
It's that time again! It's time for me to get back on my BS and tell you why The Parent Trap's Meredith Blake was not the villain of the piece, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Can you imagine being her? Forced to deal with two bratty children and a fiance who couldn't even communicate with his ex (who is equally vindictive because they agreed to split their own children apart)?! Meredith deserved better. Those children certainly deserved therapy... and better parents, too. Leave it to Disney to punish her for being the only honest person in the film! Soulless corporation!
After Redditor hurtfocker asked the online community, "Who's a 'bad guy' from fiction who was actually right?" people shared their opinions. Careful, readers, because here there be spoilers.
"On the way there..."
The engineer Mace from the movie Sunshine. He's less of the explicit bad guy but is functionally an antagonist to the main character for much of the movie.
For those who haven't seen it, it's a movie about the crew of a spaceship who is on a mission to drop a payload into the sun, to give it a jumpstart as it's dying and that makes things obviously very bad on Earth. The ship has a large dome of solar shields to protect it as it gets closer and closer to the sun, with the ship itself hiding in the shade of the shield. The main group in the movie is actually the second attempt to do this, as the first ship failed on its mission.
On the way there, they receive an emergency signal from the first ship, which is still mostly intact and seems to still have its mission payload but was unable to contact Earth directly. One of the ship's experts, and the main character of the movie, suggests that the mission has a better chance of success if they can take that extra payload and bring it along, in case theirs fails. The ship's engineer, Mace, pretty assertively argues that their best chance is to stay on mission and not deviate from the plan. In fact, for the first half of the movie, he's framed as the antagonist to the main guy because he comes across as the "other guy", whose argument is naturally wrong because it goes against the main character.
Basically, everything that goes wrong in the movie is a direct or indirect result of the decision to deviate from the plan. And from that point forward, Mace is working tirelessly to correct massive f*ck-up after massive f*ck-up. But because he's gruff in demeanor and makes coldly calculated decisions, he's the primary antagonist... for a while.
"He was trying to rid the house..."
Tom the Cat.
He was trying to rid the house of a mouse that not only chewed a hole in the wall but also frequently contaminated and stole food. Tom was just doing his job as the cat of the house.
"He always thought humans..."
Magneto.
He always thought humans would try to destroy mutants and he was right because they tried. He might have not been completely right, but man it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him after the shitty hand that life dealt him early on.
"The mom and the boyfriend..."
The mom and boyfriend from The Santa Clause and the mom and boyfriend from Mrs. Doubtfire.
In both cases, they're trying to protect the children from an unreliable, possibly sociopathic father who is going to bizarre lengths to violate custody agreements (Doubtfire) or get the kid all twisted up in a bizarre, unhealthy fantasy (Santa Clause), and also interfere in the mom's personal life.
THANK YOU.
Something was seriously wrong with both those men. Watching Mrs. Doubtfire these days, it's no wonder why Miranda divorced Daniel's lazy @ss.
"To an extent."
Poison Ivy. To an extent. She's just fed up with the way humans treat the environment.
She's pretty much an anti-hero now.
Proof that rehabilitation works!
"Dude bulldozed his cornfield..."
The bank in Field of Dreams. Dude bulldozed his cornfield to build a baseball field so he could play catch with his dad's ghost. Then they threatened to foreclose because he wasn't paying his bills because he destroyed his source of income.
"He has some very valid anti-dictator points..."
Zaheer from Legend of Korra is my favorite villain of all time. He has some very valid anti-dictator points and fascinating perspectives on detaching one's self from life but ended up taking his vision too far. He is the perfect storm of an air nomad monk gone rogue.
"Poor guy."
Benjamin (Rob Lowe's character) from Wayne's World.
I love the movie, but upon some pondering, I have concluded that if Benjamin indeed were an ice cream flavor, he might not be pralines and d*ck after all. I mean, he picked up a show created by a couple of fast-food employees on the suggestion of a fan and really put some investment into it. He kept most aspects the same ("That looks like Wayne's basement. Only that's not Wayne's basement. Isn't that weird?") except for the theme song, but I bet they could have worked something out on that if they'd discussed it. Sure they had to be censored a little more than when they were at Wayne's mom's house, but those are FCC rules, not Benjamin's.
Wayne and Garth were also pissed about the Vanderhoff spot at the end of each episode, but how did they think the show would make money without a sponsor? And don't say they didn't care about money because they snatched up their advance as fast as they could and booked it outside singing: "We got five thousand dollars! We got five thousand dollars!" Additionally, they got a pretty cool sponsor, all things considered. Was it Rogaine, or Tampax, or Charmin? No! It was an arcade with the latest video games, and the owner just wanted to update everyone on his newest machines! Hell, that could have just been a neat additional segment since the show was primarily about music and youth culture anyway.
Finally, I know Wayne hated Benjamin for stealing Cassandra away from him, but I don't think he really stole her. She was 100% into Wayne until he started being mean and rude to her. She doesn't have to put up with that! She's a rock goddess! How long had they been dating anyway, a week? Benjamin was a gentleman. Yeah, anyway, I guess it was obvious from the start that the movie was about a couple of idiots, but I want Benjamin to get a little respect. He was trying to give an indie project a little mainstream exposure but the history books have recorded him as an ogre. Poor guy.
These make you think twice, don't they?
In the words of the great Meredith Blake, "Here's what's going on, buddy: the day we get married is the day I ship those brats off to Switzerland, get the picture? It's me, or them. Take your pick."
She really deserved to have that chance.
Have some villains you'd like us to (re)consider? Feel free to tell us all about them in the comments below!
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There are several prerequisites people might look for in a partner before agreeing to marry them.
Stable profession, where they see their future going, how well they get along with friends and family.
Then, of course, there's the matter of how they are in bed.
Something which might pose a problem should they find themselves dating someone who wants to hold off until after marriage.
Antiquated as the policy sounds, more people choose to abstain till marriage than one might imagine.
A policy which might not only prove problematic in finding a prospective fiancé, but could also be a potential deal breaker at the very start of the relationship.
One Redditor was curious to hear how people would react, or how they actually reacted, if their new romantic partner told them they wanted to abstain till after they got married, leading them to ask:
"If you were dating someone and if they said they don't want to have sex with you until they are married to you, how would you react?"
Depends On The Person
"My current boyfriend was like this."
"He wanted to wait until marriage."
"If it were anyone else, I would've dipped tf out."
"But for some reason, with him, I told him I'm willing to wait."
"Then a month passed into our relationship and he asked if we could have sex because he kept getting too turned on when we would do other stuff."
"Now 2years later, we have a healthy sex life and overall relationship lol."- acidic_crocodile
Will Only Wait So Long...
"I wouldn't mind waiting as long as they needed but I probably wouldn't get married to someone unless I knew we were also sexually compatible."- polywha
Love Is What Matters Most
"That was what my wife said to me."
"We would kiss and pet but not much more."
"I love her and what is important to her is important to me."
"She decided she wanted to after she figured out that I was serious about her and our relationship."
"We had sex about a year into the relationship, and we got married 4 years into the relationship."
"Someone saying that they want to wait till marriage might simply mean that they want to be with the person they are going to be with for the long term."
"You should always respect a person's boundaries and if their boundaries are not something you can respect, don't be with that person."
"It really is worth it, no matter who it is."
"And btw, we have been together since the late 80s and have both had boundaries that we respected, but it has always been worth it and i and glad to be her husband."
"This is my experience with the woman that I love and adore, I don't advocate thinking someone saying they want to wait is anything but straight up facts.
"If my wife wanted to wait the 4 years til marriage, i would have gladly."
"But since she did change her mind after figuring out i wasn't leaving, my statement of some might is accurate, but not all or probably most will change their minds."
"It is up to each person to decide if that is the situation they want to be in, but regardless, I think you should always respect the choices a person makes for themselves."
"Love and respect should always go together."- Equivalent_Ad8133
Details Needed...
"I would inquire about the reasoning, then act from there."
"I respect the choice, but I need to know the logic behind it if I'm going to commit to someone."- Blundell1992
That's A Dealbreaker...
"I would tell her that I am the wrong man for her and wish her all the best for her future."- Dense-Palpitation-55
Don't Knock It Till You've Tried It...
"This was my now wife."
"I'd been around the block a few times and had been with many partners."
"She was up front about it a few dates in."
"She came from a religious background and I definitely did not."
"At first I wasn't so sure."
"I agree with all the other comments here about sexual chemistry."
"However I found there was more open discussions around what each other liked and didn't like compared to previous relationships I've been in."
"Interestingly I felt a stronger connection with now wife then I did with previous gf's."
"Relationship is built around love and knowing each other and not just sex."
"We've been together for 8 years, married for 6."
"Have 2 kids and never had an argument."
"We made up for lost time after marriage.... Haha."
"If I had my time over, I'd do it exactly the same."- tuc_47
Be it for religious, personal, or no reason at all, a person's decision to wait till after marriage should always be respected.
If that's a dating deal-breaker, that's your decision, as much as theirs to abstain.
Though, you might want to delay your decision till after at least a date or two.
As you might find yourselves connecting in a way you've never connected with others.
And what good is sex without a connection?
No two people have the same sex drive.
There are those who simply can't get enough sex, as it is what empowers them and gives them purpose, such as the glorious Samantha Jones of Sex And The City.
Then there are those who could go days, weeks, months, even years without having even the tiniest sexual encounter, but live perfectly happy lives.
The proud asexuals.
Providing it is safe and consensual, there is no right and wrong when it comes to sex.
However, supposing one day two people had a classic Hollywood "meet cute", firmly believing it to be love at first sight, only to discover that one half of this prospective couple is asexual and the other is not.
What would their reactions be?
"Dear non-asexual people: if you were in a relationship with someone and they sat you down and said they are asexual, what would your reaction be?"
There Is Always A Solution
"This actually happened to me."
"My current partner told me about 3-4 years into our relationship that she realized she might be asexual."
"She told me that she'd realized since we'd been together that she'd often used sex as validation or because she thought she was supposed to."
"She'd been coming to the realization for a long time before she told me, and told me she was afraid of how I'd react."
"I'll preface my reaction by saying that we have never been monogamous, so things may have worked out differently if we were."
"I was not totally surprised."
"We tell each other everything, and I'd heard a lot about her previous partners."
"From what I gathered, I was her first long-term partner who wasn't abusive, pushy, or worse."
"I didn't feel like I'd disappointed her or turned her asexual in some way, I knew that she was telling me this because she felt comfortable that I wouldn't freak out or leave her."
"When we'd first started seeing each other I'd gone through a similar experience working up the courage to tell her I'm bi."
"The entire experience made us closer."
'That was years ago now, and we still very much love each other."
"We still have sex occasionally, but she's also fine if I seek it out elsewhere as long as I'm safe, always, and communicative, to a fault."
'Coming out to a partner is always difficult, regardless of what your sexuality is, or isn't."
"It's scary to think the person you love may feel differently about you afterward, but it's better than living a lie and letting it eat away at you."- Duckiesims
Just be Upfront
"i've been on a date with an asexual guy."
"He told me 1 hour into the date."
"I had nothing but respect for straight up telling me."
"I said I want sex to be a part of a relationship, he respected my choice and we had a great date."
"We were friends for long after that."- kaascheesefromage
Nope, Not Going To Work...
"Wish them well, find someone who shares my interests."- tacit_urn
Minor Detail...
"This actually happened to me."
"He was so much fun, that sex ultimately did not matter."
"We had 8 years together before he went I search of new adventures, but we stayed friends until his death."
"I still miss him."- Dang_It_All_to_Heck
An Insurmountable Hurdle
"I’ve been there."
"College boyfriend after about a year of dating told me that he thought he was asexual."
"We had been having sex until then, and it made me feel awful thinking that he might’ve not wanted to the entire time."
"I felt bad 'making' him do that."
"It was always consensual, but I was worried he only did it because he felt he had to."
"Some people can make a relationship without sex work, but this is what I personally did not want."
"I never shamed him for his lack of sexuality, but it made navigating the relationship more challenging."
"That relationship went on for at least another year, but ended up failing for a few reasons."
"I’m quite sexual, so that became a compatibility issue."
"We did not have sex thereafter."
"He was kind of a controlling person, (not because he is asexual)."
"He would make me feel ashamed for getting turned on or, god forbid, pleasuring myself."
"He also guilted me in staying with him despite the lack of any sexual compromise."
"He basically said that if I really loved him for him we would stay together."
"And I did love him a lot at the time, so that is why I stayed."
"I know now that sex is important to me, and really it is nice to be intimate with someone and to feel wanted in that way."
"I felt ugly for the longest time because any time I brought up this issue, I would either be rejected, ouch, or shamed for wanting anything sexual."
"We were both pretty young in this relationship."
"If I were in a relationship like this now, after some more relationship experience, I would have tried to have a clearer discussion about my needs."
"In all, I hope that if anyone else finds themselves in this situation, ie with a partner that realizes they’re asexual, that you can have a serious conversation and decide if this is enough of a compatibility issue to stop seeing each other or make a compromise to match both of your needs."- Silverhime
It Can Have Its Advantages
"Wow this is weird, this actually happened to me the other day."
"My partner came and told me she is asexual."
"We talked through what that meant to her and basically she's not anti-sex, in fact she enjoys it, she just has almost no independent interest in sex, and almost no attraction or sexual desire towards people."
"So, after checking that she was still happy with the way things are and she wouldn't prefer some alternative arrangement, we basically just agreed to continue as we have been throughout the relationship up to this point."
"Boring I know, sorry."
"In fact it made me feel more free to pursue my own kinks and desires, since sex is now something she mostly does because she wants to make me happy I feel less bad making it about my wants."- cdwols
Sex is always a very personal issue.
With that in mind, someone with a high sex drive simply might not be able to make a relationship work with an asexual person.
Though opposites do attract, which can include two people with highly opposing views and needs towards sex.
For at the end of the day, there's no ignoring a connection.
History itself is a lie.
At least that's how it feels.
These last few decades have become more and more eye-opening.
Humans are a mess.
And our track record in decency is shoddy at best.
So many cover-ups have done more harm than good.
So let's know them so we never repeat them.
Redditor thoughtofeverything wanted to talk about history and all of its evils.
So they asked:
"What has been the most destructive lie in human history?"
The lies are vast and many. Let's count.
Get Up!
"That you can wake up in the morning and 'just rest your eyes.'"
ICTheAlchemist
"That's why I have 5 alarms. One morning my gf is just going to murder me."
Bubbling_Psycho
“Radium Girls”
“Radium paint isn’t poisonous.”
"Thousands of watch-dial workers in the US used to apply radium brushes on their tongues to paint numbers on watch dials, and almost all of these workers were women. As these workers were dying due to radiation poising, the companies brought in fake doctors and convinced the victims and their families that they have venereal diseases like Syphilis."
"As this was mostly affecting women, most were scared to share it with their families for fear of retaliation and abandonment. The suffering endured by these women was extremely awful, their jaws fell off, their bones fractured, their hair was lost, and most lost eyesight until their eventual painful death."
"These women were called 'Radium Girls.' Eventually many fought back settled lawsuits and brought the entire Radium production industry down, unfortunately, many innocent women lost their lives before this evil industry was brought down. Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace"
EntryFriendly
1920 to 1970
"Thomas Midgley and General Motors lying that exposure to tetra-ethyl lead is harmless."
"Tetra-ethyl lead was a gasoline additive present in all gasoline sold in the US until it was banned in the 70s. Almost every child growing up from 1920 to 1970 had lead poisoning to some degree."
"Entire generations grew up with their minds being poisoned, unable to reach their potentials because of him. Not to mention the secondary effects, lead exposure is associated with criminal behaviors."
Tuungsten
In 1843...
"A specific historical example: In 1843, a man called Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus. This led to him starting the Taiping Rebellion, which caused the deaths of between 20 million and 70 million people. Then again, he probably believed it, so it might not count as a lie."
PuzzleMeDo
"Chinese history is freaking wild. The sh*t that happens always ends up getting 10 million+ people killed. It's how you get incredibly gruesome massacres like the Sichuan massacre."
Thathitmann
LIE!
"Sugar isn’t the problem, it’s fats! Let’s make everything 'fat-free' and just triple the sugar content!"
hamboneclay
"Yeah this one gets me pretty upset. Just a straight up lie."
passionateaboutEH
Sugar. Man's greatest enemy.
The Change
"Climate change is YOUR fault. YOU need to change the way YOU do things. Not the corporate conglomerate that's pumping a billion tons a year."
itsflowzbrah
Philip Morris Lies
"The 1964 Surgeon General’s report concluded that smoking cigarettes causes death and disease. However, in a 1971 television interview, the president of Philip Morris denied the health risks that pregnant women and their babies face, saying that 'It’s true that babies born from women who smoke are smaller, but they are just as healthy as the babies born to women who do not smoke. Some women would prefer to have smaller babies.'"
HisGibness
Scandals
"Nestle — The Baby Killer Scandal. They deliberately lied to mothers in developing countries to sell their baby formula, telling them that their own milk was nutritionally insufficient and their babies would be unhealthy if they continued to breastfeed them. The result of this marketing campaign was approximately 66,000 infant mortalities."
"Source: https://www.nber.org/papers/w24452"
voicebread
Ten. Days.
"Oxycontin isn't addictive."
ChickNuggs
"I was in a car accident, was given a prescription for Oxycontin. Doc told me 'get off it as soon as you can manage your pain with over the counter drugs.' I was on it for ten days. Ten. Days. I experienced withdrawal symptoms when I quit."
Drakmanka
"I watched Dopesick. The Sackler family is pure evil and largely created the opioid crisis solely for profit."
Tuckernuts8
Do your duty...
"Plastic is easily recyclable so long as the public does their duty to sort it and bring it to its designated waste area."
cellocaster
History is littered with mess. Physical and metaphorical.
What would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
We take knowledge for granted.
And for too long we've assumed everyone knows the basics.
Never assume.
Knowledge can be lacking.
Redditor CasualBeers wanted to share thoughts on the things we're stunned people don't know.
So they asked:
"What’s some basic knowledge that a scary amount of people don’t know?"
I'm more worried about the basic educational knowledge. The things people skip in school.
Use Cover
"Don’t put water on a grease fire. This is when your pan/pot catches fire while cooking. Cover it with the pot or pan lid and turn off the heat."
Liquid_Panic
TURN!!!
"Turn signal. Turn lane. Turn."
Mammoth-Condition-34
"Yes, this drives me nuts! It's not rocket science but somehow a vast chunk of the population is like 'oh I'm turning right here, I'll brake and then as I begin to turn the steering wheel maybe I'll flip on the turn signal because I think you're supposed to use it somewhere in this process.'"
RangerRudbeckia
it's just silent...
"Drowning doesn't usually look like drowning on TV. The person goes under and doesn't come back up. And choking doesn't look like choking as seen on TV either. If there's any hacking/coughing... they aren't choking and don't need a Heimlich maneuver. You only use the Heimlich if there's no sound coming out of their mouth."
McRedditerFace
Potions
"That mixing bleach and pine sol creates toxic fumes that can actually kill you if they build up too much in a room. A scary number of people actually do this though in their laundry or when cleaning their homes."
AnnoyedDuckling
Fumes make you crazy. Careful of the mix.
Look Closer
"How to spot an obvious scam. Look how many people fall for chain posts and propaganda and stuff."
stitchmidda2
Liars
"Cops can lie to you."
UnseasonedCabbage147
"Cops are also not obligated to read you your Miranda rights upon arrest unless they're going to interview you, which they usually won't when they're on scene."
"However, that doesn't mean they won't use anything you say still against you. So keep your damn mouth shut when dealing with cops. Wait until you have a lawyer present."
Zestyclose-Day-2864
Be Aware
"It is very easy to not block the whole aisle with your cart at the grocery store."
atistang
"Man, just spatial awareness in general. It takes an awesome amount of dismissal for me not to let it bother me, say on a crowded street or in a train car."
"MFers, there is a whole third of a car where no one is standing, yet you cluster around strangers at one end? Like being in a gaggle of your associates, while still annoying, is one thing. But mindless clogging of a public space really boggles and infuriates me."
MilquetoastSobriquet
Timing is off...
"How long it takes a semi truck to stop?"
atomek_xxi
"It always makes me mad when I pass a semi, give them enough space before getting back over, and some a**hole decides that the space I was leaving for the semi to need to stop is actually for his dumba** to slide into."
NuttyButts
"And that truck drivers can’t necessarily see you down there, so give them space!"
Yugan-Dali
Lady, I’m not there with you...
"How to tell if food has gone bad. When I worked in a meat department, we got like one call a day from people saying 'I bought this X days ago, is it still good?' Lady, I’m not there with you. This ain’t a smellophone. You’re going to have to use your own senses and brain on this one."
lettherebemorelight
Always read the label. The label is important.