Bla's Pet Peeves

I was tagged by @ascheriit to write up a list of pet peeves; things that annoy me in my everyday human life. I'd consider myself quite tolerant, so I will have to exaggerate a few just to mock up a few.

1. People talking in the Cinema and staring at their phones

Admittedly, I don't really watch movies on my own, but when I do bring people along for a screening, I expect them to not be so chatty, as well as other people who are sharing the room. If you want to talk, talk at the end of the movie. It's really distracting, and it can really ruin my enjoyment of a flick. My other annoyance is with people who constantly stare at their phone screen every now and instead of you know, watching the damn movie! If you're going to commit to a movie, commit to it fully. And no, I don't want to hear your comedic thought out loud.

2. Fake spam emails from older relatives

They don't know any better, and everytime someone younger in my extended family has to remind them each time that the emails they're forwarding are fake. If I want advice on how to cure cancer, I'd google it. Alternatively, if I do subscribe to a site, that doesn't mean I want an email from them every freaking day.

3. Overreaction to political correctness in media or as I like to call it, patriotic correctness (This is a direct response to @filotasriza3's political correctness pet peeve)

I get it. You don't want to see Achilles played by a black person. Okay, but my argument to that is that what you're doing here is no different from the cries of cultural appropriation. Oversensitive people didn't want that girl to wear that Chinese dress, because it's "cultural appropriation" to them. Similarly, when a black man decides to play a mythological greek person, and you cry about it, you're essentially saying that a black man should never ever act like a greek because he's culturally appropriating greek culture. Furthermore, you have to remember that Achilles is a fictional character. He wasn't white or any other colour since the Achilles we know from the myths never existed. Mythologies cross borders all the time. Just take a look at how Jesus came to be represented in western countries nowadays. He's a tall white dude, with long hair and blue eyes. Jesus was middle eastern, and while we can't say exactly how he looked like, we do have some clues, and he certainly wouldn't look like the hippie we know today. Ultimately, I think what matters to an actor is his ability to portray Achilles, and really nothing else. Dwayne The Rock Johnson, a Samoan even portrayed Hercules/Heracles, who is also a mythological Greek / Roman hero and I honestly don't remember any outrage over that. Also, ask any greek person if they're actually offended over a black Achilles. I'm pretty sure they aren't. This is why I call that kind of behaviour patriotic correctness.

4. People and establishments who care too much about dress code

I just hate establishments that do so. I suppose this is less of a problem abroad, with the millennial culture kinda taking over, but here, people are still stuck on this traditional mindset that you NEED to respect dress codes. Look, smart clothing is generally ideal, but it shouldn't be enforced. Let people be who they want as long as they're not being indecent. Think about the clothes you had to wear at weddings, parties, business events etc. For me, it's the same selection of boring suits. If you're looking to stand out, then wearing a boring black suit ain't gonna help it. I remember that one time when the staff of a restaurant in a hotel nearly turned me away when I was a teenager because I wasn't wearing wear long trousers. How ridiculous is that? Ultimately, they let me eat because even the staff realised how silly was it for them to stop a teenager from eating because he was wearing a pair of pants instead of trousers. That would be immoral.

That's it for me. I suppose the last two are more than just pet peeves; they're mild annoyances. I tag @felipejoys, @veryspider, @ejgarcia, @vimukthi, @icytaff, @scrawly, @quekery to write something up as well, if they dare.