Reading r_pendragon's journal

It occurs to me that children are being warped, from a fairly early age, to feel strong emotion about things that don't necessarily require it.

For example, take "The Velveteen Rabbit." It's just one of countless stories where children are coaxed into feeling guilt over the fate of an inanimate object. I hated that story when I was a child because it made me feel guilty whenever my mother asked me to donate some old toys to goodwill. I suppose the more recent equivalent would be "Toy Story 2," where the Adam Sandler-voiced penguin is barely rescued from ending up as garage-sale merchandise.

The entire message of "Toy Story" is really a bit psychotic. "Be nice to your toys, kiddies, or they'll rise up and SLAY YOU!" That is warped. As an adult who's suffered through that movie more times than I can count– one of the kids at my preschool in Japan wanted to watch it every day: "TOY STORY GA II! TOY STORY MITAI!"– I can agree that it's a cute little film. But the message? Appropriate? Um, with some reflection: no.

This kind of emotionally manipulative bullshit is directed at adults, too. Last summer, the Tokyo metropolitan government had an ad campaign to stop smoking in public places. (Since the whole city is submerged in a haze of nicotine smog.) I can't remember the precise ad, but it was something to the effect of: "Inhaled, loved, exhaled, thrown away. If it were anything but a cigarette, it would be crying."

Ouch.

Poor little cigarette. Do it the honor of a decent Christian burial and put it in the ashtray where it belongs, won't you?

I am tired of people/situations/attitudes that try to prevail on my sympathies and make me feel bad about things that don't even possess feelings.

But in conjunction with this, I'm tired of having people try to make me feel emotional about things that, up until we were speaking, I felt completely fine about. My old Roommate™ and I were talking about this the other day, in part reflecting upon our time in Japan. One thing that I've noticed is how tired I am of having people ask me if I miss Japan.

Well, of course, you moron. Thanks for bringing it up.

I understand that to some extent, people just try to make small talk, and since I'm everyone's token "hey, she lived in Japan for awhile" girl, it's not surprising that Japan comes up.

But I don't want to have some in-depth conversation about how I miss my friends, apartment, Tokyo life. I'm trying to focus on the U.S. things that I'm so glad to have back in my life, not get misty-eyed when I dig in a coat pocket and find ¥57. What then burns me further are the people who seem kind of miffy that I don't want to talk about my "experiences."

Sorry if I don't see it as "experiences from which others can learn." To me, it's a part of my life and I don't want it dissected, and somehow that's made me cold, when seen through the lens of Emotional Supremacy.

Grr.

My stepdad isn't mean, he's just adjusting. -Death to Smoochy