Pet Peeves (mild hostility) Flashcards
Pet Peeves may be better way to envision hostility - more like attitude than true hostility - THREES formula implies that hostility is a necessary ingredient of jokes - there are lots of pet peeves once you start thinking about them - just under our civilized skin - TM exercise - nothing too small (think mosquito) - the more specific, the better - general targets are not funny - general pet peeves are not funny
Death of Objectivity - News Media - erosion of objectivity - rise of news as entertainment
WEIRD / STUPID / HARD
Being told we are Angry by media - and believing it - actual public civility is quite extraordinary
SCARY / HARD / STUPID
My Body - Erosion of bodily function - weak bladder
HARD / SCARY / WEIRD
My Body - Sugar intolerance after retailers are finally offering irresistible sweets - Trader Joe’s and Costco
Great Ambition / Limited Talent / Unlimited Laziness
HARD / WEIRD
Inflation - erosion of financial resources - particularly difficult for retirees - thank God for Trader Joe’s, Amazon and Costco
HARD / SCARY / STUPID
Human Nature - blame game - always wanting to find someone to blame
STUPID
Political nominating process that generates terrible candidates
HARD / SCARY / STUPID
My hatred of fear - true hostility - counter-phobic personality - anxiety has taken quite a toll from me - anxiety has generated some poor decisions and behaviors
HARD / SCARY / STUPID / WEIRD
Auto-Renew - marketers taking advantage of human weakness - guilt and anger that I let them get away with it - combination of procrastination and laziness - I just put my foot down with unauthorized renewal from Box - sneaky bastards
HARD / WEIRD / STUPID
Terrible spam blocking software - spam emails keep coming back
HARD / STUPID
Cable Television - absurdity of paying to see advertising - paying lots of money..,
STUPID / HARD
Passwords - equivalent to locking ourselves out of our own houses
HARD / SCARY
The Venality of computer viruses - what kind of creeps would do this?
SCARY / WEIRD / HARD
The difficulty of being funny - it’s really hard - who knew?
HARD
Bad things about human nature - there are so many things - cruelty, savagery, anger, theft, rape, oppression - perhaps the paradox of human nature - we are also capable of amazing things
SCARY / HARD / WEIRD
Mass Media Hypnotism - we are all becoming zombies
SCARY / WEIRD
People who have strong opinions that differ from mine (strong opinions) …
HARD
That our life is finite and knowing it - the personal problem of having to die
SCARY / HARD
That I was not born a genius - that would have solved everything - that I want to be extraordinary with a truly ordinary brain - might make things too easy - new problem might be boredom or superior attitude
HARD
Belief that politicians are going to save us - siren song that seems very dangerous to me - why not save ourselves?
STUPID / SCARY
The transformation of News into Entertainment
STUPID
Daily “tit for tat” competition between political ideologies and the difficulty I have in ignoring the game
STUPID / STUPID
Political Ideologues telling me how I should think
That I have to settle for normal, most of the time
That I’m not really special
That my voice is only one of billions
That people do not believe I should be exempted from rules - unfortunately the rules I break are not very important
Our shortening attention span, or is it just me? How do you document something like this?
SCARY / WEIRD
That being beloved is so difficult to achieve (earn)
HARD
That being loved and being selfish don’t go together - I like this a lot
HARD
We have access to more information than ever before, however our collective wisdom seems to be shrinking
SCARY / WEIRD
That movie stars and celebrities are afforded more respect, prestige and credibility than hard working highly educated experts - what’s wrong with us - the masses are asses
STUPID / WEIRD
That truth is only true within its own domain - there is no universal truth - another fairy tale idea that must be tossed aside - worst yet - I lived 72 years without knowing this
That our right of passage out of childhood is the realization that our mom and dad and the entire world has been lying to us about Santa after telling us over and over to believe - and then we promise not to not spill the beans to younger people -we become active participants in the deception
WEIRD
That disappointment is the price we pay when our idealistic and unrealistic dreams collide with reality
HARD
That people do not automatically like me - that friendship is so difficult to achieve - maybe that’s why friendships are considered so valuable
HARD
That intimacy is not my thing
HARD
That I am still longing for popularity fifty years after high school
STUPID / WEIRD
That optimism is the sharpest tool in my toolbox, no strong skills - seems unfair to have such high ambitions and such low talents
HARD / WEIRD
That I never quite made the grade in the looks department and worse yet, that I feel terrible about it, as if it would solve all of my problems - most likely it would cause more problems than benefits (infidelity)
STUPID / WEIRD
That I am selfish and self-centered - I’m actually okay with it - perhaps that is the problem - I try to be nice about my selfishness, but it’s still selfishness - wait a minute - are we not all self-centered and selfish - it’s called viewpoint - it’s called identity - it’s called taking care of yourself - I just don’t like it when other people are selfish and self-centered
WEIRD
That progress is so destructive and disruptive
HARD
Different hygiene standards between men and women - source of tension - my wife’s version of clean house is radically different than mine
HARD / WEIRD
Entertaining at home - not fun - just an excuse for cleaning up the house - not fun - it will be fun when we go to their house (makes no sense to me)
HARD / WEIRD / STUPID
My obsession with status - my competitive nature - pecker-checker mentality - how many people are below me? - how many above - human nature? Always looking at small percent above - billions below - why would being better off than others make me feel good?
HARD / WEIRD
That I would like the status of being an accomplished person but not the responsibility - I was always okay with hard work and singular focus - my primary accomplishment in life has been that I have somehow navigated myself through life and wound up in a pretty good place
WEIRD
Retirement is like dying and coming back as a human being - I hated work but convinced myself that I loved it - that kind of lie uses up a lot of energy…
WEIRD / HARD / SCARY
That complaining may be just another form of being happy (singing the blues) - in other words - complaining is fun - doesn’t everyone know that? Is it a form of play? Many women say that they are not looking for solutions, they just want a sympathetic ear
WEIRD / SCARY
I hate complainers - better stated - I hate criticizers - better stated - I hate being criticized - simply stated - I hate my wife complaining about me and criticizing me
HARD / STUPID
I hate the truth - whatever that is
At best, life is all about just being tolerated by others
HARD
Love - look out for the sledge hammer when the illusion wears off - love is for strangers
HARD / SCARY / WEIRD
Harsh Critic of everyone - knocking everyone down to size - we view ourselves in the most positive light (looking in the mirror for a positive look, then assuming that everyone will see us in our imagined best light)
WEIRD / DTUPID / HARD
High School Cruelty - I wish I was on the giving side rather than the receiving side - I was more mocked than bullied - high school misery is fairly common - I returned the favor in college - I was cruel and mocking - seasoned veteran - shameful - truly immature - so afraid of being mocked myself
WEIRD / STUPID / HARD / SCARY
Irritation - kid who was ultimate mocker and comedian and who got his girl friend pregnant in high school became the wealthiest alumni in my class - retired at age fifty
HARD