Larry David Broke Wil Wheaton’s Brain

[Alben Barkley]

This s—t had me almost running to switch my voter registration to Republican and vote for Trump halfway through reading it.

Like, it’s so absurd and on the verge of bad parody I almost wonder if even Alex Jones has a point about estrogen or something  in the water feminizing so-called “men.” I literally can’t explain how it’s humanly possible for ANYONE to be this soft otherwise. But then you read the FB comments and others defending it and I really start to mutter “The West is fallen” to myself.

Just to clarify: We are talking about a COMEDIAN playfully “attacking” a FICTIONAL PUPPET as a publicity stunt on daytime TV.

Wil Wheaton — A GROWN ASS MAN IN HIS 50s —  proceeds to use this as an opportunity to emotionally vomit about his “trauma” and how horrible of Larry it was to “assault” a “4 year old child.”

…

This is why we need to STOP blurring the line between reality and fantasy, fact and fiction, and wake kids up to the real world at a far earlier age than we do and stop coddling them so damn much. THAT, it is apparent to me, is the real source of Wil’s problems. Imagine a kid in Ukraine right now seeing this s—t. He’d probably want to slug Wil Wheaton in the mouth and wake him up to what the REAL WORLD actually is!

I say all this, mind you, as someone with a well-documented history of depression and a past of suicidal thoughts at my lowest. I’ve been through the ringer. But I always, even at the darkest of times, recognized it was MY demon to deal with and strove to better myself. I did NOT go on unhinged rants about how the whole rest of the world was to blame at all times for “triggering” me over innocuous BS. Never was so narcissistic I expected the rest of the world to walk on eggshells to avoid offending me rather than accepting my problems were my own to face and solve. This is so whiny, so pussy for lack of a better word, I literally can’t even believe it. People like this don’t even WANT to get help or get better, clearly, they just want to be chronically angry at the world and ruin it and suck all the fun and comedy and life and joy out of it for everyone else. YOU, Wil Wheaton, are rhe disgusting and reprehensible one here. NOT Larry David!

I mean my god, this man despite having no talent whatsoever managed to star in two of the most successful TV series of all-time and STILL he whines like this? The ego it takes to do this must be off the charts in size! Hey asshole, I have my own pity story; When I WAS depressed and low, Larry David’s comedy in the form of Seinfeld and Curb helped light me up like nothing else. So f—k you for trying to destroy that joy for millions of people because you have some childlike attachment to f—king Elmo.

Get the hell over yourself, clown.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I think Wil Wheaton broke your brain.

[Alben Barkley]

I think Wil Wheaton broke your brain.

We are talking about a grown man, a celebrity at that who starred in two hit TV shows and a classic film, whining like a bitch and writing a thesis on social media over a comedian pretending to strangle a puppet on daytime TV.

I really just cannot emphasize enough how utterly insane this entire situation is.

It’s like something straight out of Curb itself!

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I think Wil Wheaton broke your brain.

We are talking about a grown man, a celebrity at that who starred in two hit TV shows and a classic film, whining like a bitch and writing a thesis on social media over a comedian pretending to strangle a puppet on daytime TV.

I really just cannot emphasize enough how utterly insane this entire situation is.

It’s like something straight out of Curb itself!

A guy who was abused(including being choked multiple times) getting triggered(in the original sense of "triggering a trauma flashback") by something that mirrors his worst memories and overreacting because of it isn't something to get this triggered over.

Like, surely you of all people should be understanding of people making mountains out of molehills due to extreme emotions, no?

[Alben Barkley]

I think Wil Wheaton broke your brain.

We are talking about a grown man, a celebrity at that who starred in two hit TV shows and a classic film, whining like a bitch and writing a thesis on social media over a comedian pretending to strangle a puppet on daytime TV.

I really just cannot emphasize enough how utterly insane this entire situation is.

It’s like something straight out of Curb itself!

A guy who was abused(including being choked multiple times) getting triggered(in the original sense of "triggering a trauma flashback") by something that mirrors his worst memories and overreacting because of it isn't something to get this triggered over.

Like, surely you of all people should be understanding of people making mountains out of molehills due to extreme emotions, no?

It. Was. A. Comedian. Joking. Around. With. A. FICTIONAL. PUPPET!

I already explained in the OP exactly how and why I think this in no way relates to my own struggles. As a matter of fact, I find it INSULTING to those with trauma/emotional/mental health struggles to act like this! It perpetuates a stereotype that everyone who has these issues is some soft fragile hysterical wimp with no sense of humor and who is completely helpless and expects everyone else to cater to their whims and restructure every facet of their lives to avoid touching on anything that may or may not hypothetically hurt someone’s fragile ego.

The healthy response of someone who actually wants to better themselves and has been to therapy to being “triggered” by seeing ELMO clowned around with by Larry David is NOT to go on Facebook and post a hysterical screed about how evil Larry David is for triggering you. It’s to get ahold of yourself and your own emotions, to accept that this is YOUR personal trauma you are experiencing and NOT the fault of Larry David or anyone else, and practice some mindfulness/CBT/DBT activities if needed.

Anybody who has ever actually experienced mental health problems and actually sought legitimate treatment over it knows this. They KNOW the healthy response is to not lash out at the world whenever you experience distress or unpleasant emotions, but to look inward as to WHY you are feeling that way and try to process it in a healthy way that minimizes the negative emotions.

That’s why I say it seems like Wheaton does not WANT to actually feel better, assuming he actually has them and is not just performing outrage. It seems like he wants to rage against the world and have something to whine about. No actually sane, healthy human being would lose their mind over a comedian messing around with a MUPPET man! Like my god, can we not possibly have enough perspective and sanity left in this country to agree on that???

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I think Wil Wheaton broke your brain.

We are talking about a grown man, a celebrity at that who starred in two hit TV shows and a classic film, whining like a bitch and writing a thesis on social media over a comedian pretending to strangle a puppet on daytime TV.

I really just cannot emphasize enough how utterly insane this entire situation is.

It’s like something straight out of Curb itself!

A guy who was abused(including being choked multiple times) getting triggered(in the original sense of "triggering a trauma flashback") by something that mirrors his worst memories and overreacting because of it isn't something to get this triggered over.

Like, surely you of all people should be understanding of people making mountains out of molehills due to extreme emotions, no?

It. Was. A. Comedian. Joking. Around. With. A. FICTIONAL. PUPPET!

I already explained in the OP exactly how and why I think this in no way relates to my own struggles. As a matter of fact, I find it INSULTING to those with trauma/emotional/mental health struggles to act like this! It perpetuates a stereotype that everyone who has these issues is some soft fragile hysterical wimp with no sense of humor and who is completely helpless and expects everyone else to cater to their whims and restructure every facet of their lives to avoid touching on anything that may or may not hypothetically hurt someone’s fragile ego.

The healthy response of someone who actually wants to better themselves and has been to therapy to being “triggered” by seeing ELMO clowned around with by Larry David is NOT to go on Facebook and post a hysterical screed about how evil Larry David is for triggering you. It’s to get ahold of yourself and your own emotions, to accept that this is YOUR personal trauma you are experiencing and NOT the fault of Larry David or anyone else, and practice some mindfulness/CBT/DBT activities if needed.

Anybody who has ever actually experienced mental health problems and actually sought legitimate treatment over it knows this. They KNOW the healthy response is to not lash out at the world whenever you experience distress or unpleasant emotions, but to look inward as to WHY you are feeling that way and try to process it in a healthy way that minimizes the negative emotions.

That’s why I say it seems like Wheaton does not WANT to actually feel better, assuming he actually has them and is not just performing outrage. It seems like he wants to rage against the world and have something to whine about. No actually sane, healthy human being would lose their min  over a comedian messing around with a MUPPET man! Like my god, can we not possibly have enough perspective and sanity left in this country to agree on that???

You have typed two 4+ paragraph rants about some guy overreacting to a thing in thirty minutes. I get strongly distressed/angry/upset in some way at things most people would say isn't a big deal too. Usually a distraction of some sort is helpful for me. Ranting about it online just makes things feel worse.

[dead0man]

I honestly assumed he was joking at first, ya know, like Larry David was, but no.  Wheaton has always seemed like a whingey bitch to me.

[7,052,770]

This s—t had me almost running to switch my voter registration to Republican and vote for Trump halfway through reading it.

...

[John Dule]

I’m always so charmed by how little Alben knows of modern internet culture. I saw this story yesterday and didn’t find it remotely surprising. It must be nice to still be shocked by emasculated soyboys, crazy SJWs, and all other types of terminally online discourse. He really is the most normal person among us.

[Edu]

LMAO

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

(That applies for both David's joke and Wheaton's reaction btw.)

[ꙮ]

The brain-breaking chain continues.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

You couldn't pay me to read a whinging essay written by Wil Wheaton. As a wise man once said:

[Illiniwek]

I think Wheaton's response is a bit much, but this unhinged counter-response here is shocking and incredibly misplaced.

I need you to forget about looking at this encounter through the eyes of an adult. Elmo was not on the Today Show speaking to you or any other adult. He was on there for an audience of kids that watch Sesame Street. This was for whoever watches the Today Show and has little kids around the house in the morning. "Oh hey, kid, look Elmo is going to be on after the commercial will you watch it with me?" And then Elmo is trying to teach the kids that it is ok to open up and talk about mental health. That is a good thing. Why in the world should it be ok for Larry David to come from out of nowhere and assault Elmo when there are presumably many kids watching?

If this was a skit on Curb Your Enthusiasm, a show that kids are not watching, then it would have been a classic funny Larry David idea. Or on a late night show when all the kids had gone to bed, fine. Or on the Howard Stern show. Whatever. Instead, he crashed a moment that was made for children and that did not belong to him and made it about himself. It was selfish. It was a screw up.

No, it did not hurt my feelings. No, it did not hurt the feelings of the "fictional muppet." But I think about if my kids were watching, particularly my daughter who carries around her Elmo doll everywhere she goes, and if they saw that and had to wonder and ask "why did that man attack Elmo?" No impressionable toddler deserves that and the parents who had their kids watching that innocent segment don't deserve that either. It is so unnecessary and a complete flub. And then he makes a mockery of the "apology", which wasn't for Elmo's benefit or to humiliate Larry David, but to show kids that apologizing for our wrongs is the right thing to do. Larry David is a great comedian, but he clearly sucks at young child development, and he just shouldn't have waded into that world by crashing the Elmo segment.

Idk dude, you can question Wil Wheaton's message or motivations, and that's fine. I don't care. But it was objectively a dumb and wrong thing for Larry David to do given the audience that was watching. Should he be cancelled for it? Of course not. But there is nothing wrong with pointing out that he screwed up, and functioning adults should be able to demonstrate maturity and owning up to your screw ups.

[Edu]

BTW, the image Alben posted isn't even the whole thing. Here's the whole facebook post

[T'Chenka]

Alben got more triggered by Wheaton than Wheaton got by Larry David. Hilarious.

[HisGrace]

Thought this had to be some kind of copy pasta someone made at first.

When I was a kid I would have been laughing my ass off if someone did that. He just momentarily grabbed him and just "air punched" him without even making any contact. Not to mention I have always been aware that Elmo and the other Sesame Street characters are puppets and I'm sure that's the case for 99% of kids. Kids aren't always idiots and have functioning senses of humor most the time. My brother and I would joke about Big Bird beating up all the other characters because he was so huge when we watched Sesame Street.

Alben got more triggered by Wheaton than Wheaton got by Larry David. Hilarious.

Err, no, that's not even Wheaton's whole post, he wrote like an entire dissertation on it.

[DaleCooper]

Alben has a point. Obviously anyone who would vote for Trump over something like this is an idiot, but most voters are idiots and it definitely doesn't help the left that you can look at this embarrassing rant and immediately tell that its author is a straight-ticket Democratic voter.

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

(That applies for both David's joke and Wheaton's reaction btw.)

This is what both Wheaton’s rant and Alben’s rant remind me of:

(It’s the chicanery bit, for those that know)

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This HAS to be some kinda Curb related publicity stunt.

[Farmlands]

Like some posters alluded to, this isn't only about a particular instance of a joke, but reflective of a larger trend when it comes to showing anything out of people's comfort zones in movies or television these days.

The only logical thing to do is ignore the rants of people like this, because the alternative is simply not depicting any subjects involving violence or mental health in media, which modern crusaders seem to not understand would only cause a lot more harm to the people they claim to protect than the opposite.

How many times have we heard of people understanding, coming to terms, and ultimately bettering themselves because the darker themes of a story resonated with their own experience in some way?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've actually never seen an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm but I can now because I have Max. What would you recommend as a starter?

[7,052,770]

Alben has a point. Obviously anyone who would vote for Trump over something like this is an idiot, but most voters are idiots and it definitely doesn't help the left that you can look at this embarrassing rant and immediately tell that its author is a straight-ticket Democratic voter.

So is Larry David. This is a blue vs. blue feud that has nothing to do with Trump. It would be just as stupid if someone who agreed with Wheaton considered voting for Trump because they were offended that a Biden supporter attacked Elmo.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I've actually never seen an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm but I can now because I have Max. What would you recommend as a starter?

It is the best comedy series there is, so you should probably see all of it, but ten essentials from its original run are Palestinian Chicken (my signature), The Anonymous Donor, The Doll, The Freak Book, The Car Pool Lane, The Surrogate, The Survivor, Krazee-Eyez Killa, Beloved Aunt, and The Black Swan.

Denise Handicapped, Mister Softee, and Larry vs. Michael J. Fox are all among my favorites from the New York era, but those are worth building up to. The last is my personal favorite.

The first two seasons after the reboot (Season 9/10) are arguably the best two seasons created with full worthwhile story arcs but watch the original first.

Also shout out to every scene with Wanda Sykes.

[dead0man]

I've actually never seen an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm but I can now because I have Max. What would you recommend as a starter?

it's funny, but it relies VERY heavily on "awkward" humor.