ok wait a minute, i think i can make this *deliciously* meta. so here’s a brief experiment. i’m going to tell you the same (true!) information in two different ways and you can tell me what your visceral emotional reaction is
[CW: cringe content, based content]
Conversation
1. I’m a kissless virgin. I’ve never dated anyone or asked anyone out. For years, I’ve been lonely and horny most of the time, and read erotica and jacked off instead of making an effort to connect with real people. I often use escapist romantic fantasies to help me fall asleep.
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(even while writing this i had to resist the urge to reduce the cringe. i *think* i’ve now made it as cringe as i can fit in 280 characters)
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2. For a long time, I didn’t make any real effort to get a gf/bf—despite really wanting one—in part because I had my own shit to work through, but also because of my own cowardice. COVID has made it harder, but I am trying to meet people and hopefully I’ll find someone special.
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(‘actually, i identify as an Alpha Virgin’)
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it’s not perfect, but i expect that you had different reactions to those two tweets
now for the meta-level: does the fact i’m doing this experiment make me higher or lower status in your eyes? now the fact that i asked that question, does it make me higher or lower status? etc.
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so far some people seem to have thought this whole thing made me higher status, about as i had expected
Quote Tweet
Replying to @thinkagainer and @acidshill
the visceral feeling is "oh yeah, that's exposed and sucky and intimate, and that's difficult and admirable, esp for Science"
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so i gotta ask, in the rationalist sphere, what does actually lower someone’s status? (excepting things that are just immoral; i’m looking for stuff which is shameful/embarrassing/cringe but not evil)
please RT i am very curious about this
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i think i lost status in some people's eyes by saying inflammatory careless shit about the community awhile back, and also for running a class on chakras at a CFAR alumni reunion
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damn if you can't say inflammatory careless shit what's the point
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yeah that's part of why i left