Thread by @ThoughtSlime

normalise crying

crying owns

your body comes with a free, harmless release valve for bad emotions that has no bad consequences for you except making your face a little wet
it is a valuable resource and people should not be discouraged from using it

the people who mock crying have a vested interest in making sure that vulnerability cannot be exposed and empathy (read: solidarity) cannot be built

crying doesn't make you less tough, it makes you more able to deal with shit, it makes you stronger

who is stronger? the person who has a problem and cries and then feels better, or the person who has a problem and bottles it up and continues feeling bad?

is it stronger for a hungry person to not eat? is it stronger for a sleepy person to stay awake?

You have been placed in the middle of a culture which expects you to display arbitrary signifiers of strength and confidence at all times

it is a deliberate method of social control designed to make people without power feel alienated,

if they knew everyone felt like then we might all get together and do something about it, but we think we're weak for feeling this way

social media is the culmination of this project, because now at all times you are expected to be advertising yourself, and there is a permanent record of every thing you say or do that everyone else polices.

prospective employers might be checking your facebook and twitter, so don't you DARE complain or do something that makes them think of you as a person rather than an employee

that sexy model on Instagram is happy all the time (as far as I know), why cant I be? it must be something wrong with me.

I better not say anything, or everyone will know.

Our labour was so successfully atomised, that now they're coming for our emotions. Our personalities.

So you either submit to the acceptable range of emotions, or risk your livelihood.

People say it's "brave" to talk about our bad emotions. They recognise that it is a risk. That it is stigmatised. They don't ask who benefits.

You get companies like Bell media launching mental health awareness campaigns while also firing people for taking mental health leave

you are forbidden from feeling bad, and the things which make you feel good are stolen, homogenised, and sold back to you in pieces

we are all leading half a life, the richness of the human experience is being stolen from us