Like Picking A Scab

We all do it. Don’t try and pretend differently, you know that you do. That point where the skin is all solid and crusted over and you know you should leave it but you just can’t help yourself. And then you realise that you’ve gone too soon but now the scab's half off and you know that it’s going to hurt and probably bleed a bit but you’re committed now, you can't back out with this flap of crusty healing stuff hanging half off so you’ve got to go on…

All of which is to say that there are plenty of things that we know that we shouldn’t do but just can't seem to help ourselves. They’re not actually harmful per se but you still would be better off if you left well alone. Here’s a couple of mine.

Reading The Comments Under News Stories
It’s got to be one of the pointless activities out there. As the old saying goes, opinions are like arseholes; everyone’s got one (and most of them stink*). All you are ever going to do is nod smugly at the people who agree with you and get disproportionately angry with those who don’t… and let’s face it, it’s bound to be weighted more in favour of those who don’t the correlation between those with objectionable opinions and those with a burning desire to air that opinion via comments boxes is directly proportional.**

Of course, I’ve added an extra dimension to the pointlessness of my comments reading as the ones that I am predominantly drawn to are the comments on sci fi news sites. So not only are there people with a frankly ludicrous level of anger to be found, it’s rendered even more baffling by the fact that their opinions literally don’t matter. I say “their” but let’s face it, I’m lumping myself in there too. This whole blog is nothing but my opinions on pop culture in general but guess what? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not something that’s worth the level of anger on display in these comments that could be a contributing factor to brain embolism. Don’t like something? Stop watching, reading, listening, playing, whatever. I learned that lesson with The Walking Dead.

And yet, I cannot stop myself. And yet, I find myself getting annoyed at people whose opinions are “wrong”. Why don’t I just stop? Well, that was the point of the whole scab analogy thing right at the start there. I can't help myself even though I know it’s not gonna help anything. Speaking of which…

Picking Scabs
As if it wasn’t obvious from the rather detailed description at the beginning there. (“Given that the title of this post is “Like Picking A Scab”, can you really say that picking a scab is like picking a scab when it is in fact that very thing so not “like” it at all?” Oh shut up.)

I know you should just leave it alone. So why do I do it? It’s for that brief tiny moment of satisfaction when you pick off a scab to discover the brand new skin beneath, like I’ve beaten my body’s system somehow by getting rid of the scab early (and, of course, if you get it off in one unbroken piece, double the satisfaction).

Anyway, that’s a couple of examples to start you off there. How about you?
(Yeah, ran out of steam at the end there, didn't it? That happens around these parts sometimes, don’t worry about it…)


* OK, I may have extended it a bit at the end there.
** Says the man who is regularly venting his own ill-informed opinions on this here blog. Yes, I’m fully aware of the irony, I just choose to ignore it.