On one of the earliest episodes of How I Met Your Mother, forever lonesome Ted Mosby has a conversation with a coat check attendant about all the things we're supposed to like which usually ends up sucking. Things on the list includes clubs, cruises, New Year's Eve, the Super Bowl, and parades. Now, your mileage may vary with each of these, but there is no denying that some things people romanticize are in need of a take down.
Reddit user, u/-PurpleBuffalo-, wanted to hear what really needs to be taken off a pedestal when they asked:
What needs to stop being romanticized?
Work Until You Die For No Honor
Being overwhelmed/ and overworked.
The puritan American work ethic is killer
I'm So Deep. Look At My Candle Collection.
GiphyBad boys with tragic pasts. I don't care about how horrible their childhood was, it's no free pass for them to be abusive aholes.
Love Solves Everything?
Pop culture that depicts a woman changing a man drastically through the powerrrr of looooove.
Men aren't fixer-uppers to be bought with a plan in mind to shape them. It's both disrespectful to the man and delusional on the woman's part, and it sets unrealistic expectations that often don't end well.
Remember. He's Not Cool. He's A Killer.
Cartels.
Seriously Netflix and Hulu, El Chapo is a mass murderer.
It's The Worse In Middle School
Practically being a slave to your SO. One person shouldn't have to do every little thing just for the satisfaction of their partner
The worst thing is younger couples who shut out everyone else and sink into their own world. Their autonomy seems to just evaporate and the simplest of mundane errands - collecting the dry cleaning, buying a pint of milk from the local shop, posting a letter etc. - has to be done as a couple.
You really notice this if you have mutual friends with them and there is a social activity happening. One of them pulls out for any reason, you can bet your house the other party in that relationship will also stay away. Totally incapable of turning up alone and saying hello to their friends.
That must get absolutely suffocating.
Again. Not Cool. Killers.
Bonnie and Clyde. They killed my great grandfather as he was running a cash bag to the bank. My great grandmother had died earlier in the year in Minnesota. They had to wait for the ground to thaw and buried them together. My grandfather was orphaned because of them and people make movies and tell stories like they are something to be admired.
I'm pretty sure this sentiment is literally expressed in that new movie, by one of the characters, where he complains about these ruthless piece of trash killers being admired by the general population.
Absolutely Nothing
As my friend just signed up to the army expecting something movie like... I'd say war
A Lot Of Awful Poetry About This
Suicide.
It kind of surprised me when I realised that most of the people who romanticise it are mentally ill and suicidal themselves. I'm guilty myself, but that's when it made sense to me - mentally ill people see it as the solution to all their problems, like eternal elation for them.
In my experience, it's only when you feel like you're actually physically close to death and have no choice but to face it imminently (e.g. if you've ODed and don't think you'll make it) that reality sets in to fill you with regret, and it's awful.
The Literal Worst Kind Of Love
GiphyHarley Quinn and the jokers abusive relationship.
Several other celebrated tween book series relationships come to mind as well, but this one is the first one that comes to mind for me for many reasons.
Not As "Cool" As You Think
Mental illnesses
An obvious answer, but a good one none-the-less. Girl in high school insisted she had PTSD from her boyfriend cheating on her when he got high and kissed her friend. She also loves romanticizing her BPD, which I'm still a bit skeptical of. I have BPD and a long history of unresolved trauma, so it makes me unspeakably angry.
What do you think needs to stop being romanticized? Share it with us!