Social exclusion Puns

Automatic translation:

Jehovah's Witnesses are denied state funding for 2021

The state administrator in Oslo and Viken denies the religious community Jehovah's Witnesses state subsidies for 2021 on the basis of society's exclusionary practice.

Published 27.01.2022

After receiving warnings from previous members regarding exclusion and expulsion of members, the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs has asked the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken to review Jehovah's Witnesses' own statements and publications. In this review, the State Administrator has uncovered several violations of the Religious Communities Act.

Right to free registration

The exclusionary practice means that members are denied contact with unsubscribed members. This will also apply to members who have voluntarily left the faith community. In practice, this means that those who sign up can not have contact with family and friends in the congregation. In our opinion, this hinders the right to free withdrawal, and is in violation of the Religious Communities Act § 2.

Exclusion of children

The faith community also allows for the exclusion of baptized minors. This means that children can be excluded if they break the rules of the religious community. We believe this is negative social control and violates children's rights. Unbaptized children who break the rules of the religious community may be exposed to social isolation. This is also perceived as negative social control and violations of children's rights. Such treatment of children is contrary to the Religious Communities Act § 6.

The State Administrator's discretion - the supervisory authorities may refuse grants

Jehovah's Witnesses have on several occasions defended the practice of exclusion. The faith community has detailed rules for how members should practice exclusion and social isolation towards these groups. The rules are communicated to members via books and study articles, among other things. We have considered the offenses to be systematic and intentional, and have therefore chosen to refuse subsidies. This is in line with the Religious Society Regulations § 11 third paragraph. Read more in the attached decision.

Link to article in Norwegian:
[https://www.statsforvalteren.no/nb/oslo-og-viken/folk-og-samfunn/tros--og-livssynssamfunn/jehovas-vitner-nektes-statstilskudd-for-2021/?fbclid=IwAR2nWoWaXlRXNcNHwMQbf1vJKm2OXNBMVyqyHPYEBBXG8iH3FIZzn6d5miY](https://www.statsforvalteren.no/nb/oslo-og-v

So I just hit a cult of Apple issue with my son. Evidently, his band friends all have Apple devices and an iMessages group. Because we're an Android family, they aren't able to add him to the existing group. So he's excluded from the intercommunications that the group is having just because of a tech choice he has no control over.

So other families with Android, what are you doing to get over this technology-enforced social exclusion?

"The results were unambiguous: Compared with girls of the same age, race, and social circumstances, sexually abused girls suffer from a large range of profoundly negative effects, including cognitive deficits, depression, dissociative symptoms, troubled sexual development, high rates of obesity, and self-mutilation. They dropped out of high school at a higher rate than the control group and had more major illnesses and health-care utilization. They also showed abnormalities in their stress hormone responses, had an earlier onset of puberty, and accumulated a host of different, seemingly unrelated, psychiatric diagnoses.

The follow-up research revealed many details of how abuse affects development. For example, each time they were assessed, the girls in both groups were asked to talk about the worst thing that had happened to them during the previous year. As they told their stories, the researchers observed how upset they became, while measuring their physiology. During the first assessment all the girls reacted by becoming distressed. Three years later, in response to the same question, the nonabused girls once again displayed signs of distress, but the abused girls shut down and became numb. Their biology matched their observable reactions: During the first assessment all of the girls showed an increase in the stress hormone cortisol; three years later cortisol went down in the abused girls as they reported on the most stressful event of the past year. Over time the body adjusts to chronic trauma. One of the consequences of numbing is that teachers, friends, and others are not likely to notice that a girl is upset; she may not even register it herself. By numbing out she no longer reacts to distress the way she should, for example, by taking protective action.

Putnam’s study also captured the pervasive long-term effects of incest on friendships and partnering. Before the onset of puberty nonabused girls usually have several girlfriends, as well as one boy who functions as a sort of spy who informs them about what these strange creatures, boys, are all about. After they enter adolescence, their contacts with boys gradually increase. In contrast, before puberty the abused girls rarely have close friends, girls or boys, but adolescence brings many chaotic and often traumatizing contacts with boys. Lacking friends in elementary school makes a crucial difference. Today we’re aware how cruel third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade girls can be. It’

"

By Paul Hunt, Chief Human Rights Commissioner

Covid 19 is hurting many people.

It’s hurting those who, like me, got sick.

It’s hurting those who end up in hospital.

It’s hurting the families who have lost their loved ones.

It’s hurting those who have lost their jobs.

It’s hurting people by stoking fear and anxiety.

It’s hurting those living with mental distress, those living on the edge.

It’s hurting those whose education has suffered.

It’s hurting those who are excluded from important public spaces.

Statistics tell us it’s especially hurting tangata whenua and Pacific people.

Faced with all this, many people are confused and angry.

But we mustn’t take it out on our family, the shop worker, the bus driver, the health professional.

We mustn’t take it out on the vaccinated or unvaccinated, whether we agree with them or not, each has their own history, fears, and reasons.

In our hurt, we mustn’t be racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, threatening or violent.

I regret any legislation passing through Parliament under urgency.

I regret people being excluded from vital parts of society.

Millions of New Zealanders have worked extremely hard to eliminate and suppress Covid 19.

Now we must all work hard to eliminate avoidable social exclusion.

I urge you to call for human rights - all human rights - the rights to healthcare, health protection, work, association, and assembly - in this country and beyond.

I urge you to support fair and reasonable balances between competing rights.

I urge you to honour your responsibilities to your whānau, neighbours, society and country.

We are all human beings and, as human beings, we all swim - or sink - together."

https://www.hrc.co.nz/news/enormous-challenges-covid-including-social-exclusion/

From Benenson 2013:

> From early childhood onwards, girls compete using strategies that minimize the risk of retaliation and reduce the strength of other girls. Girls’ competitive strategies include avoiding direct interference with another girl’s goals, disguising competition, competing overtly only from a position of high status in the community, enforcing equality within the female community and socially excluding other girls.

I personally hate excluding people unless I despise the person but in this case I'm friends with them; however, recently many of our other friends don't really want to hang out with them.

None of us hate the person in question but their rude remarks make them uncomfortable.

How do y'all handle this? Would you confront the person and let them know? Or would you just let it be. Also how do y'all feel when you're the one excluded.

Atm I hangout with everyone and don't mind the person, but it's the others who tend to have secret hangouts. I feel like it's better to leave them in the dark, cause I feel more at peace not knowing.

Hi, I'm a student from Australia who is investigating gendered social exclusion within the video gaming community. I am doing this for my PIP, otherwise known as a Personal Interest Project. There is no mandatory age or specific age group I am targeting to participate in the google forms, but it is preferred that you have experience/are involved within the video gaming community. Thank you for your time! :)

https://forms.gle/1sgC1vXLL42fRqYY6

I am in my early 20s, and I experience social exclusion and bullying almost everywhere I go. At school, I was bullied verbally and physically. At university, I was excluded from parties, gatherings etc. And now at work, people start meetings without me, people leave when I walk near them, they ignore what I say, cut me off etc…

One of my colleagues is one of these super approachable people and is friends with everyone at work. He asked me: “ Hey why do people hate you so much? I heard them call you weirdo. “

To be honest, I do feel affected by that exclusion but I guess not as much as other personalities? I don’t become suicidal over it, but I would really like to blend in society for once, to be invisible and not be a scapegoat, something to gossip about. Also, being part of society is probably one of the most important things in life cause it lets you make friends, build connections, find mates, get higher salaries and feel more successful I guess?

I have done some research online. Jordan Peterson talks about how a community wants you to behave in away that is in line with what they want.

Note:

I know for a fact that there must be a problem with me, because the problem follows me around. I have tried to compare myself with other people to determine what exactly is wrong, variable by variable, i.e. are they a racial minority? Do they have an accent? Are they intjs? Are they fat? Did they grow up without a father? But no luck so far.

I noticed that my only friends are social outcasts themselves, the weed smokers, the virgins, the unemployed, the racial minorities. And the more I stay with them, the more I stray away from society.

I know a lot of INTJs come off as arrogant when they aren’t so, that could be my problem.

Hi everyone!

School librarian here. A third grade student pulled me aside the other day very upset, saying she’s been having trouble getting along with two classmates whom she used to be friendly with, asking if I could help her speak with them. She says they often exclude her from games and activities. I have seen evidence of this once in the library; I saw the student being excluded from playing a charades-type game during recess and approached the group, telling them there is room for everyone to play and we should be kind and considerate of our friends feelings. They briefly included her and then she was left out again.

The student has told me she has not told her teacher or counselor about the matter but has spoken to her mother about it. When I asked her teacher she says she hasn’t seen evidence of it, but doesn’t not doubt it. The student has had trouble getting along with classmates before and can be argumentative. I’ve known this student since she was in kindergarten and have gotten to know her parent pretty well. They have a challenging home situation which manifests in some behaviors at school, but nothing crazy. The student can be somewhat guarded and confrontational, but also shows some insecurity.

Not being a classroom teacher, I don’t often have to deal with this sort of situation, but I would like to help the student since she came to me for help and trusted me with her feelings.

Any advice for me? I’d like to meet with all of the girls involved and help them find a way to get along, or at best not make anyone feel isolated.

I appreciate it!

I've been at my job since June. It's a non-profit that's mostly staffed with contract workers and work term students, so there's a very high turnover rate and I'm one of the ones who's been there longest even though it has only been a few months.

I like the work that I'm doing - mostly spreadsheet stuff and writing technical documentation, which I enjoy. But I'm having a hard time with the social component. I go to the weekly social meetings, which are video calls because no one is in the office yet, and try to contribute to the conversation and ask people thoughtful questions (e.g "how's the kitchen reno going? Did the cabinets finally get delivered?" after one person mentioned a kitchen reno the week before and lamented how long the cabinets were taking to arrive), but no one ever asks me anything. Also, we do e-cards when someone has something special happening, e.g. wedding or baby being born, but I didn't get a card when I got married in August even though I'd mentioned it several times in the meetings leading up to that day. Lastly, the topic of a nearby tourist attraction came up once. Lots of people posted photos in the group chat of themselves at this attraction, to a flurry of likes and other responses, but my photo was ignored. It's nothing that could be reported as bullying/harassment, but the cumulative effect is the same.

This is a pattern that's followed me through school and several jobs. In the past I just wouldn't bother to engage much with co-workers, but since COVID has me home a lot I have more social energy and want to try to connect with people. When I didn't try to engage, it didn't hurt much when I was excluded since I knew I hadn't tried but this time it really hurts.

What am I doing wrong? Or how do I make this hurt less? I know that I don't fit in everywhere and that not everyone has to like me, but I thought that if I started showing some interest that it would be reciprocated.

Idk if this belongs here but I'm still pretty salty about this.

Small background: I have been a remote worker prior to Covid-19, so obviously I know that it's not possible to attend social work gatherings as they'd take place in-office, which is on the opposite side of the country for me.

Saying that, Covid came along last year and everyone got sent home to work. I received a virtual invite to join a virtual Christmas event. I double-checked with my coordinator if us remote workers can join said event, only to be told no, it is for in-office staff only.

I asked why this is the case as there's finally an event that is not location-bound. Only to be told that it's to make it up to those who couldn't gather in-person. They had sick prizes for the raffles too and I got quite mad about it since the company had a whole spiel about staying home, isolation and how that impacts mental health. Quite frankly I think that's all a farce. If they truly understood what it's like to be a remote worker for only one year, then how this in any way, shape or form fair. So I complained to my department's head.

Fast-forward to this year, and saw the announcement again for the Christmas party (as far as I know all, if not most employees are still working from home) and same crap - remote workers are to be excluded and my department head forgot to follow it up at the beginning of the year.

Additionally, remote workers where I work do not get offered the same holiday bonuses & extra paid time offered to others in-studio. Like I totally get that it's an incentive for those who would commute to work, however we do exactly what every other employees do in the same role (just no commuting). Kinda hard to keep morale up in general whenever this time of year approaches.

Sorry for the rant.

It is most likely concerned when a group decides to exclude you and deprive you of social interaction. I remember using such term and it seems to be in the tip of my tongue but I can't seem to remember.

I used to have friends. I used to have group chats filled with great people, funny videos, serious conversations, support. I used to have a shoulder to lean on. I used to get told I was such a great friend. I used to be invited to social events. Get togethers, girls night, game night, birthday parties, weddings, showers of all sorts. I used to have a social life.

Then, everyone else had kids. Everyone else lapped me more than once. Everyone else hangs out together through play dates and “mom night out”. Everyone else has mom friends. Everyone else gets invited to the kid parties or baby showers. Everyone else gets to wear the cute matching “Mama” shirts. Everyone else is living their best lives with their kids.

But what do I have now? I have lonely weekends in an empty house. I have to be benched from TTC. I have to wait 5+ more months until my SO comes home. I have nothing to show for the 2 years we did TTC. I have to watch everyone else have a great time with each other and their kids. I have messages where I tried to reach out and be that “great friend” despite my internal struggles but was left on read. I have bitterness. I have jealousy. I have become forgotten about thanks to my empty uterus.

I have been socially excluded.

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this post. My boyfriend has Autism and has suddenly found out his group of friends from university created a secret new discord server with everyone except him included. He's devastated and I'm devastated on his behalf. I've experienced exclusion from friends before, but he says he's dealt with it his whole life, and I wouldn't dream of understanding truly how hard it must be.

When he asked his friends why they excluded him, he had a barrage of insults thrown at him - they told him he talked too much about his specific interests, that hanging out with him was a chore, and that his humour was too abrasive. None of these things had been communicated to him prior to this - in fact, they had often reciprocated his jokes, as well as reassuring him that he wasn't annoying if he ever vocally doubted himself (thanks to previous friendships, he has low self-esteem and worries a lot about being annoying or unlikeable). He is a kind, passionate, intelligent person and it pains me that these people don't understand that or even care to try.

He's beyond anxious to start the next term at university and doesn't want to go back at all. I just want to support him and make everything better, and was wondering if anyone here had any words of advice, personal experiences, or comfort that I could relay to him. Thanks :)

Hey all.

A neighbour of mine is in her 50s, single, introverted, not particularly social and has fallen down the Q rabbithole. She's actually a really pleasant person to talk to (when she's willing) and hasn't hostile since her Q conversion.

Any kind of debate with her about this stuff is dealt with by her suggesting 'I do the research' and similar. It's all a bit sad as she's really not a bad person.

She's lonely and has found an online community and what she thinks is a sense of purpose in Q and anti-Vaxx stuff.

It got me thinking about the age we live in, where loneliness has skyrocketed and people are falling back on their relationships online (more so over the past year), to plug the gap.

There are unfortunately, millions of us out there experiencing loneliness and different forms of exclusion and I honestly believe that a hefty percentage are extremely susceptible to stuff like Q. For whatever reason, it plugs a hole and provides connection to a community, no matter how bizarre that community is.

So I don't think Q and whatever Q mutates into is going anywhere soon. There's an epidemic of loneliness in Western societies. Add easy access to the internet and you get a picture of how far this is likely to go.

Yesterday I went out with a friend of mine and a bunch of people I didn’t know. The evening went well for them -there were a lot of people and it seemed they were having fun - however I had a lot of difficulty bonding with them. In the end, I think that I didn’t turn out to be interesting to anyone. The peak of the evening was when I started talking with one girl who was embarrassed like me but as I turned my back she was gone. I encountered her again later but I didn’t talked to her - I thought she had no interest in talking to me. I had difficulty to sleep, I spent to whole night thinking at the things I said, the errors I made, the things I didn’t get etc. This happens to me a lot on a daily basis with things I did years, months, days or hours prior. So this isn’t something new. Earlier today I felt horrible, I always manage to dissociate myself from my feelings but this time it was different. I didn’t wanted to talk to anyone, I didn’t wanted to do anything and I managed to make good on these things.

Have you ever felt this way?

Sorry for the poor English.

I'm starting to realize the origins of my limerence as well as many ambitions I've had throughout my life. My dad was a dreamer who at one point remarked that he wanted to be famous. My dad had also always been an outcast and said quite plainly that he's never fitted in anywhere. I'm not sure if my dad has ever been bullied, but his dad certainly sounds like a bully.

My sister was bullied quite badly, but she was always very beautiful. She had a deep need to be accepted by peers and a sensitivity to it, which I believe led her to be a victim. She then began bullying me at home. I was definitely a social outcast at school and I kept to myself. I was not pretty, but I had some boys who had crushes on me over the years. The popular boys detested me and I was not considered an option. At school dances, I was never chosen to be danced with, and they all flocked to the most popular girls. If a guy had to dance with me, especially a popular boy, he would make a disgusted face as if he was eating broccoli. I search his expression needily for some small amount of kindness in his eyes, or empathy, especially in response to the lack of it, but of course, there was nothing. So it wasn't overt bullying, but it would have been if I had made myself more ''out there''.

My dad was also getting bullied at work during a period of time and he began to bully me at home, throwing things at me and calling me cruel names. I began to become depressed, but also detached. I had friends, but I retreated into a world of imagination to cope with what I was going through and it became a habit. I began writing stories and dreaming of becoming beautiful and famous, which only makes sense given the circumstances. I had what many would later describe as maladaptive daydreaming.

The isolation led me to become socially awkward, as did the social anxiety, and the negative thoughts around socializing gave me a reason to avoid it. I became obsessed with achieving and competing, my relationships with people were mainly because they possessed some quality I perceived I lacked (pretty, popular, funny) or they were just around and convenient, certainly not selected. It was hard for me to act like ''myself'' in a group because I didn't know who that was. I couldn't tell if people like me and I still can't because people around me are usually used to diminish a feeling of inferiority or exclusion (reassurance seeking).

These were unconscious to me until recently. My limerence episode started w

Hi, I'm a student from Australia who is investigating gendered social exclusion within the video gaming community. I am doing this for my PIP, otherwise known as a Personal Interest Project. There is no mandatory age or specific age group I am targeting to participate in the google forms. but it is preferred that you have experience/are involved within the video gaming community. Thank you for your time! :)

https://forms.gle/1sgC1vXLL42fRqYY6

Hi, I'm a student from Australia who is investigating gendered social exclusion within the video gaming community. I am doing this for my PIP, otherwise known as a Personal Interest Project. There is no mandatory age or specific age group I am targeting to participate in the google forms. but it is preferred that you have experience/are involved within the video gaming community. Thank you for your time! :)

https://forms.gle/1sgC1vXLL42fRqYY6