Yes, that's the point.
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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Oh shit am I the camel?
How's your back?
It looks dromedary
Only one way to find out. C'mere.
I guess it is very interesting to think about that analogy, cause I never fully thought about that.
The camel was miserable before.
Which means the camel tried to last through it until it broke the camel's metaphorical back. Which I guess also tells me that if someone says that to me, they are saying someone suffered through something way too long until they finally reacted. I never really thought about it as a hint that you didn't have to bear something, you could have spoken up earlier already.
This explanation might be too detailed but I just realized that so maybe this is interesting to someone else.
It's not really making a comment on whether they could have addressed it before it broke the camel's back either. It's simply saying this is the last slight I will take.
If you go through life not ever taking any bs, you definitely will not be able to hold a job. Or function in general really.
Your first paragraph makes a lot of sense to me.
The second paragraph I have a very different opinion on, because there's a difference between patterns of abuse and having to deal with a shitty situation a few times. And although there's people who don't take any shit and will fit you for small inconveniences, there's also a lot of people who have learned to endure almost every situation for way too long.
My mom has been working overtime for years and I'm scared she'll get overwhelmed eventually. Every one of our band mates got bullied in school and just endured it. A school friend told me he was the black sheep in an Asian family and he just had accept it. I'm sure he's way past his limit but he'll still try with them. A friend of mine has a dad with narcissistic tendencies and a mom with major health issues and an aunt who almost killed her multiple times intentionally already. I tend to not speak up because sometimes I get it wrong and it fucks me up in major ways.
As you can see I know a lot of people who wait way too long until they change things, and if they spike up a bit more, they could be holding a successful job and maybe even keep their sanity. Goes to show that everyone is different and every social dynamic is unique.
It's fascinating to read it so aptly described. I thought it was obvious what the saying meant. That's why it is usually said to express exasperation. When someone has already endured a lot of abuse, it takes only but a minor inconvenience or minimal annoyance to finally drive them beyond the treshold of tolerance.
That's the image, even such an insignificant weight as that of a straw is capable of breaking someone if they have been overburdened for long already.
The equivalent expression in my language is "the drop that filled the glass". As with the camel, the glass was already full, it just needed one more drop to reach its limit.
Well well, aren't you the optimist.
It's about the enlightenment of all of us one by one, my Lemming.
Nobody is more precise than the ruling class in their calibrating how much exploitation they can exact from their beasts of burden (us). That's their job, that's where their money comes from. They exploit us.
It's not gumption. It's not novelty. It's not intelligence. It's cruelty.
Our entire planet has been organized around a cold, calculating science of cruelty. Honest to God, if we lived in a better society and you wrote a book about how we do things, it'll never become popular. Too unbelievable that anyone would tolerate the way we do things.
Alien 1: Why are there more hungry humans here points at Central America and more obese people here points at Texas? Is there a distribution obstacle?
Alien 2: Ah, good observation. No, they can get food anywhere very easily. There's even an outpost on that ice part where they can't even grow food. But, the humans drew a line here points at Mexico-USA border
Alien 1: Why don't they just erase the line?
Alien 2: Because the people on the northside have better weapons and will kill any humans that try to move the line.
Alien 1: But they don't need that much food. It's actually hurting them. Are they willing to kill other humans just to hurt themselves with abundance?
Alien 2: Basically, yeah.
Alien 1: Wow. Someone needs to tell them about nuclear power so they could all have more than enough then.
Alien 2: Yeah, soooo, about that. They did figure it out, but made weapons out of it instead.
Alien 1: WTF. Won't they kill themselves? Someone needs to tell them!
Alien 2: They already know! They even made a clock about it so that everyone can prepare for the end of their species when the time is near lol
I don't know where I was going with this, but I guess I had to get it out. 🤷♂️
Yes, but have you considered that that's how we do things therefore your entire argument is defeated?
They're precise right up until they aren't. 😉
It's a perfect metaphor for the working class.
Yeah, but who cares about the camel? How are you going to move all this straw now?
But why is it a camel in the saying 🐫? Why not a horse, cow, ox....