrated and attack the country that is denying their right to their own land.
And arabs attacked Israel the day it was created... It's a never ending blame game. You can always find excuses to k**l others. It needs to stop. Stop claiming it's a genocide, kick out Hamas islamist that only want war and destroying Israel, the same way orthodox that doesn'T want Palestine to be created need to get out of power. Go back to 1993 Oslo. People too often seek excuses to validate their hate of others.
Load More Replies...Hi there. It appears that Eric Trump has made a pseudonymous BP account. Just covering up one of his dumber and more offensive comments.
On the West Wing, President Bartlett was warned by everyone about engaging in a "disproportionate response" and how bad that would be for literally everone. I guess Isreal never saw that episode.
Brother, read a history book. It isn't just this instance. This has been going on for 4000 years. Neither side will let the past go. Because the politicians on both sides can stir up anger, which leads to their power, and their acts.
Sure, those innocent kids in hospital and schools were absolutely in need of being taken revenge on. Aid stopped at the borders so more babies can die. But nope, no genocide in sight here.
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On a global level, the current ongoing collapse in biodiversity. We are causing a mass extinction and it’s barely even talked about. It’s at least as big a problem as climate change which gets way more press. I think it’s ignored because seriously addressing it might be even harder than climate change and we’re utterly failing at that.
And in 'murica it is just going to get worse with our dictator in chief.
If you read his "big beautiful bill" you can see just how much environmental protection he's gutting. It's disgusting!
Load More Replies...I grew up in ranch country when people still allowed crops to fallow or planted clover. When I was a kid in the '80s there were TONS of animals and insects. An aphid swarm every spring followed by grasshoppers and ladybugs everywhere. After the rain you'd hear frogs. Giant flocks of birds, deer and elk all over the hills. Now it's all gone. Dead fields unless they're heavily fertilized, nothing wild growing anywhere, no bugs, few deer, endless forest fires. It's all gone.
In Chicago we see lightning bugs (or fireflies, if you wish) for only like a week during the summer now, and there’s barely any of them. Butterflies… dragonflies… like seeing a unicorn.
Load More Replies...We could fix it all but the people with the money are not willing because that won’t make them money
They are trying to find ways to leave the planet completely rather than protect and restore the Earth!!! Maybe they can bring some grass seeds and tree specimens to Mars see how long that would take.
Load More Replies...One of these days, the planet is going to enough, and then we will be gone!
People starving to death within a country (Gaza is inside Israel) with an average income of over $55K
He is doing so much damage, every single day. He knows the planet WILL be f****d someday - but he thinks it will be after he is long gone - and everyone knows that draft dodging COWARD does not give half a sh!t about ANYONE but himself
And he seems to think that the history books will portray him as if he himself had written them.
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Work zoom call. One of the managers was running late and thought his camera was off - turns out it was on and he had just gotten out of the shower butt naked and everyone saw his huge shlong on camera. He soon realised and quickly turned off the camera.
The meeting went on like normal and nobody said a word, LOL.
Sure, everyone has a zoom meeting in the bathroom. I'm sure it was an accident
Nope. They're correct. As in you could see their naked bútt
Load More Replies...Even though many of us don’t want to admit it, it’s not uncommon for people to turn a blind eye to uncomfortable truths. According to Prof. Ferguson, those who do usually fall into one of the two related groups.
“The first are people who passionately don't want the truth to be true. They will become very upset when confronted with the truth, often stretching themselves into mental pretzels to do so.
“You can see this in political conversations, or when telling people that say, social media doesn't actually cause youth mental health issues, or race doesn't actually predict police shootings in the US (both true, in fact). Most people will just shrug and say that's interesting, whether they agree or not. But some become truly angry and may go so far as to try to destroy the reputation of the person bringing that information,” the expert explained, adding that the second group comprises of people afraid of the first one.
My old boss said "H*tler had the right idea about the gays" in front of me and some other people. I'm gay, and I'm pretty sure he knew, so I didn't feel comfortable saying anything, but I paused waiting for the others to. No one said anything. So I just walked away. It was in the middle of a conversation and noticeable.
People ignore what happened to us. Trans and gay people who hadn't yet been m******d were NOT released from concentration camps after the liberation. The Allies said that we were against the legal laws and left us to die or transferred us to actual prisons.
Oh how conveniently the world "forgot" that the trans and gay community were some of their FIRST targets when things were just getting underway. Lessons were not learned. Instead, it was allowed to happen again.
Load More Replies...people have this thing where they won't say something when it needs to be said. people are scared for some reason. i say that because i am not one of those people. i cannot contain myself when i hear something so stupid, either my face or my mouth says something, and the person saying it notices. i just cant sit back and let some old fart say stupid s**t like that.
I'd asked him "Oh, so what you wish for is building new concentration camps?". Just to see his stupid face.
Problem is, if he was willing to say out loud that Hitler was right about the gays then he probably would just say "Yup, build the camps!"
Load More Replies...Silence often speaks far louder than any words could have....it took me a long time to realize that some things do not even deserve a reaction.
Hate is not acceptable. Period. Whether you think whatever about them.
I asked my gay friend, How come you never ask me out, am I ugly? He said no, you're straight dipsh1t. haha
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When Trump bluntly stated that they rigged the election. On live tv. Twice.
I don't understand how it wasn't a massive deal; sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who knows about it. It's huge
If I mention it to my mom, I'm making stuff up. But even my 8 year old knew, and I didn't say anything to him about it. He heard it on the bus, of all places. My mom think I'm "filling his head with lies".
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My mom and brother got into a stupid argument when we were kids and out camping one time. It was truly some stupid nonsense kid argument, but it ended when she punched my brother in the face. And other than one of her annoying friends (who I later learned also was a child a****r) muttering 'serves him right', no one said a thing.
Justice for survivors of child abuse. It's f****d up that a man can go home and strangle his kids like Homer Simpson, and worse, and suffer zero consequences, even when everyone knows he's doing it. If a man walked up to a kid on the street and did that, we'd lock him up and throw away the key, as long as he's not a cop.
I just recently got into an argument with a knucklehead here on BP who seriously thought that if you use a toddler leash, some predator can just walk up and cut it with a pocketknife and grab the kid! Like dude, no. If a kid is being mistreated, 999 times out of 1000 it's going to be at the hands of a trusted authority figure, usually a family member or friend of the family. And because that's so horrible on so many levels, people don't want to believe it.
Load More Replies...Now I know that what the way are parents treated us, specially my mum, was borderline child abuse. In my case it stopped when she went to slap me in the face and I blocked it. At the time it seemed normally to get bashed because I hadn't tidyed my room the way she liked it.
One might think that when a person is in a group of people they know well, it might be less awkward for them to address the blue whale in the room. However, that’s not necessarily the case. According to Prof. Ferguson, the extent to which it’s easy or difficult to address certain issues depends on where the professional and social costs lie.
“People may be reluctant to intervene with strangers because it's just not worth the bother. But people close to us can inflict the greatest professional or social costs,” he noted. “Much of ‘cancel culture’ (whether on the left or right) is designed to ensure this… demonstrate the professional costs of telling the truth so people stop doing that.
“That tended to involve one's own social group, tagging of employers, and so on. Look how in June 2020, for a brief moment, it seemed like everyone thought defunding or even abolishing the police must be a swell idea, when I'm sure 90% or so of people must have understood what a disastrous policy that would have been if ever put in place at scale (even minor efforts in the US caused homicide rates to surge).”
Just about every time there is a corporate meeting where HR assures everyone it's a "judgement free, safe space" yet the heads of departments are in there too.
Everyone knows that they're being overworked and under-recognized, but anyone saying that is putting a huge target on their back by embarrassing their boss in an open forum, and the idea of a consequence-free acknowledgement of the boss demanding work over weekends or yelling at staff publicly destroying morale is something everyone knows, but no one mentions in front of them.
That’s when you need to start a union. Or if that is completely impossible—sabotage the company as much as you can.
I worked as a nurse in operating theatres
The anaesthetist was having an affair with the scrub nurse and the surgeon was the anaesthetists wife who knew about the affair
That was a VERY awkward case
Edited to add - nothing went down, it was a routine case with no problems
But the psychological tension could be cut with a scalpel.
"Doctor, can I administer my own anaesthesia?" "Sure, knock yourself out!"
This is the s**t that goes on while I'm unconscious? I don't really need a soap opera when I'm about to be cut open ffs.
I’m glad everything turned out fine. I understand that we don’t know what is happening in the real lives of the people that have control when we are in the most vulnerable position. But if everyone in that room was the best at their job in the world I would not want to be that patient. Distractions kinda lead to unwanted outcomes.
That is BEYOND a dereliction of the hippocratic oath.....disgusting
The Epstein client lists. They think this similar s**t with Diddy got us distracted enough to forget.
You know trumps in those videos and such but nobody is talking about it
America has taken no time to mourn their covid dead. It's f*****g wild.
Or the mere existence of a virus/pandemic..........
Load More Replies...I remember it being said that they had to resort to digging mass graves in... New York, I think it was? Bear in mind I'm not saying I think it's solid fact; it's just what I heard, and if it is true, nobody's talking about it any more.
They did, they also had refrigeration trucks filled bodies waiting for the graves to be dug . We have to move on people mourned but if we never moved on in this country because of terrible things that happened, people would lock themselves in their houses forever
Load More Replies...Probably because we are constantly being bombarded by new terrible things by Trump that force us to be on our toes
My cousin disappeared for like a month once.
Like full on disappeared. He stopped showing up to work with no explanation, stopped messaging his mother, didnt say a word to any of his friends or on/off girlfriends. His sister even went to his apartment, it looked like he had just vanished one day leaving all his stuff. I think a missing persons report was even filed.
He resurfaced claiming he'd been over seas interviewing for a job. Clearly something checked out because the report was dropped, but that is literally all that he said as far as I know.
We had a family get together not long after he resurfaced. Nobody asked him anything, nobody even made a joke. Everyone just acted like he never left. It was weird. Especially as my family *love* the opportunity to rib each other. The closest any of my family have come to addressing it is my uncle joking that my cousin got replaced by a lizardman in disguise.
Lawyer would have contacted family if so... Maybe substance abuse and went to rehab?!
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What happened to the report on Russian interference in the UK government, Boris?
He used it to light the BBQ at one of the parties he had during covid.
Many years ago when I was a younger teen, my estranged uncle wanted to have thanksgiving dinner at his house to try and reconnect with the family and prove he had gotten over a lot of the substance abuse issues that caused the rift with the rest of the family.
With several young children in the house, and in front of his parents, my grandparents, things seemed to be going well at first. Outside of the MASSIVE collection of VHS p**n tapes that literally filled up two entire racks of tape storage just sitting next to the TV. There was some extremely hardcore stuff in there too just out in the open for all of us to see. What's worse was he kept trying to make comments about whatever football game was on at the time, but you literally couldn't look at the TV without seeing several videos that had naked women on the front.
This awkwardness went on for a little bit while we were there till my mom, who had been in the kitchen helping cook since we got there, came in and saw the videos and lost it on him and we left almost immediately. I never found out why he thought it was a good idea to leave them out. Or why no one else said anything to him up to that point. But I never saw him again after that and no one else ever brought it up again. I guess morale of the story is that when you're trying to prove to the rest of your family you've turned over a new leaf, don't leave hardcore pornography in plain view for children to see.
KIds saw uncles p**n video collection. Mom lost it. Drama. Bailed.
Load More Replies...not condoning him, his 'collection' as it were, has become a part go the background and he doesn't see or notice it. O.K. HOW could he not know they were there? or He HAD to know they are there?! Again, stuff just fades into the background.
I had a job where the full company, all employees meeting (remote, thankfully) included within the span of about ten minutes 1) the upper management level congratulating themselves and each other for record profits for the fifth year in a row, and 2) a "sincere" apology that they simply did not have the budget leeway to provide raises for anyone working at the ground/customer facing levels.
I quit a week later.
This is so common, it's like they are oblivious to their cognitive dissonance.
We had a year where 2 weeks after the "Yay, record profits" town hall we were told there was no money for salary rises that even covered half the inflation rate. During a cost of living crisis. Apparently that stirred up enough s**t, so next year....the town hall was after the salary info (which was just as s****y). Lots of good people have left by now.
Hells yeah, good for you!!!! I hope you told those halfwits exactly why. Dumb sh!ts
When two people in the group clearly have something going on but they keep acting like we’re all blind, like babe your eyes do the heart emoji thing every time he talks pls.
Strange that nobody is mentioning the geopolitical and social upheavals currently happening before our very eyes.
The illegal mass deportation of non-white but completely legitimate US citizens
The obliteration of the American system of law bit by bit
The gutting of US government agencies- all of whom are clearly just an obstacle to the very people making these sweeping changes
The purposeful collapse of the US economy only for those with the resources and connections to buy everything up when the prices hit rock bottom
The fact that uber wealthy billionaires are the ones behind this and have done an amazing job at deceiving the public and changing things for their own benefit so far
Russian interference in US elections and government
And how about Russia invading another country- a country that made a deal to get rid of it's nukes in return for protection from the US (and other countries) who has now officially turned it's back on it
And on top of all of this- nobody really seems to be doing anything about these issues. There's a certain amount of outrage and complaining online- but where are the mass protests, the arrests and the actual enforcement of laws against the people who are causing catastrophic to millions and millions of people and bringing us closer every day to tyrannical control, economic collapse and/or war?
Some MAGA followers claim Canada's system to be "More taxes for a worse system" there's taxes that keep us from going broke when we go to the doctor, keep our teachers paid instead of us paying for them, a lot of government projects
Elvis is not dead; he's alive right here in this comments section practising his new hobby of being completely wrong about everything! My advice: go back to making music.
People in the USA hold still as if that would make the a****r stop. Has it ever worked? If you're not sure - check out how appeasing Hitler worked out in the end. But you don't want to see that, you don't want to face what you have to do. And you can't be blamed for not wanting to live in such times, but how many people are you willing to be killed and tortured for your "peace"?
Elvis McPelvis is a delusional little f*u*c*k isn’t he?
The one thing I am able to say about trump is that he at least tried (and failed) to bring Putin to the table. Because, in the end, Bidens plan would get more people killed. But now.. I dont know. You can blame everyone for this war; Russia, Ukraine, failed western diplomacy (why is NATo still active 30 years after its mission succeeded?). But the point is, we need peace. In Ukraine, Palestine, Congo. whatever. Burma. Just peace.
I used to work in an office where my cubicle was next to the boss’s daughter. We were office buds and would chat and banter all day. Our cubes were also right next to the bathroom. Her dad, our boss, would use that bathroom and it was the most heinous thing I’d ever experienced. The most violent s***s I’d ever heard and they smelled truly awful. Like a dead opossum. I honestly wondered if he had some serious illness. This happened at least once a day. And of course his daughter and I would never acknowledge it. Her dad would go to that bathroom and we just immediately switched from chatting to staring at our computers in stone cold silence. Silence only interrupted by the most terrible sounds imaginable.
That's what I was thinking! He might not be able to control it, like maybe has IBS or something, but surely he could bring in an air freshener, or they could!? Something? Someone? No???
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Brexit in the UK. It’s the #1 driver of economic issues here right now and everyone in power is studiously ignoring it.
As a German I never got that. To me, the UK is European, we are one team.
Almost half of us here felt the same! I remember talking to my European colleagues after the vote who all felt like they were being pushed away. There were never any benefits, it was a complicated economic question that some people had an easy emotional answer to.
Load More Replies...despite the usual jokes about the EU, everyone was basically fine with being in it. Then the EU decided to close many tax loopholes. From then on the press in the UK bashed the EU and finally Brexit came along. Wales didn't want it. NI didn't want it. Scotland didn't want it. But then English wanted it, so we got it. And now England tries to plunder the other countries in the UK to fill the financial sink hole they created.
Economically it’s been a disaster. Not seeing any benefits yet.
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Climate Change.
FFS, climate change is real. You can whinge and b***h and debate all you want but we are still going to have to deal with it. Is it really going to hurt you to at least try something to help the environment or at least not hurt it anymore?
"we" are going to deal with it... not them. This is why they ignore it.
Load More Replies...The Earth has always had natural climate changes, or even catostrophic climate change. But this time around we are making a huge impact on the natural progression of things. The Earth will win. We are parasites on a speck of dust. WE use/destroy everthing around us leaving wakes of destruction wherever we go. To the earth, we are parasites. But it sure is nice when it's 80 in November right?
Of course, nobody ever talks about that...what's it doing on this list?
Everyone is talking about this. Scientists have been talking about this for decades. Why is it on this list?
When your boss clearly shows up drunk to a Zoom meeting and people are like “technical difficulties?
Saw my high school friends pass around a tin of Altoids with a white powder in it with a rolled up $1 bill as they all took turns going to the bathroom with it. I was so naive, I thought they were snorting crushed up Altoids!
Fun fact, by sharing a "straw" you can pick up minor viral or bacterial infections, blood born infections, or even STIs. It's very common to tear your blood vessels a little with it after repeated snorting and anything you've got goes to the people you're sharing with, or vice versa.
I agree, just straight fire it. You bought the ticket, now take the ride. /s
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How litigious America has become and, as a result, workplaces are completely micromanaged. Instead of solving a problem with a human approach, we do everything based on the possibility of being sued.
I've noticed a lot of "you should sue them" comments on the AITA type posts on here. Someone ran out and left you with the check? Sue them. Someone catfished you? Sue them. Flight attendant didn't do enough when someone took your seat? Sue the airline. It's so ridiculous.
Lol. Just come back from the States. Every advert break, and they're numerous and prolonged features adverts for medication where the side effects are listed so fast you can't hear them but range from death to growing a tail or fir lawyers wanting you to sue your own granny for overcooking the veg. The billboards are all lawyers too!
They talk so fast it sounds like the song "pore" by OhGr lol about 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the song. If you like techno, the whole song is good, if not, just skip to 2 min 40 sec.
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I went to a graduation ceremony last year (pouring rain and the ceremony itself was an absolute train wreck) and there was obviously something up with commencement speaker. His face was red, his words kept slurring, he seemed kind of stumbly. It was pretty subtle at first but got worse throughout the more he was up there. At first I was concerned he was having a medical emergency, but he spent so long talking about himself and his accomplishments (in a really disorganized manner) and hadn’t dropped to the ground for a 15 min speech so it didn’t seem like it.
All the professors on the stage and the chancellor, fully decked out in their regalia, safely sheltered from the rain (unlike the graduates) were just looking at him like he was saying some insightful stuff. . . but it literally didn’t make sense. He talked about how he lost so much money that his parents gave him that he had “seen rock bottom” and that people threatened to k**l his family. Multiple times throughout the ceremony he roasted the graduating class for sitting in the rain and some student who didn’t bring an umbrella. It reeked of tone deafness. He even acknowledged his wife, who was on the stage, she didn’t seem phased or concerned at all by the slurring. Then when the chancellor came up to continue on the ceremony, as it was pouring rain and everyone was getting soaked, the speaker came back up a few minutes later and INTERRUPTED HIM. And the chancellor just let him?
Some people in the crowd began to boo, but then he told the graduates he was giving them $1000 bucks so that was nice, I guess. It was just envelopes full of wet cash. News reported on how a kind hearted billionaire gave graduates money and advice, but failed to mention him referring to the umbrellas in the audience as “elevators”? I guess money talks.
There was also something very “too on the nose” with the chancellor and speaker commending the graduates on their hard work and telling them to be proud of what they have accomplished while watching them get absolutely pelted with rain and wind.
If it was Bob Hale, he gave the graduates money with the instruction to donate half!
Load More Replies... During an online Town Hall, leadership announces this person, who is known for having multiple Ethics complaints against them, as an Ethics and Compliance “champion” - AKA the person you talk to for E&C advice.
There were others named and most received applause but this person was called and I and another coworker were mouthing “but why?” and nobody reacted. There was just uncomfortable silence, and then the speaker moved on to the next person.
IDK if it was a power move or leadership just were complete idiots about it.
I live in Canada, where you just don’t really see guns very often, especially not open carry in a city. Well working in a dr*gstore in a city some old guy came in with a massive rifle strapped to his back and everyone kinda just pretended not to see it. It was super weird. I think it might’ve been an air rifle for biathlon or something, but a lot of dr*gstore employees in Canada probably can’t tell things apart from far away, I know I can’t and was never completely sure lol. I just saw him walk past management on his way in and they clearly saw it and said nothing so no way I was gonna be the one. Nobody mentioned it later either.
@ElvisMcPelvis Why don't you keep the "Heil MAGA" down low where it belongs?
Went to a birthday party for a friend’s 4 year old. Mom of the birthday kid has a “super sweet” dog who was an absolute menace throughout the party. Barreled into everyone, especially when they first walked in the door, causing multiple kids to fall and many parents to drop the presents they brought. Stole food directly from people’s hands. Giant tail whapping around bruising peoples legs. Knocking kids over. During “Happy Birthday” a dad was trying to calm his kid down and kiddo fell onto the dog’s back, causing it to freak out and growl and snap. I thought I was about to see a child get torn apart but the dad of the birthday kid just pulled the dog over to the side and laughed. I wanted to say something but the friend I came with told me to not even try, people had talked to the mom for years and no good ever came of it so everyone just ignored it.
When that poor dog reaches 11 and flips out there will be people saying that they couldn’t understand why it bit someone or worse it decided to tear someone apart. No such thing as a bad dog, only bad owners..
I never had a problem to ask the host to put the dog away because of me. I definitely wouldn't have that problem for my kids to ask. Only one time the host refused. I thanked them, gave the gift and left after explaining why I can't stay in that case. No hard feelings frem them nor from my side when they refused. I even got a piece of cake to take with me.
Company-wide Zoom meeting. Exec logs in with a bottle of scotch, clearly tipsy. Starts off with, ‘Let's be honest ,none of you are hitting Q4 targets. Nobody said a thing. HR just sent a follow-up email thanking him for being transparent.
That mug started me on a mug-gasm. Join me here: https://tinyurl.com/yzhwsme4
Oh man those mugs are awesome. I've got one a bit like 'em - the handle is shaped like a little dragon! Handmade, too.
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Little tinfoil m**h pipe being casually passed around at a friend-of-a-friend's backyard barbeque. It was an unassuming McMansion suburb and everyone there was mid-30s and kinda nerdy, so it was baffling.
It's wild how some people assume that only poor "lower class" people use illicit substances.
Yep until that substance gives you a piledriver right into lower class. When everyone else is wearing orange too, It really hits home.
Load More Replies... FSU shooter from last month.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it was a white guy who shot and killed two Hispanic men who were workers and did not go to FSU.
I believe he shot 5 other individuals as well, but like the story is just gone. Maybe it is just because I do not live in Tallahassee, but I know someone who called her mom from the student union or cafeteria thinking it was the last call she would ever make.
There are simply too many mass sh**tings per week for another “little” sh**ting to make the national News…and that’s the thing no one is talking about…that Americans are killing one another in war zone level numbers, and no one is taking it seriously.
Or that we are engaged in 37 different active war zones right now. Trump is a distraction, like the cartoons they used to make us watch in school when it's raining outside. So you won't know what's really going on. imo
Load More Replies...It's not important bc the shooter was white and the victims Hispanic. You have to have a POC or, even better, an immigrant, killing white people to have much coverage. Extra rage if the victim is a blond woman.
Added to "list of similarities between MAGA and dictators. Now added: White, blond hair, blue eyes, male, neurotypical, rich, being the 'Ideal American'"
Load More Replies...Mass murders committed by inbred incels with a s s a u l t rifles are one reason I made a will. COVID is the other reason.
I have a daughter who was on growth hormone and adhd meds at the same time. Astonishingly, she failed to go on a gun rampage. Because she didn’t have any other mental health issues and Canada has gun control laws. Whodathunk
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Went on a lads holiday with my mates when I was younger, there was 8 of us altogether and one of them had slept with another one’s’ girlfriend a few months beforehand. Everyone there knew about it and this was the first time the two of them had seen each other since it all came out.
I need more to the story...did they get along during the trip? Was the holiday ruined? What happened?
They HAD to each know the other would be there, right???
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At a global level, the cambridge analytica scandal.
I literally think we have lived the french revolution of our generation.
If the french revolution marks the end of feudalism in favor of parliamentary democracies. The cambridge analytica scandal marks the end of democracy.
It showed that is perfectly possible to change the outcome of elections and it just got worse, and propagated to other countries. Its not only cambridge analytica, nowadays there are dozens of companies doing the same thing.
So essentially they have got the knowledge, the tools and the money to do whatever they want with people.
We are in a completely new social era.
Interference with elections (from other countries - mainly Russia) is starting to become a thing here in Europe, now... Germany, France, Romania, Poland, Hungary, etc. It's like they thought about it and decided that if you can't beat them, make them turn on their own..........
Not just other countries, billionaires are funding far right parties, media to creat discord. The brexit campaign was funded buy rich billionaires. Meanwhile people are losing it over petty things that don't make any difference in there lives, trans, abortion, etc etc and missing the big picture. While corporations pay lower wages, less taxes, and are less and less accountable for the evil actions, the other 99% are arguing about BS
Load More Replies...I didn't ask to have to live through all this. /whine. (Even f*****g so).
Humankind has tried many forms of government in the last 10,000 years - Monarchy, Despotism, Feudalism, Communism, Democracy, Fascism, Republics, Dictatorship etc. It seems we're giving Oligarchy a go. When this fails, let's try Anarchy
This needs more explanation. I read the news for hours every day, but I have never heard of this.
So many people just have no clue what this even is. It's horrifying to me.
Oh you know, the AI police state the US government is building with our tax dollars. Pretty soon everyone will be replaced by robots and AI so that'll be fun, especially because they're using our own money against us.
The science fiction novel I published last year in which the robots took over years ago and nobody even noticed because humanity in general is too busy being wilfully stupid and ignorant is turning more and more into a frigging documentary by the day. I even included mentions of mass deaths caused by a resurgence of measles thanks to anti-vaxx nonsense, which someone told me was "too unrealistic"!
$500 billion invested in AI with a snap of their fingers. Meanwhile, fusion energy has been $30 billion and 30 years away for the last 60 years. Finally a minimum was invested and the ITER project is finally getting underway almost 20 years late. If we dumped $500 billion into fusion research we'd have clean cheap unlimited energy in 15 years, but that would mean an end to fossil fuel dependence.
Meanwhile, AI is replacing office workers right now. And an estimated 60% of office jobs will be eliminated within 20 years. Same for long haul truckers. Highway hauling will be relegated to AI and trucks will only receive drivers in town to pilot cargos to their final desinations. It will eliminate 50% of all transportation jobs. People at repetitive factory jobs or distribution centers like Cisco and Amazon are being replaced more and more by robots. Half the human workforce is scheduled for termination. But companies will make more profit, so thus, they're willing to dump a half trillion on the project without question
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Mine is more like several elephants that people are still trying to ignore. We have had several issues in our department. Injuries/sickness during rehearsals. Rampant sexual h*rassment and discrimination. Verbal ab*se out the wazoo.
It's all been brushed under the rug. people have gotten yelled at and ab*sed further for bringing anything up, or for even posting jokes on social media. All because our department is getting a brand new building that was just built and they're afraid that any little thing will cause them to "lose" it. I'm at the point where I believe we don't deserve that new building with all the things that have been done or covered up, we deserve to be shut down.
Now I've looked at the word too many times, to the point where it has no meaning. Now it sounds like a musical instrument.
Load More Replies...All this information and we still don't know WHERE? I assume a college (department, getting a new building). Why does OP even bother to bring it up?
It seems to be a university or drama school. The OP gives a little more information in the replies on the Reddit post: "Sadly that probably wouldn't work due to factors almost equal in number. Most of the students involved are moving out of town this summer. Plus, a lot of them wouldn't say anything. Worse things happened when I was a student myself and students are often talked into saying whatever is being claimed is not true. When things are reported they often die on the vine because HR, or someone higher up the chain suppresses it. The same would happen with contacting the media. Because students leave every 2-3 years, situations like this build up and almost reach boiling point then just.....disappear because everyone scatters to the wind, and the department gets away with it."
Load More Replies...When my dad told me I was adopted while teaching me the traditional method of flensing.
When I was still in college, there was a tutor who was married and had kids. Everybody knew this , she was very obviously having an affair with another tutor they barely hid it.
Nobody called them out, not even the head of the department.
Some places have rules about intimate relationships in workplace..
Load More Replies...My secondary school was wild. The PE teacher, hunky guy, was doing most of the female teachers married or not, also students. Another teacher was selling pot to students. Most of the teachers were under 25 so you can imagen all the shenanigans that went down. We skipped class once to go to the movies and caught our literature teacher male, in the back with the history teacher, female. Both married. A few years later when I worked the bar and clubs in the same area I'd often have them come in different configuration. I had a crush on the technical drawing teacher, she loved to flirt but never took it further.
That was a personal matter and we don't know what arrangement couples may have.
The amount of actual alcoholics is so much greater... the issue? You're only labeled an acoholic if it affects your surroundings negatively...
If it doesn't, you're just called outgoing, fun-loving... just having your "Feierabendbier"...
It's called a social alcoholic. When someone starts trembling if he can't get a drink at 8 am, then he's a alcoholic. Some people don't seem to know how to stop once they've had a couple. That because you don't realise you are getting drunker because it takes a while for alcohol to get into your blood. Alcohol also makes you thirsty, so it's a good idea to drink water after every alcoholic drink..stops you dehydrating.
its like being happy. you can be so happy it makes you mad. to the point that you want to achieve the highest feeling of happiness you'll do whatever it takes.
Load More Replies...This is not nearly as bad as some of the other ones, but I have a friend who I have confessed to on two separate occasions, they said they felt the same, and then nothing happened in person, we both just ignored it (ON BOTH OCCASIONS).
What did you confess to that they felt the same way about? Was it unironically liking Taylor Swift?
nah, it was what happened on the grassy knoll and who shot JFK
Load More Replies...Any chance we can edit out all the Trump stuff? I know he's behaving like a lunatic - I suspect everyone except him knows - I'm just getting fed up with it appearing in so many articles.
I worked in a liquor store and a customer told me how he was having an affair and was thinking of divorcing his wife. A couple of weeks later, my girlfriend took me to a barbecue hosted by some new friends of hers. As we arrived, we saw the guy standing in the driveway…he and his wife were the new friends. I never saw someone go as pale as he did when he saw me step out of the car….
Any chance we can edit out all the Trump stuff? I know he's behaving like a lunatic - I suspect everyone except him knows - I'm just getting fed up with it appearing in so many articles.
I worked in a liquor store and a customer told me how he was having an affair and was thinking of divorcing his wife. A couple of weeks later, my girlfriend took me to a barbecue hosted by some new friends of hers. As we arrived, we saw the guy standing in the driveway…he and his wife were the new friends. I never saw someone go as pale as he did when he saw me step out of the car….
