🏡PLP's Bazaar of the Bizarre: A Study Hall for the Deviant and Delightful

It’s been a little while since I’ve had a little PLP Blog Post and while I know this isn’t at all why anyone visits this thread, it is the 5% tariff I put on all the sexy, silly fun stuff. And look, it has the option of being a reciprocal tariff because I’d love to read your thoughts in thematic essay form!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of “the straw that broke the camel’s back” or “death by a thousand papercuts” or “bleeding out from a thousand pin pricks” and how very true those idioms are specifically about our relationships with other people but how difficult it is to see from either side until it’s far too late - until the camel is paralyzed per se.

You’re probably a pretty specific type of person if you are someone who chooses to endure small hurts over and over and find a way to forgive, stay, or dismiss the ouch. You probably choose to see the best in someone else, focus on a preferable past or the hope of a better future – but slowly, those little acts (whatever they are - they will be different in every scenario) add up and then it’s all you can think about. Each new papercut hurts more and for longer. But each one, independently, is so small that it’s not worth a conversation or a fight. You know that bringing up every occurrence will only make you seem like a bitter, vindictive person. How do you say “I’m hurt and I’ve been hurt for a long time” without feeling like you’re blindsiding a person who is perfectly happy with the insufficient state of things. It’s hard when you let it go on for so long. This is the exact reason why you shouldn’t fake orgasms, ladies!

If you’re the person causing the hurt and no one tells you that what you’re doing is causing them even a little pain - how are you supposed to know and adjust your behavior? Would you actually want to know every time you did something to cause someone else to get a ‘paper cut’? I imagine for a person who cared that would feel like an overwhelming amount of negativity and if you didn’t really care, the point is moot anyway, right? I’d imagine grouping up a few instances at once would feel more productive (“hey you’ve used this word a few times and it hurts me” “you keep forgetting things I tell you and it makes me feel like you don’t value me” “I keep asking you not to do this and you keep doing it”). But there is the type of person, and this is largely who I’m referring to, who simply cannot take the criticism. It makes them spiral out with defensive anger or turn into a self-loathing mope — which becomes part of the papercut injury > ignore/forgive > papercut > ignore > repeat until dead cycle.

Ultimately, when someone has had enough, it’s over the smallest, most inconsequential of things and it takes both parties by surprise. Both parties feel like the end came over nothing, when it was actually a cumulation of thousands of selfish, thoughtless things. I don’t know if this is relatable to anyone and I don’t know if there is any real actionable advice or thoughts here - but - I certainly dwell on the ever-passive, overlooking harm end of the spectrum and I know I’ve been on the thoughtless hurts end of the spectrum. I guess acknowledging it and contemplating if you want change, if it’s possible and if the relationship (familial, romantic, or friendship) is one you want to keep investing in is worth the contemplation. Speak up more often, be open to constructive criticism, walk away when a relationship no longer serve you or makes you happy and — never fake orgasms!

If you read this, thank you for paying your tariff, you’re pretty cool and you deserve an orgasm today!
 
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