personal pet peeve #3,417

[lirazel]

When Person A wants Person B to do something and Person B refuses. So Person A says something like, "Well, you must just be scared then," or "Oh, that means you can't do it" or something, and Person B immediately gets so offended that he or she must do this thing and prove Person A wrong WRONG WRONG DAMMIT!!!

Uh, would that work on y'all? Because that would totally not work on me. Maybe it's just because I'm, like, the least competative person in the world, but I would roll my eyes if someone tried to emotionally blackmail me in this way. But maybe that's just me? Maybe this isn't just a lazy trope and other people would actually fall for this sort of thing? I don't know. Any thoughts? Because this BUGS me. It's a trope that I want to see die forever unless the people in question live in an honor-based society where it actually makes sense for them to behave this way (dueling pistols at sunrise! That sort of thing) or if the character in question has been canonically established as hyper-competative.

Apparently my newfound commitment to posting here means that y'all will be on the receiving end of every single thought that pops into my head, no matter how inconsequential. Lucky you!

Comments

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Forget competitive; I don't like to be manipulated. And it won't die out. Can't beat people for sheer cussédness.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know! It's such a blatant manipulation--you'd have to be incredibly dumb not to know exactly what the other person is doing, and yet in movies/TV/books people CONSTANTLY FALL FOR IT. I do not understand.

(I really like that you put the accent mark on cussédness so that people would know how to pronounce it! I looove that word.)

[diebirchen.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- about that accent mark: I am the Fairy Godmother of Verbal Usage. I beta for such things as grammar, parallel structure, diction, agreement, vocabulary, punctuation, logic, and so forth. I see every jot and tittle that isn't precise. It's both a gift and a curse.

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

I'm super competitive and I would hate to be challenged like that, but at the same time I would be so indignant that someone tried such shameless manipulation on me that I would feel the need to completely ignore them so that they wouldn't have the satisfaction of getting to me.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I approve of your indignance. I would be personally insulted.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

People is dumb. And very often thoughtless.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[silverusagi]

I'd probably say something like, "Stop playing mind games," or "so why don't you do it?"

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

This makes sense to me.

[relurker.livejournal.com]

If someone tried to bait me into competitiveness, they'd very soon face an empty space; I'd rather cut people from my life than have to deal with mind tricks!
Your pet peeves, on the other hand, they're fun! And good for some quality time wasting...
; )

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Agreed! No mind tricks for me!

I am glad you enjoy them!

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

Nope, usually if I say no there's a reason and I won't just suddenly say yes. Especially since it's so manipulative and rude, and will oftentimes just make me less willing to do something.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am glad to know that this is not just me. I considered the possibility that there are loads of people out there who would fall for this, and I am glad to know that isn't the case.

[chickosaurusrex.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty reasonable pet peeve!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I thought so!

[smells_corrupt.livejournal.com]

Totally works on me. Not always, and not as often as I get older, and if it's something I am legitimately afraid of doing I have no problem admitting that, but yeah. It works sometimes.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Iiiinteresting! Do you think of yourself as competative? I'm wondering how much that plays into it, because, as I said, I am not competative in any way, and this sort of thing has no power over me.

[smells_corrupt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess I would classify myself as competitive. I'm not be-the-best-at-everything competitive, but I'm definitely if-you-can-do-it-I-can-do-it competitive. Which actually ends up being good for me sometimes, because it makes me do things I wouldn't necessarily do otherwise.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

That completely doesn't work on me. Admittedly, I am so stubborn that I once ate ice cream for breakfast for two months to prove a point. It's gotten a little better as I've gotten older, but...

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I am so stubborn that I once ate ice cream for breakfast for two months to prove a point.

omg, you did? (lol, that tickles me to no end, LOL!!)

Can I ask why?

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

My ex (with whom I was living at the time - I was 18, he was 21) had this problem of thinking that because I was younger, I desperately needed parenting or whatever and it was his job to impart wisdom to me or something. (Let me just say that this did not work out.) Predictably, this led to "you can't eat ice cream for breakfast" and me being like, "WATCH ME."

I'm pretty sure that the only thing that broke my resolve was going on vacation.

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

*nods* I know someone in a relationship like that. Sadly, she does not have your gumption.

And LOL! Thank you for sharing. That has made me smile and, frankly, made my day.

*joy*

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

It's possibly also helpful for context that I was living this guy when I was 18 because when I was 17 my parents had kicked me out of the house. I have no idea why my ex had this misguided idea that I was housebreakable. But it's really tough to have people invalidating your judgment regardless of circumstance; I wish the best for your friend.

<3 yay!

[snickfic]

Apparently my newfound commitment to posting here means that y'all will be on the receiving end of every single thought that pops into my head, no matter how inconsequential. Lucky you!

Lucky us! I'm excited. :)

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

bwahaha! Yes. It takes a lot more than that to get around my stubbornness. (Tell me not to do it, though, and that's a different story..../Damon)

Apparently my newfound commitment to posting here means that y'all will be on the receiving end of every single thought that pops into my head, no matter how inconsequential.

EXCELLENT.

[alwaysjbj.livejournal.com]

Nope, wouldn't work on me either.

I think it possibly works better on the weaker sex (you know, the ones suffering from testosterone poisoning). lol

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

It's classic manipulation and it probably works on a lot of people. You don't have to be competitive, just unwilling to appear afraid or a bad sport. It's pretty childish, but I guess it works on a lot of adults too. I'm old enough to shrug and go "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say." but not sure how often I would have when I was younger. I think the ability to resist it would be pretty situational - being willing to be seen as afraid to jump off a bridge is one thing, afraid to go to a party would be less easy to defend.

[pennydrdful.livejournal.com]

It's a trope that drives me nuts. I mean, who does that bullshit after the age of ten? The fact that people write full grown adult characters utilizing/falling victim to that trope makes me want to strangle someone. It's such lazy, BAD writing.

/rant

[next_to_normal]

I can't say I've noticed that trope a lot, but then again, I cannot stand people who are childish enough to pull the "oh, you must be ~scared" crap. So. I probably wouldn't read it anyway. :-P But it sounds like a lazy way of justifying a character doing something OOC.

If someone tried it on me, I'd probably say, "Um, are you twelve?" and walk away.