Reddit, in all of its various incarnations, is perhaps the greatest example of Sucks and Rocks binary thinking ever created. You can usually watch a consensus being created in real time via the comments and it’s frankly terrifying to watch. If you’ve ever wondered how the Salem Witch Trials and the like went on for so long, then reading the human garbage of Reddit working up their collective agitation on a topic will go a long way towards educating you on the subject.
When Reddit isn’t busy crucifying people for various minor sins against social justice, of course, it’s often busy serving as a massive hugbox for Millennials who grew up beneath the rotating soft-foam blades of their helicopter parents. What happened on “r/motorcycles” today is a perfect example. Eight months ago, a young motorcyclist had a driver make a left turn in front of him. Today, he’s paralyzed. His cry for emotional support, posted yesterday, drew positive thoughts and deeds from an astoundingly diverse group that includes 3D-printer limb designers and a similarly disabled veteran.
There’s just one little problem: he’s not paralyzed.
What’s actually happened is that the nerves in his brachial plexus were damaged, leading him to lose the use of his right arm. He’s recently had surgery to move some nerves from his calf to his arm, although it hasn’t led to anything positive so far. This is what he writes:
I feel like a ghost of my former self. I started pulling away, shutting everything and everyone out. Save for my girlfriend and my closest friends, I don’t see anyone anymore. Today I missed all my classes again because I feel…empty. I have progressively been sinking deeper and deeper into depression and I don’t know what to do.
I’m in pain every day of my life. I struggle with even the simplest tasks. I have to ask for help to do everything, and I fucking hate it.
I can’t work. I can’t ride anymore. I used to be a musician, now my instruments lie gathering dust in my room. I used to love playing videogames, but what good is a huge library if you only have one hand? I used to be active, I used to love climbing, and jumping, and running. I was good at basketball. I was getting my skydiving license. I wanted a future, I had hopes and aspirations and DREAMS. What is the point of trying anymore? What is the point of me getting a degree if I can’t do what I want? I was someone and now I’m someone else.
I have two problems with this post. The first, and by far the most serious, is that he calls himself “paralyzed”. You’ll excuse me for this, but that’s some Millennial bullshit right there. He’s not paralyzed. He has a paralyzed right arm. He should consider walking over to a VA hospital and asking any of the people there who are in wheelchairs, or who are unable to communicate except by blinking their eyes, just how paralyzed he looks to them.
Furthermore, eight months of immobility after an injury is not necessarily a permanent sentence, particularly for nerve damage. Stephen Murray, who was “quadded” from crushing his C3, C4, and C5 vertebrae during a BMX double backflip, just regained use of his arms after six years. Nerves grow very slowly.
It takes a real double shot of hubris and self-pity to call yourself “paralyzed” in public when you’ve just lost the use of an arm. It’s the Millennial/Reddit/citizen-of-the-internet culture taken to its logical extreme. When “manspreading” on a subway train is equated to rape by leftist media outlets, why can’t an arm injury be described as paralysis? Slowly but surely, we’re losing meaning in this society, both in terms of the increasingly restricted and binary language permitted in public discourse and thanks to a degraded, dissipated culture that teaches us to judge everything from foreign policy to scientific experimentation based on the impact it has on our personal feelings.
Obviously, our one-armed Redditor knows fucking full well he’s not paralyzed, but he wanted to get the maximum sympathy/feels possible from the hugbox, so he decided to phrase it as if that motorcycle accident had rendered him unable to feed himself. Which leads me to my second problem with the post: the modern victim culture that enables all of us to think in terms of what we cannot accomplish because of our victimization.
Read his post above. He can’t work. What, was he a longshoreman? He claims he can’t play music. In the era of the lute and pennywhistle, that would make sense, but given that most Top 40 records nowadays are done on a computer I kind of doubt it. Note that he had no trouble posting a long screed to Reddit. He’s in pain every day of his life. A lot of people are. There are only two people living full-time in my house, but both of us are in pain every day.
I can’t help but compare his attitude to how I behaved when I broke my leg, my hip, and my C2 neckbone back in ’88. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t make it back and ride my bikes and do all the things that I wanted to do, including getting my pro BMX license. It’s true that my life was never pain-free after March of 1988, and it’s also true that I never rode BMX to the level of which I dreamed, but I still managed to get shit done in one form or another. Most importantly, that crash was what turned me into a writer. It was half a year of bedridden introspection punctuated by humiliationa great and small, painful scrubbing of my wounds, insomnia, vomiting, and a wholesale re-evaluation of my place in the world.
Before the accident, my life plan had been to join the Marine Corps that summer and try my hand at being an enlisted serviceman. I didn’t want to go to college. That was for pansy-asses. I wanted to go where the action was, where the fighting was. I wanted to see what I was made of. Well, I got that chance, just in a different way. My life didn’t turn out the way I’d planned it, but it did turn out. Maybe it even turned out for the best. I doubt I’d have been a very effective Marine sergeant.
Of course, I had two advantages that this fellow probably doesn’t have: my parents. It was made plain to me from the moment my rented hospital bed and I were were wheeled into Mom’s house that nobody was really interested in hearing me whine and moan about my injuries. I certainly concealed a lot of pain and anguish from them as a result; to this day I still have a lot of numbness and pain in my extremities that I attribute to the cracked and unevenly healed bone around my spinal cord. But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want anybody to keep me from riding a bicycle and I didn’t want to be called a whiner by Mom or Dad. I can imagine today how they both felt about my injuries, because when my son scratches his hand my first impulse is to call for two LifeFlight helicopters and the Mayo Clinic. But they kept it to themselves. It was a blessing.
With all of the above said, I’m still sympathetic to this injured motorcyclist for a few reasons. It sucks to get hurt on your motorcycle and I really hope he can ride again, on his own terms. I know what it’s like to be critically injured and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
Most of all, however, I’m sympathetic because this kid’s post was a wake-up call to me. For the past five months I’ve been moping and feeling sorry for myself because my broken left leg just isn’t coming back the way I want it to. Starting this afternoon, I’m going to let that shit go. Whatever further surgeries I need, I’ll get. Whatever rehab is necessary, I’ll do it. And whatever functionality I can get back — right now, it’s enough to ride a motorcycle but not enough to bunnyhop a BMX bike — I’ll accept with gratitude. Sometimes you can’t see a failure of character or courage in yourself until it’s writ large enough in someone else. This doesn’t mean I’ll make it to the starting line at Elsinore in 2016; right now the knee doesn’t work well enough to be dependable. But I wouldn’t bet against it for 2017. I’ll close with some prophetic but also admirable lines from Layne Staley:
In the darkest hole, you’d be well advised
Not to plan my funeral ‘fore the body dies, yeah
Come the morning light, it’s a see through show
I got into the same bad habit after being diagnosed with narcolepsy in high school. I had been getting as physically fit as I could and reading everything about combat and foreign cultures in order to hopefully end up in the Navy SEALs (forgive me my hubris). Having an instant red flag for recruitment set me adrift for a long time.
Now, I’m in school for nuclear engineering, still in pretty damn good shape, and am preparing for my first pistol competition. My life is remarkably similar to Limitless except with modafinil, amphetamines, or xyrem. Consequently, I am relegated to doing most of my skirt chasing in daylight, which has its advantages and disadvantages.
Anyway, love the blog.
I went to a night practice at my favorite motocross track last Wednesday. 25 years ago you would have had a hard time showing me a wheel there. It was humbling and frustrating just trying to stay out of everyone’s way, my right arm numb up to the elbow after only 3 laps. At least now I can just enjoy it for the experience, something I completely failed to do when I was trying to win races.
It’s worth noting the album cover for that song features a dog with only 3 legs. Just don’t paralyze the parts you use to write with, ok?
In his prime my Uncle was a funny, smart, successful man with lots of friends and loved by many. MS has slowly reduced him to a nursing home bed and he can now only move one finger a tiny bit. He communicates with the world via his computer and a voice recognition program. You know what, he is still a funny, smart man with lots of friends and loved by many. He is also a mentor and advisor for the nursing home staff.
Nice job rebooting your attitude and training, we all need a slap up the side of the head sometimes.
I don’t see what being “a millennial” has to do with it. All I see is someone who is self-absorbed enough to want to throw a pity party for himself. I know of plenty of people old enough to be my father who are the same way. It’s self-absorption and attention seeking.
I think Nietzsche had it mostly right on suffering, but I don’t see anything wrong with being proud of an accomplishment in the face of adversity either. Soldier on, but don’t let suffering turn you into a cranky old cynic. I can’t think of a single cranky old cynic that writes good web articles.
To be fair, “paralysis” is defined as the loss of involuntary movement of a body part. I had Bell’s palsy for awhile and half of my face was paralyzed.
That being said, I think you are correct - I’ve come to expect that when someone is “paralyzed”, they are either wheelchair-bound, bedridden, or equivalent. I certainly never described my palsy as “being paralyzed”, and would have received funny looks had I done so.
So I agree. Paralyzed != anyone with paralysis.
That being said, it’s Reddit, dude. Let’s not pretend it is the bastion of critical, rational thought here. In fact, I’ll wager that there are a lot more people of our generation there than the upcoming, snapchat-as-message-system one.
Thanx Jack ;
As usual , dead on target , these ‘ millennials ‘ are indeed a whiny bunch of bitches .
‘ helicopter parents ‘ should be publicly whipped or ass beat .
I made damn sure my Son who watched me living with various disabilities as he grew up , knows to look forward and do what you can with what you’ve got , not cry like a little girl at some minor set back .
Best of all , John will see how you handle your self caused life challenges and do so much more in HIS life because of your good example .
I don’t know what the hell reddit is , I don’t think I’ll ever bother to learn .
-Nate
(old crippled and in fierce pain 24/7 but still enjoying life more than most)
O.K. , my whiny bitch ass complaint here :
I have not ridden my Moto since JANUARY f’chrissake and it’s not because the fuel hoses are cracked and need replacing , it’s not because I’m in so much pain I only sleep in two or three hour intervals and it’s not because I’m a cripple or not rich or mommy loved my Siblings more than me , whine , cry bitch blah blah blah .
It’s because I’M TOO FUCKING BUSY .
That’s it ~ no excuse here , I miss riding terribly but I refuse to let anything stop me from enjoying one moment of what ever life I have left .
Get a fucking life you whiners .
Rant over , please get off my lawn now .
-Nate
You better go ride that Ural before somebody from Ohio sneaks in your garage and steals it!
Try it jack ;
My Motos are mute so I speak for them and I say : NO ONE ELSE RIDES .
My Sweet , she speaks for her self so she *might* give you a ride , you can ask , I won’t get made .
-nate
I am paralyzed with fear and indecision, can I get a handicapped plate?
” I am paralyzed with fear and indecision, can I get a handicapped plate? ”
I don’t recommend it as it marks you as an easy mark .
I’m crippled yet I don’t have/want one .
? Gary Cooper ? why , he’s SUPER DUPER ! .
-Nate
I got used to having handicap plates when I started driving my mom around. A handicapped plate lets me park for free when I go downtown and often means there’s a spot available at the airport. I might feel bad because I’m not a cripple, just have metal in my leg like Jack does now, but when I see perfectly healthy people using the electric courtesy carts at Meijer, I figure it’s okay for me to drive with handicap plates.
This article is precisely why I got off of Facebook/Twitter/Reddit/Etc as a New Years resolution. I do believe it is the only one I have had in 44 years, so far I am sticking to it, and my life has improved greatly.
I never realized how much time I was wasting on the mind-suck that is Facebook and other social media.
Agreed then, we need more Gary Cooper and less Woody Allen.
My dad had polio when he was an adolescent and lost the muscle in his shoulder and upper arm. He never bitched or moaned about it, he just dealt with it. There were some things he couldn’t do, shoot a rifle for instance, but he damn sure did nearly every thing else. These days, at age 79, he has slowed up, but will still play golf 3-4 days a week, still changes the oil on his vehicles, and tinkers around near daily in his little back garage machine shop.
Accumulating various injuries as a kid myself, I learned to not snivel about it, not by anything he said, just by seeing what he did, in spite of his “handicap”. These days, a lot of those old injuries give me a constant reminder of what I put myself thru then. I could whine about it and flop around on the couch, of do what I do instead(just rolled in from a 500 mile motorsickle ride this weekend, a good bit of it in the rain). I’m still the first one on a jobsite, and will do as much as any of our employees. Just a little bit slower than them, sometimes, but still at it every day.
If life gives you lemons, find somebody that life gave vodka to and have a party.
What bit of reddit do you live on? I stay away from all the SJW stuff, and it’s great.
Reddit is about as it gets for free speech. Everyone has little islands with varying degrees of tolerance. The SJWs can bitch about their microaggressions, r/Islam can discuss stuff about how not being for death penalty means you can’t be muslim, r/christianity has their bouts of bitching about evolutionists and the babykillers and godless athiest liberals, r/atheism can post every micro and macroaggression that can be attributed to religion and then complain about how ReligionRuinsEverything(TM).
Meanwhile, lotsa other people are sharing nudes and porn.
Then there are wannabe philosophers philosophising about philosophy
Then you have all the usual suspects of cats and cars
It’s perfect. You have complete control of where you want to be, who you want to talk to, and what you want to hear.
Interesting factoid - Did you know that Reddit is Bernie Sanders’ unofficial campaign website? Seriously.
Think your regular motorcycle subreddit if full of whiny people? Then sure, create your own subreddit.
Actually, how about that Mr. Baruth? Have your very own subreddit! We can all talk cars, music, life…complain about corrupt journos, idiots who don’t get safety and throw some bitching about SJWs and leftists with banhammers for good measure…
Reddit’s decision to hire Ellen Pao basically shuttered any interest I had in using my readers and friends to make the company richer.
Well, so that’s who my decidedly leftist friend was talking about when she said someone facing gender harassment was fired from reddit because she tried to control reddit…
Interestingly, my friend felt really uncomfortable about taking a side, and it was kinda fun to poke that disconnect between liberalism of the liberty variety and liberalism of the don’t-offend-me variety and watch the squirming…
Oh, well, I like that Pao lady a whole lot less now. And I suppose this website works just fine as a substitute, though somewhat stunted.
Thanks for the good work Mr. Baruth