Talking at Me

   It seems as if the world is increasingly filling up with know-it-alls. People who always think they know how to do something or everything better than everyone else and are not ashamed to say it out loud. They are worse than one-uppers, because at least with one-uppers, you can sniff out their insecurity like a ripe fart and easily ignore them. But, the know-it-alls? Well lets just say it seem that it just does not occur to them that maybe they might not know it all after all.  These people drive me cray cray. They are the ones with viral blogs unfortunately so they are always shoved down out throats by Huffington Post, Yahoo, or incessantly forwarded by their moon-eyed followers, our friends on Facebook and Google+.
   Listen, I love blogs. Coincidentally, I have my own that I forward, unabashedly on both Facebook and Google+. (haha) The things is, nobody really reads it. I also am usually not offering advice, but doing my best to restrain anger or passive-aggressively call someone or some type out who I find annoying. Specifically, what I am NOT doing, is telling you for example, how much I know about weight, body image, parenthood, lack of parenthood, fitness, food, wine, sailing, yoga, or any other topic that allows the know-it-all to condescendingly and coincidentally simultaneously make us feel empowered and ashamed. Here is why I really try to avoid making broad generalization about what I know, and force feeding it to people like I am trying to harvest their livers for foie gras. The first and most important reason is that the only thing I am 100% sure that I know about, is me and what I like, prefer, enjoy, or practice. The second reason, I really know nothing, none of "know" anything for sure. Which is amplified by the fact that we are all different with different experiences. At least that is the philosophy I subscribe to. And lately, all the people who get the soapbox are really starting to piss me off. I think the worst place right now for it, hands down, has to be The Huffington Post.
   Now, I have never felt more bad about being me than I do after finish my daily lunch reading of The Huffington Post. Well, in general it pretty much sums up my love hate relationship with liberals and feminists. Sometimes I fancy myself both, and I guess I am  in many senses, but there is nothing I hate more than a liberal or feminist telling me how awful I am because I am skinny, blonde, make a little more than minimum wage, am married, do not have kids, think kids should be punished, wear make-up, oh and did I mention because I thin. This last one really gets to me and lately, all they do is project their grievances onto everything and everyone, even Jennifer Lawrence, poor kid. (If you missed the blog totally shaming Jennifer Lawrence and invalidating her feelings and insecurities, keep missing it. Huffington Post should be ashamed for actually posting it) No one is allowed to think differently than they, and worst of all, nobodies feelings are as valid as theirs.
    I think the validation, or lack thereof, of peoples feelings is what is really bothersome. Everyone is insecure for some reason or another. But, sometimes in life, we are allowed these little victories. Times when we are involved in something great and it lifts our spirits. These know-it-all bloggers are the ones who take it upon themselves to kick out the legs of our temporary pedestals and then stomp on our faces. Just look at the Elle Magazine's latest cover "photo-gate". The one where, despite Mindy Kaling's moment of feeling glamorous, we are supposed to be outraged  because it is only a beautiful picture of her face. Come on we wanted full frontal nudity! Wait, that is not what they want? Oh we are supposed to see "real" (which coincidentally my body type as well is a majority of my family, friends and acquaintances do not fit) representations of women on the cover of a magazine and we are supposed to derive our self worth out if it. Just like Melissa McCarthy, she picked out that damn trench coat, now I do not know what to think so I am going to sit  down with a tub of Ben and Jerry's or just walk into ice cold Lake Michigan. I am confused, she loved the cover, she picked the cover out. Why are you counting on Mindy Kaling and Melissa McCarthy to make you happy anyways....lot of weight to put on the shoulders of two ladies. (Shit was that anti-feminist, I just meant that...ah screw it)
     I do not get it. I do not know what these people want. But they make me feel like shit for being me and they are really good at it. Apparently we are supposed to derive our self-worth from outside sources, like them ironically. Know-it-alls seem feed off people who feel like they need outside validation. It is not ironic, they get attention from it. So, I am not fat, nor do I have washboard abs, so I am neither accepted by the fat bloggers, nor the fitness (they are crazy) bloggers. So what do I do? I do  not have kids, so I am shamed by the mommy bloggers who constantly feel the need to defend their parenthood choices, but I also have not totally written off having kids, so no go with the Cruella De Ville childless groups. The thing is though, if you sniff harder can smell out their insecurities as well, even if they can't on their own. Constantly feeling, subconsciously, that you have to defend your life choices by making others feel bad, is definitively a characteristic of this type. So, do you feel bad for them and brush them off? Or should we waste our breaths and tell them where to stick it?