Reminds me of the time I saw people arguing on Reddit about the phrase “time is a social construct” where some people were completely incapable of understanding what that means and conflating the concept of time with the fundamental physics thingymcgee (idk how to call it and entity feels wrong).
People were trying so hard to explain that minutes, months, seasons, etc. are all arbitrary things made up only for them to retort with “but a year is a full rotation of the sun” or “seasons exist because that’s how the planet changes its climate”.
with this heat wave, wearing any clothes is also a social construct.
More like: not wearing bedouin robes: https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-08-16/the-bedouin-lesson-a-scientific-study-proves-robes-are-the-best-garment-to-wear-in-the-desert-heat.html
In desert heat. Humidity is a thing.
It is a social construct, and we live in a society… so put your damn socks on
Parents feeding their kids is also a social construct. The Ancients tossed their kids in the salt mines quite early.
The children yearn for the mines
You see, in this world there’s two kinds of children, my friend: Those with Playstation 5s and those who dig.
I mean, if you have daughters send em to the work the corner. Probably a much better ROI if you can overlook being your daugher’s pimp.
Sadly, the younger the daughter, probably the better ROI both over time and initially. Now I feel gross for recognizing that evil exists in this world as more than just a concept, some people embody it.
Serious question:
I moved to an area that should be 5 degrees cooler on average than home, but this summer is killing me and I have a lot of stuff outside to work on, plus I recently got back on my meds, which all have heat sensitivity advisories so, yeah… probably not helping, but bipolar meds are generally fairly necessarily, unfortunately.
So, the question: Where could I purchase a legit Bedouin robe for the cooling effects; preferably online as I don’t think they have too many robe shops in central AR?
I’m not afraid to look like a weirdo in my own back yard.
Hell the neighbors on one side a retired potheads with strong hippy vibes, the other side is a young family of musicians… the dude rocks a waxed handle bar mustache regularly so I really don’t care for his opinions on style. To each their own.
Nick sounds like a dipshit if he can’t figure out how to argue against socks being a social construct.
Having a parent who clothes and feeds you is a social construct too. Funny how people think that “social construct” means that something is bad or should be dismissed when none of us would be here without social constructs.
At least this time the argument is being made by the only age group where I would give them a pass for being stupid. Unless that kid is past the age of 12, that is.
I think the point is the fact it’s a social construct on its own is neither pro or against the thing itself, rather that it can/should be able to be questioned.
Yes wearing socks is a social construct, but it provides inherent benefits such as reducing the smell produced by your feet and lingering in the shoes. It also helps protect your feet further in some ways then just a shoe alone would.
Yeah often “x is a social construct” as an argument means “you’re treating it as if its immutable and a given”
Sure, things should be questioned, but 9 out of 10 times where I have seen someone bring up social construct as an argument it has always been negative, always used to dismiss the so-called social construct. I can’t really recall a single time where it has been used by people who weren’t going through a rebellious phase where it’s all about being a contrarian and rarely about being genuinely curious about the validity of this and that social construct. Sometimes I have also seen things that are objectively not social constructs being labeled social constructs so I have a hard time taking it seriously when it’s brought up.
Yeah I don’t disagree that a lot of the time, especially when used by kids or edge lords it’s moreso just a way to try to end conversation, but I do think it’s worth having that discussion when it comes up if they’re in good faith.
Like here the op should absolutely explain why it is a social construct instead of what it appears they’re implying they do which is just… Either give up or probably force the kid to do it anyway without explaining.
I was one of those kids who always asked why and most adults just wanted me to shut the fuck up. 🤷♂️ I definitely also was an edge lord in my teens and grew out of that for the most part, but throughout I didn’t lose my curiosity.
I think a lot of kids have that curiosity beaten out of them unfortunately and we should try to encourage it more. Idk tho I swore off having kids
Definitely. I also think that this specific sock case is pretty innocent and a good excuse to have a stimulating discussion with the kiddo about it. I also don’t get why the parent appeared to have just given up, because I do think that one of the most fun conversations I have ever had have been when I talked with kids about how the world works and they ask me questions where I have to think before answering.
And I am completely agreeing with you that it is worth talking about if people are in good faith. It was just never something I came across in the wild a few years back. It was, as you said, always used as a way to end a discussion and actually to get people to not question anything. It’s a social construct, ergo it is bad and questioning why it’s supposedly bad makes you a bigot. So I just have a very ingrown adverse reaction to that term whenever I see it.
Sucks that your inquisitive nature was dampened, but honestly, I think it’s one of the great things we can do for ourselves in adulthood - keep asking questions and find the answers ourselves. I went through a weird knowledge-gathering phase for a few years while working on a worldbuilding project. Got into things I would have never thought about otherwise. Just constant questions about how this and that works, what is this, what is that? Why are things like this? Who does this and that in society? How are continents formed? Where does coffee grow any why? Do dreadlocks remain dreadlocks as they grow? (They do) How were languages formed? How were alphabets formed? How are parasites beneficial to the ecosystem? Can you surgically change a person’s eye color? (You can) How did the Ottoman Empire fall and why? Would gooseberry lollipops be popular with kids? How long does it take to bake bread in a volcano? How old is the oldest tree in the world? (That’s how I learned about Prometheus and the infuriating end to a 5000+ year long lifespan because one stupid university graduate decided that cutting it down for science was more important than letting it live).
Yadda yadda yadda. Honestly, it becomes kind of addictive once you get going with these types of questions. It’s a lot of fun. I hope you still ask questions, my friend! Don’t let that part of you die 🤗
'Your allowance is a social construct, so I guess we won’t be doing that anymore…"
Tell that to the soldiers in the US Civil War that got gangrene.
Some social constructs serve a purpose.
I like Max Stirner’s perspective. Like you said, they can be useful - but we can also give them too much authority over us. It’s important to be aware of that.
Exactly. Money is a useful construct, but if you look at everything associated with it it’s insane. A tool for tracking the value of goods and services has resulted in wall street, crypto currency, and people burying gold in their yards. It’s become a status symbol to hold this placeholder for labor without doing labor.
I’m not necessarily on board with a moneyless society anytime soon, but I am definitely currency critical.
Yeah, fuck socks! They don’t own me!
Exactly! “Boys” socks, “girls” socks, no - my socks.
Many things are social constructs, but we also live in social groups
Yup, if you can manage to live off the grid and not have to worry about social constructs again, go for it, though I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.
You would still be carrying the social constructs you have internalized throughout your life. You probably have the ability to think logically, and refer to things by their names, but logical thinking and language are also social constructs.
Yeah, but nobody minds social constructs they like.
lonely
Socks serve a practical purpose when combined with shoes. They prevent rubbing (blisters) and they keep the skin cells and oils from your feet from the insides of your shoes.
Shoes serve a practical purpose in that they protect your feet from rocks, glass, and hot pavement. Did our ancestors need shoes? No. But humans have made our environments less friendly to bare feet
The natural world is pretty unfriendly to bare feet, too.
Feet will naturally build up thick, tough, resilient calluses in natural environments. There have been some interesting studies done on this topic with indigenous groups.
What are you talking about? The oldest shoe we’ve found is roughly 10000 years old.
Our ancestors absolutely needed shoes. That’s why they made them.
Our ancestors DID need shoes. Footprints in South Africa dated to be between 75K and 136K years old show footwear in use. We invented shoes possibly 100,000 years before we invented written language.
I would encourage you to take a hike through Greenland barefoot and come back to me with the “humans have made our environment less friendly to bare feet” line. It is, for the most part, the exact opposite that is the case. Nature is not friendly to bare feet in the slightest hence why humans have been wearing shoes long before recorded history.
It’s really social norms, not anything else. There are probably more sharp and pointy things in the wilderness, then where we walk day to day.
My dream would be able to walk around the office barefoot and have it not even be considered weird.
Hookworm infections are definately in decline due to wearing shoes. Ill take shoes over hookworms.
I don’t think anyone’s feet would enjoy walking on asphalt at noon at 35°+
Plus people who lived in the wilderness famously had long lives
Not really. Socks used to be the layer of what you wore first if needed, and then wrapped your feet in animal skins as the extra outer layer we would now consider “shoes.” Shoes and socks were just sort of a combined foot bag/bundle for thousands of years, and many cultures developed socks and/or shoes independently, meaning they are not a social construct if numerous cultures are inventing them for practical purposes.
Having a shit is a natural process, however doing it privately in toilets is nowadays somewhat of a social construct.
So, should I stop using the toilet and use your bed instead?(Edit: I didn’t think I needed to add an /s but…)
Don’t tell that to your kid unless you want them to start pooping in your bed.
Ha, I’ve had that happen when our kids were little yet didn’t think of that at all. Thanks for making me laugh and bringing back the nightmare of the midnight pooper 🤣
Not accepting every social construct isn’t the same as rejecting every social construct.
This is a counter, specifically, to " because it is a social construct, therefore I won’t do it."
It’s more nuanced. It’s ‘this is a social construct, therefore I can just decide whether I want to accept it, and I dont’
Except in this example, it’s a kid using the argument to get out of “anything and everything”. This isn’t a necessarily a nuanced situation, this is using their own logic against them because they think they found a cheat code to not doing what they don’t want to do.
Ah fair! I wasn’t super clear, I was more talking about my comment than the original post.
You could’ve just said, “please shit in my bed.”
With the added /s it still reads like you’re using an example to explain why things shouldn’t be rejected based on them being social constructs. The edit just reads like you’re smug about it. If that’s not what you’re saying, can you explain what you mean?
can you explain what you mean?
Yes.
Nah, use the designated shitting street just like everyone else
The proper retort would be, “so?”
“I’ll socially construct the back of my hand upside your head you little shit.”
lol this is amazing
Your mum is a social construct.
