this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
534 points (99.4% liked)

Greentext

7899 readers
751 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] presoak@lazysoci.al 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

To be fair, an office job is a bit like crawling into a coffin. And nobody's gonna canonize you for that.

[–] maplesaga@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I spent 2 hours playing connections today and then went home early. Office jobs are amazing.

Contrast that to subsistence farming or manufacturing widgets in China.

[–] presoak@lazysoci.al 2 points 8 hours ago

Or salt mining. Or low income anal prostitution. Or live organ transplants.

[–] btsax@reddthat.com 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless#Death

Turns out no one knew that some of the plants he was eating were poisonous until after he died

[–] SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That can be inserted several different locations in the sentence and create a different meaning.

[–] SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago

only one makes sense

[–] spicytuna62@lemmy.world 71 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I agree with some of Chris's viewpoints. Materialism is stupid. Buying shit for the sake of acquiring shit is stupid. Not that you should never have anything sentimental, but those kinds of things are tied to people or events.

But yeah, guy kinda lost me when he decided to camp in the Alaskan bush with no survival skills, no experience dressing a carcass, no foraging skills, and very little equipment. As others pointed out, he went there to die, then changed his mind when it was too late. A rational, non-suicidal person would have spent months preparing for this outing.

Basically everyone who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and lived (only ~2% of jumpers) regretted doing it before they hit the water. Chris jumped from the bridge and changed his mind halfway down. Going to Alaska wasn't some brave choice to be free. You can do that anywhere in the Lower 48. It was a cry for help masked as a revolutionary idea.

[–] captcha_incorrect@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Basically everyone who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and lived (only ~2% of jumpers) regretted doing it before they hit the water.

My teacher in biology back in school explained that this was due to hormones being released something something close to death something something. In essence, it was not a "choice" to regret jumping, but rather a biological response. So you would regret it wether you wanted to or not, so to say.
^Can't^ ^give^ ^you^ ^a^ ^source^ ^since^ ^I^ ^don't^ ^have^ ^one.^

[–] nop@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] captcha_incorrect@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have never seen Bojack Horseman but maybe I should!

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Restaldt@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think it would have been the GOAT if they ended it with the view from halfway down

Bojack dying alone after pushing away everyone in his life yet again would've been the perfect ending to the depression show

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

Idk, I really like the way it ended.

I get your point, but instead of a horrifying (but somewhat deserved ending) we got a very "real" ending.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago

Every bad situation leading up to his trip into Alaska, someone bailed him out of the situation. There was no one at the bus in Alaska to bail him out.

[–] Snowcano@startrek.website 107 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I remember watching the movie and then immediately thinking, “Why the fuck did I just watch that? And why the fuck did anyone make it? This is not a story that needs to be given attention.”

[–] Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Idk, I always thought of it as a modern take on Walden . A cautionary tale for those folks who get really hyped up about a life in the bush who forget the crucial fact that Thoreau was on a friend's property and got more meaningful support from people than the book really lets on.

One of those "Yes, lots of people feel like you do, AP English guy, but don't think you'll make it on vibes alone and not die like a dumbass" kind of things. Appreciated it differently at 16 and 20.

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 11 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I was kinda like this, ~~adoring~~ fetishizing a life free from material constraints, wearing busted old shoes, etc. Then I worked at a homeless church and that's when I realized two things: first, I was basically cosplaying as poor; second, every homeless person I talked to basically thought it was stupid to not have things when you otherwise could have them.

The clearest was this one time I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at one of the breakfast tables with guys. They looked at me like "you're not eating?" And I said that I wasn't hungry and that I didn't want to take a plate away from someone who might've needed it. They chastised me heavily. "You could have got your plate and then shared it with all of us, then!" I realized that I had the luxury to turn down food. They saw my torn up shoes as a kind of affectation (which they were, but I couldn't admit it at the time).

It's turned me off of a fair bit of folk music, tbh. This whole "get rid of your stuff and be free" sentiment. Yes, reject capitalistic materialism. But the discipline is in having enough. The person with nothing can be just as obsessed with wealth as the person who hoards it.

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

"Imagine no possessions..." John Lennon was living in a mansion when he wrote that.

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 6 points 13 hours ago

EXACTLY! They even show it in the music video!

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I felt like that, too. I guess people glorifying him are missing the point entirely, and it is close to the ‘we finally announce our very own torment nexus implementation’ level of missing a point, imo

[–] InputZero@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

The movie glorified him and his death. It isn't portrayed as needless or reckless. His death in the movie is framed as being a spiritual awakening, him finally leaving the material world behind and achieving enlightenment and that dying that way is something to aspire to. It was a dumb movie with hot people in places with exceptional natural beauty with a sloppy message which itself undercuts for mass appeal.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] null@lemmy.org 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"This dude just killed a whole ass moose and let it all go to waste?"

[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

I think he tried to smoke it, right? But he didn't do it right and it spoiled.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Didn't they have to deconstruct the bus he lived in or something because other idiots went there? People who are really into that movie are so weird in my experience

[–] Snowclone@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

the national guard removed it in a training exercise, it was deemed a danger to public health as some 20+ people needed to be rescued from the site, and 2-4 people died trying to reach it. it was in a difficult area to hike to, that required crossing a river, so a lot of people who wanted to visit it didn't have the skills to reach it and return safely.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 145 points 1 day ago (1 children)

From my understanding, all the locals where this happened think this dude is a colossal dumbass.

I think his legacy is slowly changing though, and people are less impressed by his antics today than when it happened.

[–] mech@feddit.org 129 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (14 children)

He wasn't a dumbass, he was just suicidal.
He first left his privileged life, then his family and friends, then society. Typical steps of a suicidal person preparing for the end.
If he actually wanted to keep living, he could have left the bus and simply walked back, 3 days before his provisions ran out (it takes 6 hours to get to the trailhead).
But he stayed, even though he didn't have the skills to live off the land. He accepted death, until it came close, then he regretted his decision and tried to get out but it was too late.

[–] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 15 hours ago

Privileged is a complicated term for his life. On one hand, yes from the outside, and especially as presented in the movie, it seems like he had a typically idyllic upper middle class life. But if you do any digging into it, you find out that his father was an extremely volatile, violent abuser and his mom wasn’t much better. That sort of childhood trauma is a hell of a thing and absolutely impacts someone’s mental state.

[–] doesit@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago

... , then he regretted his decision and tried to get out but it was too late.

As good as all people that jumped of the Golden gate bridge and survived, regretted their decision the second they jumped.

[–] themaninblack@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (5 children)

To me, this is the simplest and most plausible explanation.

Somewhat related but it’s odd to me how many people I’ve met that feel so strongly negatively about him. Maybe as a herd instinct to warn others?

He wasn’t exceptionally selfish as he had no serious responsibilities.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 54 points 1 day ago (3 children)

On June 18, 2020, various government agencies coordinated with an Alaska Army National Guard training mission to remove the bus, deemed a public safety issue after at least 15 people had to be rescued and at least two people died while attempting to cross the Teklanika River to reach the bus.[

This BS is part of the reason, I think. Not only is he a dumbass, but he inspires other dumbasses to be the best dumbass they can.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This sounds like the most beautiful deconstruction of Ayn Rand I've ever heard.

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Mmmm... Checks out

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 55 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

I have a theory that his family was abusive and he learned to distrust strangers and became convinced that he needed to always stand on his own two feet because nobody would ever truly have his back. I've been through a similar phase in my life caused by neglect and abuse throughout my childhood and adolescence. Could be totally wrong ofc but it seems to fit for me

Edit: Apparently his sister confirmed this in a memoir she wrote called The Wild Truth. There's an interesting article on the NPR website about it:

She and her brother Chris grew up with a volatile, viciously abusive father who made their weak-willed yet hyper-competent mother both his victim and his accomplice.

This is a really similar situation to mine. Took many years of therapy to get to where I am, but I'll probably never really fully heal from it.

load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›