Friday, April 13, 2012

Girls Who Read - Mark Grist

Watch this: (Response to follow)




This is awesome. The guy is alright. Then he starts talking. And he becomes amazing. Feel free to watch it multiple times.

But for this post, I was really interested in the comments to the video. It was an extremely fascinating study on   society.

They started out, unsurprisingly, with "awesome" or "great stuff" or "nice". The usual for just about any similar video.

Then the video hit some girl's facebook or tumblr, and loads of her friends started watching it. Again, the comments are completely usual and expected. Most are like these:


"I am absolutely melted right now. I'm sure you get this a lot, but where have you been all my life?
- mediocritea"


"BRAVO! Being a girl who reads myself, I am completely awestruck by this. Job well done ♥
-pruedence110588"


"As a voracious reader myself, I just went a little fan-girly. Thanks for making us bookworms feel special :)
-whackybarbiedoll "

These are obviously girls who really do read:

"This made the all-nighter I'm pulling off for my thesis just so much better. Thanks for putting a smile on my face!
-francygermany"


"score one for the gentleman. Men like you are the reason girls like me have standards. Edna St. Vincent Millay would be proud!
-0cicer0 "

This one surprised me a little. "I love this so much! I had no idea there were men who actually liked girls who read! :-) This is so sexy!!
-Wisegoddess" 

And, of course, the ever present "I want to marry this man! -laradoodleann" and  "Restoring my faith in men! -SuperJaVw"

After this is where the social study got interesting. It is here that we can tell the difference between a real gentleman and a royal deuschbag.

Gentleman:

"Very well said man! I'm with you! Of course all those "bits" are wonderful but more is required in the long run. Besides, all those bits will eventually grow old, as will my bits. But, even when we're 80, we will be able keep each other amused and entertained with our minds, hopefully.
-rlc164"


"Couldn't agree more, good sir!
-DJChrisSee"


Buttwipe:

"Nah, it's tits every time.
-hstaubyn"


"what if shes fat
-TheDataDwarf "

"@TheDataDwarf  hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
-Rhiannapencil"


"All I have to do is recite this poem and women will swoon over me too? Sweet.
-Ayelis" Someone else replied to this, basically saying, No, moron. You have to actually mean it.

And a few of these: "This comment has received too many negative votes -ryansvxr" I un-hid the comment to see what it said. Yeah, it was downright rude.

I thought this one was especially interesting, though. I would like to discuss it.


I like a girl who reads and has a mind of her own, but girls why are you all saying and I quote “Restoring my faith in men" and "I think I'm in love" have you met the guy? He could be a complete prick for all you know!
It’s funny how certain people will make assumptions about somebody after watching something that has been carefully prepared and presented on you tube.
Doc25034103 

The poster of the video answered:


"Not carefully prepared but shot on the hoof on a mobile and he's as genuine as he appears in this scene. Honesty resonates. Worth remembering that Doc.
-MarietteGemini"

Which answers the question about the carefully prepared bit. And also shows that this guy isn't just faking it to win chicks. But what I'm really interested in is the first part, where Doc asks about why all the girls are getting swoony over this poem.

To you, Doc, though you'll probably never see this post, I give an answer.

I refer you first to the type of comments found in the "buttwipe" section. After revisiting those, I refer you back to "I love this so much! I had no idea there were men who actually liked girls who read! :-) This is so sexy!!
-Wisegoddess"


You see, because of the jerks and deuschbags of the world, there are actually girls out there who honestly don't know this. A lot of crappy guys get the girls based entirely on the fact that the girl doesn't know there's a better choice.

But even among those of us who do know, it's almost entirely an intellectual knowledge. We know in our minds that these guys exist. But the sheer number of morons out there makes it easy to lose hope that we'll ever find one. We begin to feel like it might just be a fairy tale wish that only comes true for the occasional cinderellas out there. And we certainly aren't cinderellas.


 Guys always want this. But this does NOT =
This. Most of us are this.

The funny thing is, this is so much better than that ^. There's a great deal more substance here than there.

But guys, generally, would rather have a leather belt that's gilded with a thin layer of gold, than a solid gold belt with a protective layer of leather covering it.

Then we watch a video like this. A video where a normal, down-to-earth, totally-honest-about-it guy reminds us that not all males are shallow, testosterone zombies. It makes us feel better. More willing to believe that we'll find one too.

So no, we are not saying that our opinions of all men fly or fall based entirely on one youtube video. And no, we are not saying that we know everything about Mark Grist, or that he is perfect. We aren't making a final judgement on the man. Nor are we saying that all other males are redeemed by his virtues.

You ought to know that humans, by nature, are melodramatic. We all are. So when we say "restores my faith in men" what we mean is "I'd forgotten that good guys exist out there. Thanks for reminding me."

And yes. Thank you, Mark Grist, for reminding us all that there are decent guys out in the world. Hopefully they don't all live on another continent. ;)

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