Tide Pod eating

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
A fad, and what are fads about?

Belonging to a social group.

When the need to belong is so strong that you'll eat laundry detergent in order to fit in.

This sort of behavior is fascinating to me. Obviously not all kids are eating Tide Pods. Most of them are going, "Are you effing crazy? I'm not eating a freaking Tide Pod. But I'll watch you do it and laugh at your sorry ass." But enough kids are participating in this asinine stunt that it's thing and has caught the attention of the media. You could make a political and religious parallel to this phenomenon: what makes people want to belong so badly that they'll act against their best interest, and drink poisoned soft drinks?

That's what cults are all about: zeroing in on those who want to belong. Give them what they want (acceptance) and they will reward you with loyalty even if it's destructive to them. The Manson Family - many of them were nice kids from good families. They didn't start out as murderers and sociopaths. One of the Manson girls, I forget which, said straight out that she was a nice college girl who wanted to belong to the hippie crowd because she thought they were cool. Charlie Manson came along and bingo - she was in.

Boy, was she in.

Tide Pod eaters and Manson girls - same same.

Then there's the ringleader. Some kid somewhere said, "Hey, I'll bet I can get a bunch of strangers on the internet to eat laundry detergent. And what's more, I can get them to get other people to do it." That's power, man. It's a talent to manipulate strangers into doing your bidding, even if it's against every grain of common sense they own and may literally kill them.

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking about today.
 
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GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Tide POD Eaters ....

I'll be you 100 bucks you cannot down a 1/5 of Vodka in 5 min

I'll be you 100 bucks you cannot eat this pound of Salt in 5 min



etc
 

black dog

Free America
A bartender in Texas 25 years ago, here watch this become a fad, as he puts a slice of lime in a Corona..
 

hitchicken

Active Member
Kids… and people are bored and lazy. There are no more lands or avenues to explore that offer immediate gratification and satisfaction. There is nowhere to go. Discovering advances in science, technology, mathematics and medicine takes too long and are too hard to attain… as individuals. Better (and easier) to do something stupid and self-harmful and get ’15 minutes’ visibility and ‘fame’ than to go the more difficult route. Even traveling around, protesting, kneeling and misbehaving for causes you’re unsure of or unaware of is better than doing… nothing. Living a quiet, peaceful, protected life has become too… boring. Time to act up.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
That's what cults are all about: zeroing in on those who want to belong. .

As a former member of a cult - I can say without a doubt that THAT is not the defining characteristic of cult members, although it is just as true of cults as it is of any social group.
(As in, ANY social group will have people joining because they are lonely or want something to belong to).

Having read dozens of books on cults since leaving, the defining characteristic of cults is --- idealism.
The desire not to fit in, but to gain value by making a difference. And to believe it can happen.
This explains why so many cults have popular people, intelligent people, successful people and so on.
They do it because it satisfies a need to change things and make things better.

That SAID - lots of cults are very destructive, teach utterly stupid things, control people in absurd fashion and people stick it out like a battered wife sticks with a husband -
they think it's their fault it hasn't worked or they still think it will or what have you.

It's not peer pressure, as in the Tide Pod stuff. Most cult members had to fight peer pressure to join in the first place.
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
As a former member of a cult - I can say without a doubt that THAT is not the defining characteristic of cult members, although it is just as true of cults as it is of any social group.
(As in, ANY social group will have people joining because they are lonely or want something to belong to).

Having read dozens of books on cults since leaving, the defining characteristic of cults is --- idealism.
The desire not to fit in, but to gain value by making a difference. And to believe it can happen.
This explains why so many cults have popular people, intelligent people, successful people and so on.
They do it because it satisfies a need to change things and make things better.

That SAID - lots of cults are very destructive, teach utterly stupid things, control people in absurd fashion and people stick it out like a battered wife sticks with a husband -
they think it's their fault it hasn't worked or they still think it will or what have you.

It's not peer pressure, as in the Tide Pod stuff. Most cult members had to fight peer pressure to join in the first place.

Scientology
 

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
A fad, and what are fads about?

Belonging to a social group.

When the need to belong is so strong that you'll eat laundry detergent in order to fit in.

This sort of behavior is fascinating to me. Obviously not all kids are eating Tide Pods. Most of them are going, "Are you effing crazy? I'm not eating a freaking Tide Pod. But I'll watch you do it and laugh at your sorry ass." But enough kids are participating in this asinine stunt that it's thing and has caught the attention of the media. You could make a political and religious parallel to this phenomenon: what makes people want to belong so badly that they'll act against their best interest, and drink poisoned soft drinks?

That's what cults are all about: zeroing in on those who want to belong. Give them what they want (acceptance) and they will reward you with loyalty even if it's destructive to them. The Manson Family - many of them were nice kids from good families. They didn't start out as murderers and sociopaths. One of the Manson girls, I forget which, said straight out that she was a nice college girl who wanted to belong to the hippie crowd because she thought they were cool. Charlie Manson came along and bingo - she was in.

Boy, was she in.

Tide Pod eaters and Manson girls - same same.

Then there's the ringleader. Some kid somewhere said, "Hey, I'll bet I can get a bunch of strangers on the internet to eat laundry detergent. And what's more, I can get them to get other people to do it." That's power, man. It's a talent to manipulate strangers into doing your bidding, even if it's against every grain of common sense they own and may literally kill them.

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking about today.

You used to know my kid. She did the stupid salt/ice and the cinnamon challenges. Hopefully, she hasn't done any more of the stupid #### challenges.
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
Come and get 'em, kiddies!

FB_IMG_1516391176522.jpg
 
If you eat one of these pods, will it get rid of the skid marks in your undies?

Just asking for a friend....
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
As a former member of a cult - I can say without a doubt that THAT is not the defining characteristic of cult members, although it is just as true of cults as it is of any social group.
(As in, ANY social group will have people joining because they are lonely or want something to belong to).

Having read dozens of books on cults since leaving, the defining characteristic of cults is --- idealism.
The desire not to fit in, but to gain value by making a difference. And to believe it can happen.
This explains why so many cults have popular people, intelligent people, successful people and so on.
They do it because it satisfies a need to change things and make things better.

That SAID - lots of cults are very destructive, teach utterly stupid things, control people in absurd fashion and people stick it out like a battered wife sticks with a husband -
they think it's their fault it hasn't worked or they still think it will or what have you.

It's not peer pressure, as in the Tide Pod stuff. Most cult members had to fight peer pressure to join in the first place.

:yay:
 
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