Why are you so focused on the possibility that the author is lying about how loud her kid was? Listen, I know we all have our own personal examples of oblivious parents letting their screaming kids ruin our day, but that doesn’t have to be the case - and I think that focusing on that side of things, the mere…

I think that if you’re preoccupied by the mere presence of a small person, then that’s your own problem.

Remember when vaccine formulas were changed, not because of scientific evidence, but to calm down anti-vaxxers? This reminds me of that.

My ooooonly response to the “women are too emotional, they might nuke someone” argument: Women aren’t the ones going on shooting sprees in schools and churches every other day. One could make a very rational argument that men are, in fact, the impulsively emotional ones that shouldn’t be trusted.

I remember an episode of House where the good Dr is snarking a nun for seeking medical care. She says that her God is looking out for her, but that if she breaks her arm, he still expects her to put a cast on it.

I don’t think people realize how big a disruption it really is to be interrupted when reading. It’s not like asking a question of someone who is busy cooking or driving. Reading puts you in this completely different place, mentally, that takes a while to get back to once you’re interrupted.

“you’re really into ____” is never a great way of interrupting any activity, tbh

What fresh “asking for it” fuckery is this?! ew ew ew

yes. There are no circumstances under which I want to stop listening to This American Life and start talking to a random stranger instead.

I pulled the militant ignoring trick a lot, too. Except then I was always too mad and distracted to actually focus on the book again anyway. But I’d still angrily stare at the book/device, because I didn’t want to let them know they’d succeeded...

Ooooh the kindle! How do you like that? Don’t you prefer a real book? You look like you do a lot of reading. Yeah, I was thinking of getting an iPad... Let’s talk about your Kindle, because obviously you just love the Kindle and this will be a great conversation, certainly more interesting than the book that you…

This! Why the fuck would I want to talk to somebody who has no opinion whatsoever on this book? I’ve been asked so many times, “what’s it about?”

Must be smart, reading like that all the time.

And if ten year olds ARE having the sex, somehow? Does taking away birth control options solve the problem? No, it doesn’t. Birth control is not the problem here. The fact that a ten year old has an opportunity to ask about birth control means that perhaps there’s somebody to be made aware of the fact that this ten…

I wonder what good could possibly come of talking to a stranger at the grocery store about their possible suicide attempt. People. Come on.

I do enjoy when sticking up for someone else justifies flexing my meanness muscles.

I had surgery on my finger earlier this year for a benign bone tumor. Not cancerous, but not fun to talk about, because every time it comes up, I have to have the whole it’s-not-cancer talk anyway.