It's like I've wandered into a conversation where people are saying,
"You know, my boss tried to give me cake the other day."
"Cake? Everywhere seems to be doing it nowadays. What I would give to find a place to work where the boss doesn't make you eat cake all day."
"Yeah, cake cake cake, all the time."
And I'm like,
"Er... cake? The yummy thing that's really nice? Your boss gave you cake? And you didn't like it?"
And everybody replies:
"No, you idiot, cake! Smelly, hard, poisonous cake, with glass shards in it as usual."
I'm standing here, with my slice of yummy cake, thinking... are you the crazy ones, or am I?
"You know, cake's meant to be like this: soft, sweet, really tasty?"
"Yeah, that's what consultants want you to think, but cake is actually made of burnt tires and crushed up bottles."
"Your boss gives you burnt tires and crushed bottles and tells you that's cake?"
"Yes, that's what cake IS."
And I can point to all the recipe books for cakes, and show you the cake I'm eating right now, and you'll all still tell me:
"Well every cake I've ever been given smelled of burning rubber and made my mouth bleed, so I don't want to work anywhere that advertises that they give employees cake any more."
"You sound just like the last guy who gave me cake."
I mean, I get why that kind of experience might make you cynical, but I don't understand this desire to wallow in the belief that anyone who tells you it doesn't have to be like that must be lying or selling something.
"And chocolate's awful too."
Really? The same asshole who has gaslit you about what cake is has lied to you about chocolate too?
> I don't understand this desire to wallow in the belief that anyone who tells you it doesn't have to be like that must be lying or selling something.
Because literally every time we've encountered cake it's a painful and disgusting experience.
It's more like you've been given something that's been called cake, but is actually not cake. Whoever baked it realized that the recipe for cake could never work, so they changed it into something that would, and told you that was "real" cake.
Yes, I believe you have been subjected to that abuse.
But... the point of my metaphor is: cake does exist. It's real. You can make your own! The recipes are available! They do work! The fact that people have convinced you that cake doesn't exist is a reflection on them, not on me.
You are trying to convince me - a person who is eating a cake right now - that cake is a lie. And for some reason you seem really angry with me about it.
Angry? That's an odd assessment. I'm angry at the people that make and sell LieCake, and how they've deluded you into thinking that cake is a sweet, tasty treat. The key point for you to take away, is that it's remarkably hard to make an edible cake. It should be clear that you're in the minority (in this thread) of having received something edible when many others have been given burnt tires and glass.
It's like I've wandered into a conversation where people are saying,
"You know, my boss tried to give me cake the other day." "Cake? Everywhere seems to be doing it nowadays. What I would give to find a place to work where the boss doesn't make you eat cake all day." "Yeah, cake cake cake, all the time."
And I'm like,
"Er... cake? The yummy thing that's really nice? Your boss gave you cake? And you didn't like it?"
And everybody replies:
"No, you idiot, cake! Smelly, hard, poisonous cake, with glass shards in it as usual."
I'm standing here, with my slice of yummy cake, thinking... are you the crazy ones, or am I?
"You know, cake's meant to be like this: soft, sweet, really tasty?"
"Yeah, that's what consultants want you to think, but cake is actually made of burnt tires and crushed up bottles."
"Your boss gives you burnt tires and crushed bottles and tells you that's cake?"
"Yes, that's what cake IS."
And I can point to all the recipe books for cakes, and show you the cake I'm eating right now, and you'll all still tell me:
"Well every cake I've ever been given smelled of burning rubber and made my mouth bleed, so I don't want to work anywhere that advertises that they give employees cake any more." "You sound just like the last guy who gave me cake."
I mean, I get why that kind of experience might make you cynical, but I don't understand this desire to wallow in the belief that anyone who tells you it doesn't have to be like that must be lying or selling something.
"And chocolate's awful too."
Really? The same asshole who has gaslit you about what cake is has lied to you about chocolate too?
I'm so sorry for you. Please. Let someone help.
Have some cake.