It’s literally the same as talking about ghosts or whatever the fuck
This is infinitely more off-putting than astrology to me.
I feel extremely uncomfortable when people are talking about paranormal/pseudoscientific topics and it's ambiguous whether they actually believe it or not. Like it's to the point where I'd be looking to steer the conversation away from it or consider options for finding other plans. Being expected to go along with it puts my anxiety through the roof.
It's a similar discomfort to how I feel when people go into an anti-communist tirade in my presence. Like I want to say something in opposition, but I fear saying something will turn group consensus against me.
I refuse to be categorized into the reddit dudebro category of people who fetishize their concept of "rationality" because I feel exceptionally off-put by this type of conversation.
Word. woo and magic make me extremely uncomfortable. I don't want to be around people who assert that up is down and 2+2=5. It's the same kind of unsettling feeling as being around Evangelical Christians; There's a fundamental disconnect, a disagreement about reality on it's most basic levels, and it makes conversing with people who believe in woo unsafe. You don't know what topics are safe to discuss or when you have to keep your mouth shut to avoid giving offense.
It's more than just that, it makes people hard to predict in ways that are frustrating. Like, they will make bizzare and extreme decisions because of whatever nonsense they believe, but not very often. Just often enough you can't trust them, not often enough you can figure out the rules.
So it's just a constant source of anxiety, when will the day come that it happens.
That's fair I guess. I personally feed off the energy of being the one guy in a conversation who doesn't believe in ghosts or who is defending the Soviet Union, but with the paranormal I just think that the stakes of believing in it are so low that taking it seriously is just a waste of effort.
I mean, don't get me wrong, if I have a few drinks in me I'll vehemently defend the Soviet Union.
It's a little different when you feel like you're taking a dump on people's religious or pseudo-religious views. I don't want to be put in a position where someone feels belittled by my defense of my opinions.
Like if someone believes in ghosts and says "omg I definitely saw a ghost/my grandma spoke to me in a dream", I'm not gonna tell them they're fabricating reality based on what they want to believe.
Same! My otherwise-reasonable friends, many of who are/were scientists, will start talking about ghosts and seriously asking if I believe in them and trying to come up with any possible explanation for how ghosts could be real and I’m just like… what the fuck are you doing? Why am I being targeted rn for not believing in ghosts?
This is infinitely more off-putting than astrology to me.
I feel extremely uncomfortable when people are talking about paranormal/pseudoscientific topics and it's ambiguous whether they actually believe it or not. Like it's to the point where I'd be looking to steer the conversation away from it or consider options for finding other plans. Being expected to go along with it puts my anxiety through the roof.
It's a similar discomfort to how I feel when people go into an anti-communist tirade in my presence. Like I want to say something in opposition, but I fear saying something will turn group consensus against me.
I refuse to be categorized into the reddit dudebro category of people who fetishize their concept of "rationality" because I feel exceptionally off-put by this type of conversation.
Word. woo and magic make me extremely uncomfortable. I don't want to be around people who assert that up is down and 2+2=5. It's the same kind of unsettling feeling as being around Evangelical Christians; There's a fundamental disconnect, a disagreement about reality on it's most basic levels, and it makes conversing with people who believe in woo unsafe. You don't know what topics are safe to discuss or when you have to keep your mouth shut to avoid giving offense.
It's more than just that, it makes people hard to predict in ways that are frustrating. Like, they will make bizzare and extreme decisions because of whatever nonsense they believe, but not very often. Just often enough you can't trust them, not often enough you can figure out the rules.
So it's just a constant source of anxiety, when will the day come that it happens.
Word.
That's fair I guess. I personally feed off the energy of being the one guy in a conversation who doesn't believe in ghosts or who is defending the Soviet Union, but with the paranormal I just think that the stakes of believing in it are so low that taking it seriously is just a waste of effort.
I mean, don't get me wrong, if I have a few drinks in me I'll vehemently defend the Soviet Union.
It's a little different when you feel like you're taking a dump on people's religious or pseudo-religious views. I don't want to be put in a position where someone feels belittled by my defense of my opinions.
Like if someone believes in ghosts and says "omg I definitely saw a ghost/my grandma spoke to me in a dream", I'm not gonna tell them they're fabricating reality based on what they want to believe.
Same! My otherwise-reasonable friends, many of who are/were scientists, will start talking about ghosts and seriously asking if I believe in them and trying to come up with any possible explanation for how ghosts could be real and I’m just like… what the fuck are you doing? Why am I being targeted rn for not believing in ghosts?