
There is anonymity in privacy, which is why I'm a big fan of living in a large city (and am perfectly okay with it remaining that way). It's easy to keep people out of your business when you're surrounded by millions of other people.
That's not true in small towns, where even the most innocuous personal drama can be distorted. So when scandals happen (and trust that they do) they tend to captivate the local imagination in ways not seen in big cities.
People told us all about the latest drama in their neck of the woods after Redditor Pessimistic_Soviet asked the online community,
"Those of you who live in small towns, what is the current local controversy all about?"
"Dogs are now getting sick..."
"Thousands of crabs washed ashore dead but nobody really knows why; I think they blamed wind turbines at one point. Dogs are now getting really sick and there are warnings for people to stay away from the beach but nobody knows why it’s happening."
MariahCareyButt
It sounds like algae toxins, which wouldn't surprise me.
"The problem with that is..."
"While fleeing another hit and run, and possible DUI, some dude tried to go full speed directly thru the middle of our town square. The problem with that is we have a big historic fountain there. Traffic is usually supposed to swerve arround the fountain, he did not."
"This dude in a white SUV ramps into our fountain, and smashes into the center pillar. Thankfully the fountain was off for the winter, so there was less damage, but they still have no clue how, and how much money it's gonna take to fix this mess."
"The car was removed, but the fountain is still wrapped up in its tarp a month later. There's security cam footage of the ramp and its all anyone could talk about for a few weeks."
raven_1313
It sounds like that fountain is the town's pride and joy so it makes sense that everyone is a bit bent out of shape about it.
"A woman knows..."
"A woman known as a pretty awful person disappeared. 'Everyone' knows it was probably her husband, but the family owns over 10,000 acres and no body has been found. The rest of her family is ramping up an awareness campaign so should be interesting to see where this all goes."
Ordo501
I expect the Lifetime movie to drop any day now.
"A guy wanted to bury his parents..."
"A guy wanted to bury his parents on their (parents’) slightly rural, totally out of the way, virtually-no-neighbors property, but the village said no way. We don’t do that here. We’re classy."
"So he went to the state for permission to build a funeral home/crematorium instead, and he built a giant mausoleum with both their caskets right on the corner of the property where everyone and their grandma can see it when they drive by!"
"And he has zero plans to actually turn this into a functioning business. It’s about half done, no landscaping, and construction vehicles parked all over the place. Gotta hand it to him!"
Axel0812
Okay, this is petty (and brilliant) as all hell and I am LIVING for it.
"A couple promised..."
"A couple promised a lot of cakes and fancy breads to the local festival and didn't deliver. Everyone has been mad at them for the last two weeks."
ChangeWinter4443
I mean... wouldn't you be? We're talking about cakes AND fancy breads here.
"The girl's volleyball coach..."
"Town of about 1800. The girl's volleyball coach got a DWI. The school's principal went to pick her up from jail, and was arrested for DWI himself. Somehow it got out that these two (both married) were having an affair."
stickshaker73
In a small town how did they think they'd be able to keep any of that secret?
"Two places..."
"Two places make dill dip. One accused the other of stealing the recipe."
duckswithbanjos
This is the sort of drama that I can see being developed into an award-winning indie film.
"People here..."
"People here in my town of 396 are still upset that the local Christmas tree was taken down and thrown away with all the lights still on it."
Onlykitten
I mean... I get it. Sounds like a total waste.
"The woman who just got elected..."
"The woman who just got elected mayor owns most of the property downtown, and all the open seats on city council went to her employees. Can’t wait to see the corruption in action."
Blanchypants
Ha, how convenient. I wonder what her explanation for this was. Probably nothing satisfactory.
"Swans..."
"Swans in the local rivers/lakes have been dying from avian flu and we’ve all been warned to keep our dogs away from sick or dead swans in case infection spreads to humans."
allywillow
Need I remind you that we are in the middle of a global pandemic so I hope people do manage to keep their dogs away, just to be on the safe side!
There's something to be said about small towns – they somehow never fail to entertain us with all their drama.
It's fun to hear about it – definitely not as fun to live it.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Various organizations can have any number of followers who are totally devoted to their respective missions, it seems like a cult.
Religions are known for having so many followers who abide by a lifestyle that comports to supporting the faith.
But the same dedication can apply to non-religious organizations.
These were explored when Redditor DrLizardLover asked:
"What isn't a religion but people treat it like it is?"
People in the big picture have their insanely dedicated followers.
Elon, The God
"I spoke vaguely against Elon Musk in a reply to a comment on a video."
"The video has gone viral, and the comment I replied to was pinned. So I get about 3-4 notifications a day of musk simps acting like I've insulted a deity. I've just rolled with it and reminded them he's essentially an oligarch and is inherently not a good dude. They froth."
– Goatfellon
Matinee Idols
"Celebrity worship."
– VisualSeaweed5927
Actor Adulation
"Whatever Jared Leto’s got going on."
– SirMooncake
People find a sense of belonging in social media groups and communities.
Following With The Flow
"People who worship streamers."
– The_bombblows12
Gaming Culture
"Steamer/Twitch culture freaks me out. I've been a gamer my whole life (only 30,) but the gaming scene is so strange to me. I truly hope the people in Twitch chats are nothing like that in real life."
– kamWise
"Poggers Dude"
"Take this with a grain of salt. But I've met a few other people who have watched twitch. Most of them are a bit nerdy, but nothing crazy."
"But one guy, he was like an attractive, active dude, who you might see on the beach in California going for a surf. He and I were at a barbecue and he was talking about something non gaming related and he said 'poggers dude'. I had to take a second to realize what I heard. Then I started to notice him saying things like 'PogChamp' and some of the other popular twitch phrases. Later come to find out he is like a die hard fan of some esport, can't remember which."
"I realize this isn't quite like a typical twitch chat of what you see on big streams like xqc, mizkif, or others. But still I imagine there are probably some people out there who act like those chats."
– CaptSprinkls
The FB Matriarchy
"Mom groups on facebook."
– Swift_Lad
Anonymous Tippers
"There was a streamer poker game the other night and seeing these guys dump half a million in an hour made me wonder, why are people donating to these people? It's like that Kylie Jenner thing where one of her employee got an accident and she started a gofundme for 150K instead of paying it herself."
– Zorops
Power Play
"Cricket game in india."
– RayTrader03
"Cricket in Australia, too, lol."
– CalypsoContinuum
People flock to this popular financial prospect.
"Multi level marketing."
– Voice_of_Season
Predatory Endeavor
"What upsets me is I sometimes meet people who are genuinely motivated to change their life but completely misguided in what they invest their time and money into and mlm sorta preys on that."
– ultimaIV
A "Sunny" Reference
“ It’s a Pyramid scheme!”
“No, it’s not a Pyramid Scheme, it’s a Reverse Funnel system!”
“…turn it upside down”
“Goddamnit! Sh*t!”
– doobydoodle
Pitch At A Party
"Dude.. I was just at a child's birthday party and this douche was telling my aunt about his wellness products. She said sounds like MLM. No it isn't though because I really believe in the products. Do you have someone encouraging you to sell. No I don't I sell it because it's a high quality product at a reasonable price. Do you make good money? Not yet because we are brand new. What else do you do for work. This is it right now. I'm happy with my regular wellness products. How would you know until you try these? This went on for the entire birthday party. She said I'm Not Interested. And turned the other way. He still pestered her."
"After the party he was asking people if anybody knew my aunt's phone number."
– lumberjackpat19
It's one thing for a person to join a community of like-minded individuals to feel a sense of belonging.
But it's another thing when they lose a sense of themselves completely for their blind devotion.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
There are many things in modern society that are generally accepted but would have been considered taboo as little as ten to twenty years ago.
But even in our supposedly progressive modern age, we still have a long way to go.
Far too many people are still hesitant or afraid to be open about elements of their life, fearing too many people wouldn't consider it "normal."
This idea piqued the curiosity of Redditor Sham-da-man, leading him to reach out to the Reddit community on what needs changing in modern society by asking:
"What needs to be normalized?"
Finding that work/life balance.
Choosing to leave a job during your probation period. The probation period is not just for the company to see if you’re a good fit, but for you to assess the company and see if you actually like it. A lot of employers tend to forget this, and then it is sometimes looked down upon on your CV unfortunately. - User Deleted
"Taking time off work when you’re sick."- HuffleSlut_.
"Being able to go home from work if your tasks are completed."
"Not at 10am because you don't have anything on your plate, but say at 3:45pm after you've busted it all day, completed your items, helped a few co-workers with some things outside of your scope, and are now browsing reddit because you're waiting on people to get back to you before you're able to proceed."- xLenny3x.
It takes a real man to know...
"Men actually having feelings and not have to 'take it like a man'."- Gifigi600.
Sorry, can't help you!
"Not being available at all times."- INTPhoenix.
Saying 'I don’t know enough to have an opinion on this issue' or 'I don’t know'.- LiquidPenChamber1019.
Table for one.
"Eating alone."- -lmayonnaise.
That might be what YOU think, but...
"Being allowed to disagree with people in your community, and being allowed to agree with people outside your community."
"We are so polarized and political these days."- 604jmv.
Not ashamed to admit it.
'Mental health struggles.'
"Society has come a long way but we still have progress to be made."- JBAnswers26.
Arguably, there's another very pressing issue which needs to be normalized more than anything.
The overuse and expectations of the word "normal."
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Expectations can be a dangerous thing.
It's very easy to be excited for an upcoming movie or TV show, an item of clothing you've been dying to own, or a vacation we've been saving years for.
But sometimes, when reality sets in, whatever it was we were so eagerly looking forward to doesn't always turn out to be everything we'd hoped it would be.
Redditor Tarps-celom was curious what fellow Redditors had sky-high expectations for, only to find themselves let down, and asked:
"What were you really hyped for but completely flopped?"
Is being a grown up all that it's cracked up to be?
"Being an adult."- marr318
"Running my own business."- LB_P
"Having a career, our whole life built up to this..and its just mediocre, and NOBODY knows what they are really doing."- SnooPandas1674.
For all the advancements in technology...
"Power Glove."
"It sucked and I'll never forget it."- Ekh0es.
"Google +"
"They made us to wait for a very long time with invite only feature."
'Ppl forgot about it when it was released."- introvertboyme.
Not worth the price of admission.
"'Dark Tower' movie."- urchisilver.
"M.Night's 'Avatar' movie."
"He broke my heart."- Suspicious-Elk-3631.
So much better the first time.
"Sim city 5.'
"Good God what a horrid mess."
"First week or more of release you were lucky to play because you could only play it online on their servers that were constantly full."
"Then once you hit like 50k people in your city the game was uncontrollable."
"You would literally run out of water and no matter what you did traffic took the shortest path so constant traffic and thus emergency vehicles couldn't move so everything went to hell fast."- InsertBluescreenHere
"Second go round of 'Arrested Development'."
"Deep inside I knew they’d never be able to capture that magic."
"Still, told myself they could."
"Narrator: They couldn’t."- PollyWentlightly
"Should old acquaintance be forgot..."
"Every New Year’s Eve party ever."- PollyWentlightly
When expectations are high, being disappointed is almost inevitable.
Then too, it's entirely possible that our disappointment didn't stem one bit from our sky-high expectations, but simply the fact that what we were so looking forward to turned out to be just plain awful.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Elon Musk is one of the richest men on the planet. He's also among the most controversial.
In recent weeks, Musk made headlines for his $44 billion buyout of Twitter, which sparked concerns among liberals and civil rights activists who have warned about the consequences of having one person have so much control over public discourse online.
Musk has defended his venture as a bid to protect free speech and while there exist many editorials analyzing his motives in this venture (to say nothing of his others), there are also many people out there who consider him a visionary and have balked at criticisms of him.
We heard from a few of those people after Redditor return2ozma asked the online community,
"Those who defend Elon Musk, why do you feel the need to defend him?"
"All of that stuff..."
"I dont really care about Musk himself. My issue is the sheer hypocrisy."
"People are suddenly saying the speech will be restricted and he will use his power to selectively ban accounts like Big Tech (especially Twitter) haven't been doing that for years."
"MSNBC said that he would use it to promote good info on presidential candidates he likes and hide good info on candidates he doesn't. That he would exaggerate the bad and put it to the front for candidates he hates while doing the opposite for those he likes. like Big Tech (and mainstream media) hasnt been doing that for years."
"People are screaming that billionaires are able to purchase entire media platforms. like Billionaires havent been doing that for years. All of that stuff they were mocking political opponents for suddenly might be used on them, and now it's an issue?"
InvisibleMe21
People have been complaining about the very things you have raised. And also complaining about Musk who has historically proven he is not really a fan of free and open speech.
"A lot of people hate him..."
"I don't defend him. But when people make assumptions and straight up lie, I will call them out for it. A lot of people hate him, just because it's trendy to do so. In reality they don't know anything about him."
[deleted]
I mean, that's fine. But, when people make up lies to prop up Elon, I hope you have that same enthusiasm for the truth.
"If you're reading this..."
"If you’re reading this, then you’re old enough to know that mainstream media sets the mood for the perception of public figures, but also that that mood is never some objectively accurate measure of the persons overall goodness or badness. Media is like fashion: winds change."
"So don’t come at me saying “why does your opinion differ from the sentiment I happen to have read in the news lately?” That is inherently a dumb question."
"Real answer: Because when he says his goal is to make life interplanetary and spread consciousness to the stars, I believe that’s genuine."
"I honestly don’t understand how you can justify believing he’s not driven to make the world a better place: his motivation leaks through every single endeavor he undertakes."
Do you really think it’s a coincidence that the same guy who popularized electric cars is also pushing forward other optimistic, utopian-aiming tech like solar energy, high-speed rail and tunnel infrastructure, brain-computer interfaces, space exploration, and uncensorable Internet?"
"To that, I say: what an extraordinary coincidence that the guy who’s supposedly a fraud and big danger to humanity is simultaneously involved in so many things that a real tech-oriented humanist would be. Extraordinary coincidence!"
"The real question is, 1) why the hate? and 2) given the above how can you actually justify thinking he’s not genuinely all about advancing the human race?"
"I fear y’all only hate him because he’s a bit autistic, combined with jealousy, but especially combined with the fact he’s been getting piled on a lot."
adamisom
You can certainly make an argument that mainstream media doesn't like him but many people just don't like the man's attitude and entitlement.
"He can be a real jerk. He does things I don't agree with, and is famous enough that a lot of his personal life is public. And the people attacking him seem to forget that he has a right to be himself. If he were running for public office then we should worry about what he believes, but until then, let him be him."
"He's on the autism spectrum, and so am I, so I guess I'm a little sensitive to the fact that his brain works differently, and he sees things differently, and he gets attacked for it. I defend him against people who attack him for being different because in many ways I feel like I'm defending my right to be different and see the world in a way that others do not."
AlsoNotTheMamma
While I do not find Elon in any way shape or form to be a role model of mine, I do applaud your reasoned and level headed response.
"If he gets us to Mars..."
"If he gets us to Mars in the next decade or so, I think he will be every young kid's role model whether we like it or not."
"The important thing for me is that he's not perfect, and I don't expect him to be. Flawed people can accomplish great things if they work hard. And have access to money."
AlsoNotTheMamma
The key here, of course, is money. If you don't have any money, what can you actually do?
"I wouldn’t say I like Musk as a person either but that doesn’t mean I would discredit all of the massive advancements in innovation and technology he has done for the world."
rbui5000
Safe to say he's very much a "love him or hate him" sort of figure. There is no in-between.
"I don't get the blind hate..."
"I don't get the blind hate or blind love of him. I am amazed by what he has achieved in a number of areas, he's clearly a brilliant clear thinker in terms of engineering, but he's still flawed. He says and does things I don't like, but so far the world is a much better place because of him."
mother-a-god
Granted, all the billionaire hate is justified. Is the world actually better when Musk symbolizes so much of its inequality?
"He's not someone I admire or desire to emulate. However, the world's innovation is driven by people like this guy, and as controversial as he is he does a lot of good things."
[deleted]
Can you elaborate on this for people who don't follow him?
"I don't really defend him. I just think self driving electric cars and rockets are pretty cool."
Rorty
Okay, fair! Those things are indeed pretty cool.
There's no doubt that Elon Musk is one of the most polarizing figures in the world. How he'll continue to effect the world we live in remains to be seen but whatever lies in store for us is bound to have significant impacts on society at large.
Have opinions of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.