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snarpThe one about the two old guys in a hospital room together, that they tell to little kids for some reason?
My skin always crawled whenever they busted that story out, because it's not "inspirational," it's psychological horror. You introduce kids to this character, ask them to empathize with him - and then reveal that he's a psychopath willing to watch a friend die to get his hospital bed.
While usually the surviving guy is just passively complicit in his friend's death - he lies there quietly and listens to his friend die with the call button within reach - I also heard a variant where it was straight-up premeditated murder, via crushed meds placed in the other guy's food.
This story is why I was terrified of nursing homes when I was little. I'd heard it so many times I was convinced they were full of 1) people bravely lying about how miserable and tedious their lives were, and 2) murderers.
Just. Why did they even tell us this? What the fuck is wrong with the people who like it? What are we supposed to be getting out of it? "Don't casually murder people for personal gain, because you might not get what you want." "Don't be kind; you'll be despised and betrayed for it by those you trusted." "Hospitals are monstrous hellholes of apathy, neglect, and rage." "Old age will render you either a helpless victim of an uncaring system, or an equally-pathetic and trapped creature composed of pure hatred and envy."
My skin always crawled whenever they busted that story out, because it's not "inspirational," it's psychological horror. You introduce kids to this character, ask them to empathize with him - and then reveal that he's a psychopath willing to watch a friend die to get his hospital bed.
While usually the surviving guy is just passively complicit in his friend's death - he lies there quietly and listens to his friend die with the call button within reach - I also heard a variant where it was straight-up premeditated murder, via crushed meds placed in the other guy's food.
This story is why I was terrified of nursing homes when I was little. I'd heard it so many times I was convinced they were full of 1) people bravely lying about how miserable and tedious their lives were, and 2) murderers.
Just. Why did they even tell us this? What the fuck is wrong with the people who like it? What are we supposed to be getting out of it? "Don't casually murder people for personal gain, because you might not get what you want." "Don't be kind; you'll be despised and betrayed for it by those you trusted." "Hospitals are monstrous hellholes of apathy, neglect, and rage." "Old age will render you either a helpless victim of an uncaring system, or an equally-pathetic and trapped creature composed of pure hatred and envy."
