Social pretenses and Plastic Land

This is a topic I like to talk about even though I abhor it: Social pretenses, fakeness, superficiality, plastic people, materialism, etc.

I consider myself to be above average in regards to intuition. I can sense people's energies without effort. I'm adept at spotting social pretenses.

Everything seems so fake now; I've had numerous conversations with people in the general public and one thing stands out to me very clearly: fakeness. I know that a certain level of pretense is justifiable in society. We can't always be honest or else we will piss people off, etc. But it seems like the social pretenses have been injected with steroids in modernity.

We pretend to care about other people: " Hey, Susan. How was your weekend? - It was wonderful! I went out to dinner with Bob and karen! It was fabulous! Thanks for asking, Chaz!". Does Chaz, really, care about Susan's weekend? or does he simply want to skull fuck her? I have no problem with using small talk as a way of ice-breaking into something deeper and more interesting, but for fuck sake, it seems like many people milk the shit out of small talk just for the sake of small talk. I remember talking on the phone with my overly zealous, Bible thumping, lunatic uncle not too long ago, and Jesus fucking Christ, the man would not shut up about his broken fender on his truck. The silly bastard went on about it for 30 minutes in the most monotonic, annoying voice ever - pausing every 5-10 seconds in his speech. Small talk and other trivialities are aspects of this Plastic Landia insanity. People can't fucking talk about anything better than fenders, football, gossip, and other infantile small talk bullshit? What a bunch of mental midgets...

The quintessential plastic person is the 40 year old, upper middle-class, goodie two shoe woman. These types are easy to spot; everything about them is exaggerated to ridiculous proportions, e.g., their smiles, their blatantly feigned interest in the other persons conversation, their expressions, their vocal fluctuations, etc. Histrionic personality disorder 101.

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Fake boobs, fake nails, fake hair, fake personalities, fake jewelry, fake everything! Welcome to Plastic-Landia! People think that they can wear prestige like a costume. If you aren't obsessed with wearing brand name clothing, 250 dollar Nike shoes, having the latest i-phone, etc then you are a low class loser. Many of these fucks go out of their way for this shit because it makes them feel special and important. They are compensating for feelings of inferiority. Vanity at its finest.

I've never been interested in materialism. I don't care about the latest I-phone, trendy clothing, mainstream music, gossip, small talk, and other social bullshit. I care about quality and sincerity. I'm not like some sheepish conformist that goes with the flow of what's popular because he or she doesn't want to be excluded from the crowd and made into an outcast. I'm an outcast and proud of it, to be frank. I don't need the validation of others to be content with my life. I'm a lone wolf. And I don't engage overly exaggerated social pretenses. If I sense that one is being fake with me, I usually call them out on their bluff or just end the conversation quickly and leave. I'm not going to perpetuate some trivial, dumb fucking conversation for 30 minutes or an hour when I can be doing more fulfilling things with my time. Small talk and conversational fakeness drain me of vitality. I'm an introvert at heart; I prefer to be alone. And occasionally, I like to have genuine and meaningful conversations with mature, like minded individuals.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Every single day of my life...

I am in the pharmaceutical industry and this goes part and parcel with the whole thing. I have gotten used to it, its expected you see. Most of them, this IS them, this is their identity. Shameless

One must recognize their nature, deal with them, be the wolf in sheeps clothing so to speak. It a way of survival.

Yeah, sometimes we have to play that role in order to survive, but things have gotten out of proportion, in my eyes. It's a sad affair.

As you have alluded to, be selective. Eliminate those persons and situations where you know this is going to happen too often. I think its fruitful to think of it in terms of they remind you how you are NOT them.

Some people have a very strong need to be recognized. To find someone who mirrors them back whatever they would like to hear about themselves.
I think it comes down to receptiveness. Someone tells you a story about themselves or something like that - If you just endure it then he/she is going to keep on yapping. It's not about their story it's about the emotional gratification they derive, their hunger for recognition. If on the other hand you don't offer such a nice mirror. If they see you instead and not themselves then the game is off.

They say "I had that nice vaccation in blabla." You answer "I don't like that place. I prefer blabla."
There are some hardcore cases who'll try to keep on pushing but then you just have to push back harder.

Or if it's someone who is not important to you - one of the strongest insults to such people is saying directly or indirectly "You are boring".

When I was younger I used to run into such people quite often - now, it's almost never happening and if it does then only for a short time. I've grown more impatient and more direct, I guess.

If it's that business small talk then I'm taking over the conversation and make the excuse that I'd like to chat more but I have to do this or that... and do it.

That being said - small talk has become a virtue. That wasn't always the case and I try to change that back, where I can. It's also a huge turn-off. Women chit chat with other women, not with men.

And that picture is horr-ible. The average clown looks better.