r/thanksimcured • u/Wholesome_Soup • 6d ago
Comment Section “you have a phobia? have you tried getting over it?
not my post
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u/EmiTheEpic 6d ago
I bet those same people wouldn’t be happy if they found a more common phobia like a spider on their bed and then were told “ffs just pick it up and stop being a crybaby”
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u/AliceTea63 5d ago
My mom has a horrible fear of snakes . She will yell and cry when they are on tv. She won’t even let me say the word. But she laughs and mocks me when I’m afraid of spiders and tells me to “ get over it “ So that 100% tracks
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u/EmiTheEpic 5d ago
I’m really sorry this happens to you! You don’t deserve it, your phobia is just as valid as hers!
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u/Putrid-Economics4862 5d ago
Every time she does that, you should pull up a picture of a snake and show it to her. Or maybe just buy a rubber snake for 5 bucks and throw it at her.
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u/GamerEsch 5d ago
Right? I can picture "But mom, look the size of this spider [photo of snake]! Oh sorry, wrong photo! Wait why are you panicking it's just a photo! Stop being a crybaby"
Turn it around.
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u/MyLifeisTangled 5d ago
My “turn it around” thought was to record the laughter and mockery then play it back at her the next time she freaks about snakes. OR laugh and do the same mockery, THEN pull up the recording to show her it’s exactly what she said to OP.
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u/Silenthilllz 5d ago
My mom does the same thing, she’s very scared of snakes and I don’t make fun of her for her fear but she gets very huffy and mad if I don’t want to put my hands in a nest of black widows
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u/Snoo-88741 5d ago
I'm not scared of spiders but anyone sane would be afraid to touch a black widow!
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u/Silenthilllz 5d ago
My yard is home to many black widows and brown recluses. I know the exact places where they make nests and unfortunately I have to put my hands in there for yard maintenance 😞
I didn’t even have a glove on once and one crawled over my hand
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u/Shot-Ad-6717 5d ago
Nope. My one and only response to that would be to burn it all down. Fuck that. If she wants the yard done, she can do it herself. Though my phobia is severe 😅
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 3d ago
My spider issues are not severe, but I’d avoid doing yard work to avoid those spiders.
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u/idontknow149w 5d ago
my mother used to do the same thing until I left a little Gardner snake in her bed. she never spoke about my spider fear again..
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u/MyMainIsInTheShop 5d ago
If I were you, I’d be buying a plastic snake for the next time this situation comes up.
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u/AliceTea63 5d ago
I have several rubber ones . A few rats too >:) perks of working a Halloween store
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u/Ortsarecool 5d ago
So....every time she makes fun of your fear of spiders, you just yell the word snake while showing her photos on your phone right?
Or am I just petty...?
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u/serioustransvibes 5d ago
I mean, I have arachnophobia and I get told stuff like this all the time. People will be like “I’m also scared of spiders but you just gotta grow up and get over yourself” and I just sit there like… a phobia isn’t the same thing as “being scared” of a thing. I’m beyond terrified of spiders, will avoid a room for days if I see one that didn’t get killed or thrown out, I got asked “what would you do if there was no one there to help you, would you just not go home?” once. The answer is yes, and I have 10 years worth of that happening to back it up. It’s completely irrational and I’m aware of it, I already feel like a pathetic person for it, but people will happily tell me just how much of a pathetic crybaby I am whenever my phobia makes me react irrationally.
TL;DR: It really doesn’t matter how common a fear is, when they get to such irrational levels people will happily mock them.
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u/EmiTheEpic 5d ago
I do not think you’re pathetic, although I’m not scared of spiders myself, I can TOTALLY understand why people would be!
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u/bsubtilis 5d ago
They're probably too assholey and would just lethally vacuum up the spiderbro (assuming they don't live anywhere with dangerously venomous spiders, I can understand killing a too venomous spider as self defense in your home).
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u/Shot-Ad-6717 5d ago
I'm someone who leaves spiders alone for the most part. But if they enter my house, they've signed their own death certificates. They can be good for the environment anywhere but inside my house XD
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u/BillyYumYumTwo-byTwo 5d ago
Not a phobia, but sensitivity… I HATE gum chewing. The sound makes me want to cry. My friend used to chew her gum and tell me to get over it. Some piece of equipment broke at school, and it made this whistle in our math class. Drove my friend insane, didn’t bother me. I told her that’s exactly how I felt when she chewed gum, but of course “that’s different” “gum isn’t universally annoying like this whistling” (not universally annoying, didn’t bother me!). Basically, her misophonia is real and mine isn’t 🙄
I drifted apart from her after that. It just shows a lack of basic empathy. Ugh
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u/asa_my_iso 5d ago
Also, the phobia may be tangentially related to the balloon. It could be something way more nefarious, like they were at a bday as a child, remember the balloons there, and that’s the bday uncle Joe decided to SA them. Like, it’s probably not really just about the balloon.
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u/nothanks86 5d ago
It could very well be just about the balloon.
For instance, I have a mold phobia. Nothing triggered it. I didn’t have a formative horrifying experience with mold. I actually have memories as a small child of eating the moldy bits my dad cut off the cheese and liking the taste (I was a weird kid), and I never even got sick from that, so I don’t have that to explain it.
I just…don’t do mold now. No thank you. And mycelium also creeps me tf out. There’s nothing wrong with mold or other fungi. They’re actually really interesting, academically. The fuzzy stuff is just a hard fucking no according to every cell in my body. Because shrugs???
(Eg there’s a miniseries about mushrooms and mycelium that I think was on Netflix, my partner watched it and I sat with them for an episode. Fascinating stuff. And, every time the mycelium would come on screen, every muscle in my back and shoulders would go so tight I was sore for a few days afterwards.)
Although your point is also a very good one, I don’t disagree at all, and people need to stop assuming other people are just being babies
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u/SaharaUnderTheSun 5d ago
*raises hand*
I've got a fear of balloons. I also used to have a very big fear of fireworks. I've got ADHD, and do present some sensory issues, one of which is that I don't tolerate loud unexpected sounds well. I wish I could figure out why, because perhaps if I did, I'd be able to find a way to fix it. I'm better with fireworks now, but balloons still bother the hell out of me, especially if people around me tease me that they might pop the balloons.
What a lot of people who don't experience so-called "irrational fears" don't know is that these fears are things that cannot be fixed specifically because they aren't rational. If they were, anyone who has a decent ability to reason their way out of having a phobia would likely do so. I also have a fear of other people vomiting. I know why I do; I had a terrible experience with my mother getting sick when I was barely a toddler. I still have memories of the vivid nightmares I had following the incident. What's more is that I'm not as sensitive to the experience anymore, with the help of CBT. But things related to loud noises...I don't know what wiring in my brain is tangled so I really can't fix it.
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u/teletubbyman6969 5d ago
No problem with that cause spiders can hurt you, but a balloon?
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u/streetsahead93 6d ago
I have a phobia of fish. My roomates once joked that they were going to put a dead fish in my bed, I said the moment they did that I would move out. I don't know why people think phobias are so funny and unserious.
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u/tsukimoonmei 5d ago
Because ‘phobia’ is often used nowadays to refer to any run of the mill fear. A lot of so-called ‘arachnophobes’ are just people who think spiders are icky for example. It means that when people encounter those with actual severe phobias, they assume it’s just a little irrational fear, instead of taking it seriously.
A similar thing happened with intrusive thoughts and OCD.
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u/FortunateCookie_ 5d ago
And migraines!
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u/tost_cronch 5d ago
i feel this one. i've suffered from actual migraines since i was 4, and i keep having to explain to people that it isn't just a headache and if i don't get water and lie down in a cool and dark room immediately i will throw up all over them
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u/shadowwalker_wtf 5d ago
Yeah, I once asked my teacher if I could get a pass to leave classes when I get a migraine (and tbf mine aren’t that bad, I just feel a little sick and dizzy along with the pain) and she kinda chuckled and told me to just take a pain killer - I told her those don’t help much, and she told me to just deal with it. She was a great teacher but clearly didn’t know the difference between a migraine and a bad headache 😭
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u/tost_cronch 5d ago
tbf i kind of exaggerated with the throwing up part. my migraines are really just severe pain plus overheating and sensitivity to light and sound. weirdly enough, taking advil and chilling out for a few hours does the trick
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u/SaveyourMercy 5d ago
For me it’s not an overexaggeration. When my migraines hit, if I can’t get to a place where I can lay down in a dark and quiet place, I’m throwing up for real. I got a migraine that started in the middle of a meeting I couldn’t get out of the other day and had to excuse myself to go throw up 30 minutes into the pain. My whole body reacts negatively when the migraine kicks in and it’s wild how people think it’s just a headache.
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u/FortunateCookie_ 5d ago
Told my shift manager once “hey I’m getting a migraine” and she said “do you need to take 5 in the break room?”
Yeah, five hours maybe
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u/halosos 5d ago
I have a phobia of crane flies/daddy longlegs/ flying spiders, what ever you call them.
They fuck me up. I can't even swat them.
Spiders scare me, but I can cup and card them out a window.
Crane fly? I will not be sleeping till I am 100% certain it is not in my bedroom.
I have slept in sweltering heat and with my door and window closed once, because one came in the window. It flew into the hallway and I slammed that door shut so fucking quick and then did the same with the window.
Getting a house cat and window nets have been the best thing ever, our ginger bastard will chase and eat every bug he finds.
But yeah. During their spawning season I get so paranoid about hearing their weird unique buzzing noise, my brain makes it up and I get fucking cold sweats. I'll turn the light on to make sure.
Also, the myth of them only living one or two days is a fucking lie. I know because it took one like a week and a bit to kick the bucket in a spare room or my old house. I checked on it every day to see if it had died yet so I could go in that room again.
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u/xSantenoturtlex 5d ago
Just out of curiosity, what is it about fish that scares you?
Genuine question, I know that every phobia works in different ways.
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u/streetsahead93 5d ago
I have absolutely no idea! I can't point at one feature of a fish that freaks me out, to me they look grotesque and I just can't be near them without panicking. I can't be in a room with a fish tank. I have nightmares about falling into a koi carp pond and I wake up with my heart pounding. Its so weird!
Its literally every sense. Seeing them (alive and dead), smelling them (alive and cooked), I can't stand the taste to the point of sickness. I couldn't tell you where it comes from, or what started it. I remember having a pet fish as a young kid who I adored, so clearly it kicked in at some point.
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u/CoffeeGoblynn 5d ago
That really gives me a "repressed and traumatic childhood memory" vibe, but I guess if you can't remember where it began, there's no way to know. I'm sorry you're dealing with that.
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u/streetsahead93 5d ago
Ah it's alright really, it's actually fairly easy to avoid fish in your everyday life.
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u/Molly_Wobbles 5d ago
I was just thinking "wow, that must be really difficult to navigate life with", but maybe that's just because I love fish and actively surround myself with them. I suppose if I wasn't doing that, I wouldn't encounter very many.
I'm not sure where my phobia came from either (emetophobia). It seems like sometimes people just wake up one day with a wire crossed and suddenly the brain fixates on one thing to wholly reject. Wild.
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u/Larry-Man 5d ago
I’m afraid of butterflies and moths. It’s the wings. But more than the wings. It’s the whole package. Moths are worse (because they’re furry). But also it’s the whole thing. The way they move. The way they get in your face. The crunchy way they are when you kill them/they die. Ugh.
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u/ingwertheginger 5d ago
Same, I'm not super fond of butterflies but moths are worse. Just everything about them. It's gotten better over the years but they're far from my favorite
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u/PinkOneHasBeenChosen 5d ago
This isn’t important, but can you eat fish?
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u/streetsahead93 5d ago
Nope, I find them repulsive in every way. Even the smell makes my stomach turn.
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u/SquareThings 5d ago
“Your phobia is irrational.”
By god, you’re right! My irrational fear is irrational! How have I never thought of this before! I’m cured!
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u/Tangled_Clouds 6d ago
I have multiple phobias which include balloons popping due to my sensory issues and the fact the sound it makes genuinely hurts me. That’s not funny to do that. I’d kick out the roommate somehow. Huge lack of empathy. That’s straight up evil to do that to someone
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u/coreyg1231000 5d ago
Honestly as someone with ASD, while I wouldn't say have a phobia of balloons, just the size of that balloon and how stretched it looks judging by the neck makes me feel uneasy thinking about how loud it would sound if it were to pop
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u/Pandoras_Penguin 5d ago
I also despise balloons popping as it hurt my eardrums. Odd thing though, when I lost my hearing and got cochlear implants the sound of balloons popping stopped hurting...still don't like them but I found it interesting. I'm chalking it up to how my processors are programmed to adjust sound to a comfortable level but doesn't explain why I still wouldn't feel it??
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u/lalopup 5d ago
I’m not an expert on it by any means but it’s I assume because a cochlear implant bypasses the inner ear, and inputs sound directly into your auditory nerve, the inner ear is the part that feels pain when a loud sound causes damage, so because you no longer hear with your inner ear, there’s no damage when a loud sound occurs and thus no pain
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u/MyLifeisTangled 5d ago
Sound Sensitivity Cure Found:
Go deaf
Get implants
Now how about light sensitivity?
(Lol sorry not trying to be a smart ass I just wish I could stop being so painfully sensitive to sound and light 😅)
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u/_DeltaZero_ 6d ago
They clearly don't know what a phobia is, it's literally irrational fear
Hate when people just look at you and say "get over it", bro, it ain't gonna help
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u/ZapRowsdower34 5d ago
Yeah, the thing about exposure therapy is that A) it takes a long time and B) usually requires a therapist. You’re not going to snap out of it in an afternoon because your roommate left a balloon on your bed.
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u/J3sush8sm3 5d ago
Can confirm. I have an irrational fear of heights, so much so that if i dont feel safe i shut down. Currently work a job that requires me to use extension ladders, and after a year it still hasnt helped
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u/Larry-Man 5d ago
I am into animals as a special interest. Do you know what I’m afraid of? Butterflies and moths. Do I understand out of all the things to be afraid of those are some of the dumbest? Yes. But am I also a grown woman who shrieks or cries if they get too close to me? Also yes.
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u/RedVamp2020 5d ago
Same!!! I can swallow my fears well enough to chase one out of the house, but for me it’s specifically the fact that it has a bigger, sometimes fuzzier body and the wings texture when you swat it.🤢 I don’t feel the same way about other “meatier bugs”, which is odd, but I used to sit there practically screaming in terror about moths as a kid.
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u/shiftysquid 5d ago
They clearly don't know what a phobia is, it's literally irrational fear
Is this true? I'm honestly asking. So, would this mean that if your fear is rational, it doesn't qualify as a "phobia"? Seems like a difficult line to draw at times. Like, when does a fear of heights transition from "rational fear" to "phobia"? Maybe it's more about the intensity of the fear being irrational?
I'm not doubting you. I just hadn't heard it put quite that way before.
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u/Larry-Man 5d ago
A healthy fear of something is like getting bit by a spider. Unhealthy fear is shrieking until someone comes to get the spider or when your mouth goes dry and you start to shake. Logically we all know being in the same room as a small house spider poses no threat (unless you’re in Australia or somewhere with genuinely deadly spiders). Where I live black widows are the most dangerous spider and they’re insanely uncommon. More common phobias are still phobias as most people know a single bee buzzing near you on flowers has no interest in stinging. The greater the phobia the more irrational the response.
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u/Simply_C0mplicated 5d ago
“I had a phobia, I got over it when I was six!!”
No idiot you had a fear
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u/Ranne-wolf 5d ago
I have a needle phobia, the amount of doctors that act like it either isn’t real, is not a big deal, or that I should just get over it is honestly ridiculous.
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u/FlippingPossum 5d ago
Yikes. My oldest kiddo has passed out twice after getting poked. It isn't an uncommon thing. It's not like you want to be uncomfortable.
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u/ExpectingHobbits 5d ago
I get shit for passing out, and I'm not even needlephobic; I just have vasovagal syncope. If anyone should understand, it's nurses and phlebotomists, but they act like I'm doing it on purpose. Like, sorry I'm a hard stick and take longer than five seconds in your otherwise empty lab...
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u/DragonsAreNifty 5d ago
While I wouldn’t say I have a phobia, I DESPISE shots and blood draws. My roommate is a provider at a local children’s hospital. Going to a clinic with a care staff that primarily work with children was next level. While I was white knuckled, waiting for my vaccine, my Dr. randomly started singing and tickled me. I was so confused. Sociologists would have had a field day. In my confusion I didn’t even notice that she had plunged the needle into my arm and delivered the vaccine until after it was done. God I miss her, impeccable doctor.
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u/Elemor_ 5d ago
I have tattoos and piercings, so I didn't get taken seriously by doctors when I say I have a phobia of needles (tattoo needles don't go nearly as deep! It's a different thing!) until I passed out after getting a vaccine lol
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u/ellatheprincessbrat 4d ago
Luckily enough everyone nurse or doctor I’ve had has been super accommodating to the fact that I hate injections and having blood taken even though I’m covered in tattoos.
Not medical professionals however? Absolutely take the piss and think I’m ridiculous but to me it’s like comparing apples to oranges, a tiny amount of a tattoo machine needle is going into my skin whereas medical needles can be super long!
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u/PinkOneHasBeenChosen 5d ago
Jesus. I have a fear of needles and if a doctor was that dismissive, I would probably ask to see a different doctor. Same with phlebotomists and nurses.
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u/ColdShadowKaz 5d ago
I love how they all say ‘I won’t hurt you. It’ll be a little scratch’ yeah feeling like my arm just got stabbed isn’t a little scratch thanks.
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u/Geschak 5d ago
I think most people working in the health sector get compassion fatigue after a while so everytime a patient has a feature that is inconvenient and prolongs whatever they need to do, they get annoyed because they're trying to get things done and see irrational behaviors as people not making an effort to pull themselves together, instead of being able to understand what it's like. Often times fear behavior simply gets passed off as attention-seeking behavior.
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u/Mouse_Named_Ash 5d ago
I saw that thread. The comments were fucking horrible and just plain rude
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u/Wholesome_Soup 5d ago
found one death threat. obv reported it but wtf
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u/AmarissaBhaneboar 5d ago
One of the rules of that subredit is to be nice/be civil. So I've reported a bunch of people for not being, well that. I'm subbed there too and I didn't see this post until just now. Terrible comments.
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u/NoThoughtsOnlyFrog 5d ago
And the same comments were downvoted to oblivion. It’s ridiculous how many ignorant people are on that subreddit
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u/noexclamationpoint 6d ago
That original post is not mildly infuriating at all. I’d ditch that roommate for real. Not funny.
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u/Warbly-Luxe Edit this! 5d ago
“It’s loud but it won’t hurt you.”
As someone with hearing sensitivity, I can attest to the fact it cannot only physically hurt, it can hurt emotionally / mentally. God, they wouldn’t be telling someone with war-induced PTSD to get over the noise that sounds like a gunshot. At least, a sensible person wouldn’t.
Also, that longer one about a spinning rock annoys me for the choice of words. Describing earth as a spinning rock hurtling through space is why some people are flat earthers.
Spinning is more accurately revolving (approx. once every 24 hours) and hurtling is more accurately following / pulled along. Hurtling implies the object is leading the movement, which isn’t even accurate for our sun.
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u/ChallengeWinter55 5d ago
Also, they do hurt in a traditional physical sense. I was hit with rubber shrapnel as a kid many times over my childhood when a balloon popped way to close to my face. It hurt. So they aren't even right about that 🤷♂️
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u/Warbly-Luxe Edit this! 5d ago
Thank you. I forgot about physical pain outside hearing.
I wish the fallibility of the human brain is something I could unlearn, in a way, so I can believe some people aren't willfully ignorant in a lot of their best intentions (if there are any). I will always be surprised by people who so confidently assert something (like ballons can't hurt you) that is clearly wrong and takes a moment of consideration to realize that.
(Edit: for succinctness of thought)
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u/AbductingBigfoot 5d ago
I have PTSD from a car accident when I was six, that nearly took my life. I'm 28 now and I will 100% have a panic attack if I hear something loud without warning. I feel ridiculous because I'll have flashbacks if, for a real world example that happened, a bottle of taco sauce fell out of my fridge and shattered. I cried for over an hour because of it. My dad tells me to get over it. It's "so easy even he did it" but listen to this: HE WAS NOT IN THE CAR ACCIDENT IT WAS ME AND MY MOM. I WAS DEAD WHEN I WAS PULLED OUT OF THE WRECKAGE. MY MOM IS THE ONE THAT DID IT, SHE HAD TO SEE MY MANGLED BODY.
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u/nosyfocker 5d ago
It’s also insane to say that people who are scared of balloons mustn’t have anything ‘real’ to be scared of. Several of the people I’ve known with balloon phobias are specifically scared of the noise of them popping due to trauma from gun violence
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ASweetTweetRose 6d ago
I had a fear of spiders. I told a FB Friend who thought it was hilarious to send me videos of “big spiders” (probably just close ups of normal spiders) coming out of places. I told her if she did it again I would unfriend her. She did it again, thinking it was even more hilarious.
I unfriended her (and she was pissed!).
Best decision I maybe ever made.
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u/Sexisthunter 5d ago
Where do people get the idea that being so intentionally cruel is a good idea? I fucking hate people that get off on suffering
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u/Warbly-Luxe Edit this! 5d ago
Schadenfreude... there is literally a German word for it. Shows it's a notable concept enough to get its own word in some languages. (Disclaimer: this isn't a rag on Germany or its people. I just remember being taught this word in school and it's stuck with me.) (Edit: It was paired with 'freudenfreude'--joy from other people's success.)
Frankly, the idea of enjoying someone else's pain makes me sick. I probably wouldn't bat an eye for someone once they're dead, but I'll do whatever I can to help people who are still alive--the idea of people being fine with so willfully being cruel to others is so alien to me.
I guess it shouldn't be surprising if the convict that mocked disabled people (and many more) on camera is president of the US again. I suppose more people lack empathy than I'd like to recognize, and many more probably don't see the extent of how evil / toxic this is.
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u/homebrewmike 5d ago
That observation might just define this part of the century. Whoever taught compassion and empathy seems to be no longer doing it.
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u/ohmyno69420 5d ago
Made the mistake of telling a group of classmates that I was claustrophobic while taking a long, cramped elevator ride with them. They all got closer to me when I told them that :(
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u/oldx4accbanned 5d ago
me when people keep showing me videos of my mates throwing up but i have emetephobia so its not funny to me
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u/Spaciax 5d ago
person: if you do this thing it will have consequences
person 2: does thing
person: ok here are the consequences
person 2: wtf? what do you mean!
neurotypicals never cease to amaze me
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u/ASweetTweetRose 5d ago
This happened decades ago, I think before Reddit was a thing. I was thinking “Geez, this would be a AITA post today?” … “I placed a boundary, I said I would do this thing if they did this thing again … I went through with it and now they’re pissed at me.”
🙄
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u/Glass_Jeweler 5d ago
The fact she even had the thought of doing it again and then got angry you reacted just how you said you would, makes me think you didn't even have that big of a friend loss, 'cause she didn't even have that many braincells to begin with.
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u/BigNutDroppa 5d ago
After I found out about an old roommate’s fear of snakes, I did my best not to watch films with giant snakes.
One day, the guys a floor above us left a fake snake in the bathroom hidden under some towels. She screamed so loud and burst out the room crying. I took that snake and threw it in the guys’ dorm the second he opened the door.
It’s not that hard to respect people’s boundaries.
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u/cheese90danish 5d ago edited 5d ago
Bruh every guy i ever dated in the past would tease me like this.
Told them I was terrified of small spaces? Holds me under blanket till I start to have a panic attack
Water? constantly acts like they'll throw me into water when near it
Bumps/holes? shoves blister in my face
The fuck is wrong with people
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u/RevolutionarySpot721 5d ago
I would say it depends on the amount of fear you have. I have social anxiety it is probably different, and I can go out of my comfort zone somewhat. And can tolerate my panic attacks as well, but if it gets too much, then it is not funny.
Like for example if someone would put me into deliberately embarassing situation with people that are important.
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u/PinkOneHasBeenChosen 5d ago
I have a few fears that are fairly specific. Watching a video of someone being restrained? Fine. Actually being restrained? Panic attack. I also got tested for social anxiety. That one is different because I can’t live without other people.
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u/OkDepartment9755 5d ago
So, unfortunately the real solution is sit down and explain the situation to the roomate. If that doesn't work, bitch them out so bad, that they never do it again, as the bit of joy they get from this "prank" won't outweigh the hour long nagging earful they know is coming.
Weaponize your "hysterics"
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u/IAnnihilatePierogi 5d ago
I also have phobia of balloons. I'm almost 31. I'm afraid of them for the same reason: the noise. Fortunately, none of my friends or partner told me that it's stupid and I should get over it
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u/okcanIgohome 5d ago
Do these people... not know what a phobia is? They are supposed to be irrational. If I had a shitty roommate like that, I'd go to jail. /hj
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u/MarsupialWitch2330 6d ago
I saw that post before! And yeah, phobias are nothing to joke about... I hope that roommate gets evicted or something because you can seriously damage someone doing that.
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u/Loud-Mans-Lover 5d ago
My stepfather is an asshole and would chase me as a child with bugs he'd picked up in a tissue because I was terrified of them.
He's afraid of snakes and crickets, but I knew if I shoved one in his face I'd get in trouble.
I hate cruel people. You just know this "prankster" has a fear, too - just like my stepfather, and would get sooooo mad if they did this to them!
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u/Disastrous_Guest_705 5d ago
My mom is scared of balloons, she has panic attacks being around balloons thinking about them popping. Was sad I wasn’t allowed balloons as a kid but I also knew how serious the fear was and I’d never purposefully scare my mom
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u/NIMA-GH-X-P 5d ago
Things I wanna say about these people don't go well with Reddit guidelines sadly
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u/Wholesome_Soup 5d ago
i’m not scared of balloons, or heights, or spiders, or clowns, or the dark. but i do have a phobia of being alone and if someone left me alone intentionally to scare me i would be HELLA pissed. my best friend in high school had a phobia of snakes; i would try to get her to face her fear, but i would never purposely scare her. my arabic teacher has a phobia of cats; i think it’s a silly fear, but i’ll never let one of the campus cats into her classroom. what kind of an asshole would you have to be to put someone’s phobia ON THEIR BED
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u/Wholesome_Soup 5d ago
to be clear, one of our teachers had a whole room full of snakes in tanks and we would sometimes take them out and just hold them during class. most of us thought it was really cool. she was actually the only one who was terrified and wouldn’t go near, so when we held the snakes it had to be on the other side of the classroom from her. again, what kind of assholes would we be to purposely scare our classmate
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u/Honeybee1921 5d ago
I have trypanophobia (phobia of needles) and if someone did this to me I would actually go on a murder spree
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u/thpineapples 5d ago
Phobias are, by their very nature, irrational.
Are they taking common sense out of the water, now? This world gets dumber and dumberer.
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u/FoxstepDahCat109 5d ago
As someone with globophobia, I literally cannot tell you how many times someone has said something like that to me 😭
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u/pass_me_the_salt 5d ago
globophobia is the name of the fear of baloons?
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u/FoxstepDahCat109 5d ago
Ye, I'm not professionally diagnosed but just seeing a balloon is enough to stress me out
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u/No-Doubt-4309 5d ago
Isn't it ridiculous how you can outline a simple truth like 'phobias are irrational' to someone and they'll just ignore it and plough on with their ignorance anyway?
God, I hate humanity sometimes
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u/FlippingPossum 5d ago
My husband has globophobia. Someone decided to put balloons in his office. That someone apologized after my husband methodically stabbed the balloons with scissors.
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u/Soapy---wooder 5d ago
I don't think it's about getting over it
It's just someone with a shitty sense of humor
Put a fake snake on his bed and play a hissing sound on his phone
You can do that by making a custom ringtone for your number and setting it as the hissing sound you'll download online
Hide the snake kinda sloppy, you don't want him to find it straight away but you want him to find it when he heard the sound. For best results, tie it to his bedsheets with a string on the side he wouldn't lay on
Call him in the middle of the night, he'll feel the same as you
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u/MallDream 5d ago
The amount of people who "love me" who say " yeah you need to get over that" disgust me
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u/Ornery_Truck_5902 5d ago
"potlucks are the best!"
"Eh I'm a picky eater and don't like making people feel bad by not eating food they bring"
"Well then stop being picky or stay home, we don't need your negativity"
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u/ElBrunasso 5d ago
I'm a nyctophobe and I struggle to sleep without light since I was a kid. A year ago I started using medicine for sleep therapy. Whenever I forget to take the pill I still have terrible nightmares. I fought for years forcing myself to sleep without lights, but It never worked.
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u/throwawaybrowsing888 5d ago
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with that.
I hate how people don’t understand these types of experiences when they think of phobias. Like it’s not “mind over matter” - it’s “I cannot get my body to do something due to this fear”.
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u/Pope_Neuro_Of_Rats 5d ago
The way they overfilled it too to make it more likely pop, genuinely malicious
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u/capucini 5d ago edited 5d ago
I have one of the unusual, not-much-heard phobias. I had to face it one day like they said. I threw up and then fainted with vomit all over me. When I regained consciousness, I realized my bowel muscles relaxed too much while I was out.
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u/throwawaybrowsing888 5d ago
I’m sorry you experienced that. Shitty people and ignorant people alike both don’t like to think about how intense phobias can be. They seem to think it’s mind over matter but fail to recognize the intense physical effects of phobias.
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u/LordLaz1985 5d ago
That is such an asshole thing to do. “Ha ha, it’s that thing you told me you were afraid of, isn’t that funny?”
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u/Ill-Midnight6571 5d ago
I think people forget that phobia means IRRATIONAL fear of something, not just being afraid of something. I had a little fear of escalators a while back, so you’re not the only one with an odd fear
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u/Vent_Gremlin_Ace 5d ago
I remember responding to a comment on that post and holy shit, people were insufferable. “Bu-but how can you get a phobia like that?” BORN WITH IT??? TRAUMA??? IS IT NOT EASY FOR YOU TO THINK THAT SOMETHING FUCKING BAD HAPPENED?? IS IT NOT EASY TO HAVE COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE?? Fucking hell man…
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u/Lou_Papas 5d ago
People confuse a phobia with being scared of something in the same way they confuse depression with being sad.
I'd expect we'd be better at understanding mental health at this point but apparently no.
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u/Ace_of_Sphynx128 5d ago
I have a phobia of stickers and the amount of people that tried to make me get over it made my phobia worse. Now I can barely write or say the work without feeling a bit sick and will have a panic attack if someone puts one on me. I have autism and ocd, so yeah, not so easy as just getting over it and exposure therapy actually caused trauma in autistic people so it’s not an easy thing to work through.
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u/FandomPhantom123 5d ago
i have melissaphobia. which is technically only the fear of bees, but i make it extend to any yellow flying insect that isnt obviously a butterfly, moth or ladybug. Also called apiphobia but i consider apiphobia to be bees specifically. and when i was little, i got sent to a soccer club after school and it got so bad. i never even touched the grass. i understand the pain.
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u/CorvineAftermath 5d ago
people when you mention having an irrational and ridiculous fear: "what? that's irrational and ridiculous! grow up!"
like yeah my bad why didn't I think of that 🙃
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u/MetalNew2284 5d ago
A Phobia is irrational.
YEAH THAT'S THE POINT!!!!!!
My Talassophobia makes no sense. I am nowhere near dark water.
There are people who have a Button-Phobia.... Afraid of the eyes.
It. is. Not. LOGICAL. FFFS.
let people be themselfes ffs. My former roomie was deathly afraid of spiders. I always saved her and NEVER made fun of her crippling fear of them.
Some kindness could really help. I hate this ignorant balloonplacing b-word.
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u/Oh_yeah_27 4d ago
“Oh but exposure therapy is a proven way to get over fears!” Buddy, unless you’re 1) my therapist, 2) have a degree and specialize in exposure therapy, and 3) I’m paying you to help me with my phobia, I’d prefer if you weren’t involved.
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u/Zomer15689 5d ago
What an a##hole, that’s like taking someone who has a fear of heights F###ING SKYDIVING!
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u/MelonOfFate 5d ago
I hate spiders. I specifically hate the underside of the spider where all the legs connect terrifies the shit out of me and how spiders move, and I'm a 30 year old man. Hate it when my partner gives me shit for being afraid of them, and I can't even watch movies like alien because face huggers are everything I hate about spiders.
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u/throwawaybrowsing888 5d ago
Your partner needs some education about how phobias work. It’s cruel to give someone shit about theirs.
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u/Educational_Tart_659 5d ago
I have entomophobia (fear of bugs) and whenever I’m out hiking or something I’m constantly like itching myself wherever there might be a bug and like freaking out when there is a bug and my friends are like “they’re just bugs, you’re fine! They won’t hurt you!” Yeah I know, I have an irrational fear of them idiot :)
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u/Seastar_Lakestar 5d ago
I have a phobia of dead flowers and severed flower petals, bringing back the horror I felt when I encountered them as a sensitive young child. I've spent many years trying to reduce it -- a process that I control. I've touched many fresh flowers and found that the petals did not fall off, and I (unhappily) walk my usual routes under my neighborhood's magnolia trees during their petal-dropping time instead of taking long detours. But if someone shoves a dead flower at me, I'm out of the room in an instant.
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u/SeiriusPolaris 5d ago
My partner’s so cripplingly scared of spiders, that if I’ve cleaned up a cobweb and then not washed my hands immediately after, she’ll cry if I touch her. I’d so much rather she be scared of balloons, because at least they’re predictable and controllable.
Spiders? You can’t just not have them in your home. They’re always gonna be there. In different sizes and speeds and numbers. Sometimes hiding behind things, sometimes nonchalantly skittering across the floor, sometimes minding their own business in a ceiling corner. The only hope you have living with someone with arachnophobia is that you go long enough not seeing one that they forget about the risk of them being there.
So I understand how bad these fears can be.
You can tell with the people OP shared the comments of that they’ve never had any real communication with people outside of the internet.
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u/HesitantBrobecks 5d ago
To be fully fair, that post is likely fake anyway. Saw it on r/untrustworthypoptarts like, a day or 2 ago
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u/Starkusasleeps 5d ago
yeah as someone with a balloon phobia this isn’t mildly infuriating, it’s actually rage inducing
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u/hj7junkie 5d ago
Shoutout to the people on that post who gave advice on how to pop a balloon without making the sudden loud noise. Much better response.
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u/RunicFr0st 5d ago
I have/had pittakionophobia and people are seriously so cruel about weird phobias. I managed to “get over it” after a lot of therapy but people using it to make fun of me made it take longer than it needed to, stuff like this will probably make a phobia worse instead of better
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u/Ella-W00 5d ago
As someone with claustrophobia to the point that flying is awful and very hard I have to say, this one is painful. People don't have to understand but you have to respect the other person.....
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u/Viggo_Stark 5d ago
I am a 30 year old dude, that is terrified of Spiders. I can rationalize it to myself that it is a stupid, small creature that is definitely more scared of me than I am of it. I know I can stomp it with one move, and that it can never hurt me.
Try telling my fucking nerves that. They scare the shit out of me every goddamn time.
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u/TinHawk 5d ago
I share spiders, but here's one even more ridiculous: zombies. They're literally not even real. I love video games and they're so popular right now even Stardew Valley had some pop up (expansion mod) and i was crying.
I'm 40. I've been trying to "get over" these since i was 6. I've made some progress but it's not great. I worked at Game Stop as a kid and there was a spider in someone's trade in game case and i instinctively threw it at the customer and hid.
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u/Dzong49 5d ago
I have a strong fear of mushrooms and flowers' cores. I can't even imagine a picture without getting uncomfortable let alone seeing one. Because of it I couldn't get in the house one time because there just so happened to be a pair of them long brown bois in the living room (I am shivering as I write this)
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u/5thClone 5d ago
I don't have any phobias but I do have chronic anxiety which is irrational as hell and it drives me nuts when people don't get it.
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u/SaveyourMercy 5d ago
I’m TERRIFIED of balloons popping. I’m not scared of the balloons themselves, but any situation that might cause them to pop has me running like the building is falling. It’s a flight reaction and I have very little control of the panic it causes me. “Friends” through the years have tried to get me to get over the fear by popping balloons behind my back or popping balloons I’m holding but all it’s ever done is solidify the fear further. I’m almost 30 now and I genuinely am terrified of them. The people who wanted me to “get over it” are the people who’ve made it worse, not better.
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u/DudeLivingOnaRoc 5d ago
some people's children smh
But the roommate was 100% in the wrong, what an asshole.
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u/Noideawhatimdoing36 5d ago
People saying that the hate comments were people “trying to help” is laughably stupid. Like how is just saying “lol you’re weird get over it” helping?
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u/necrotic_bones 5d ago
Phobias as commonly irrational and ridiculous, that’s literally what a phobia is
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u/RintheWeeb 5d ago
I don’t have a phobia of balloons but I totally understand being freaked out by them, especially ones as full as that one is. I HATE the sound of popping balloons, they make me incredibly anxious. OOP deserves better roommates and to feel safe in their own space.
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u/Aquila-Nix 5d ago
I was looking through that post yesterday and what disappointed me about it is that those sorts of comments were getting so many upvotes. So many people lack empathy or understanding for others and seem to just like spewing hate rather than just saying nothing at all.
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u/CanDLinkZz 5d ago
Saw the original post. Was thinking of popping in to empathise, because i too am afraid of balloons, but i decided against it because i knew exactly what the comments would look like and i didnt want to deal with seeing that.
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u/Obsidianfawn 5d ago
I'm afraid of latex balloons cause of a medical condition that essentially makes me a fainting goat
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u/XBOX_MANIAC 5d ago
I was thinking about this post today when my friends mother asked me to prank her son by filling his car with balloons. I wanted to comment "oh, you'd hate the April fools prank I'm pulling on my friend"
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u/_DeltaZero_ 5d ago
to be fair, while beating phobia does require you to go against it and face the fear... People justifying an ASSHOLE attitude with "get over it" is what sucks even more
To actually beat phobia, it's better to have a more organized situation, like, your roommate being an asshole and placing your fear right there WILL NOT make you simply beat it, it's something that takes time
I've always had fear of the dark, like, irrational fear, my dad tried to make me lose it as a child by locking me in the kitchen for some time in the dark... It DID NOT HELP ME, for someone to beat phobia, they need to choose to do so, and then they need to go for it. NO ONE can force another person to beat a phobia, it'll only make things worse! They're blaming the victim, ofc it's their choice to go against their fear, but it's also the asshole's choice to NOT BE AN ASSHOLE!
Those people are extremely insensitive, i only managed to lose the fear of the dark because i forced it in me, and still today i feel afraid, just less, enough for it to not be irrational. But if the energy suddenly goes off at night, i literally paralyze before doing something