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Guilty pleasure makes no sense to me


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...because even pleasurable things can come with a measure of guilt or shame.  There's a thread on here about eating at Chick-fil-A.  If that's not a guilty pleasure, I don't know what is.  I certainly feel a measure of shame everytime I give that place money, and that's despite the food being yummy.  I mean, you do you get that humans are generally capable of complex emotions, right?  We can feel two things at once.  I assure you it's possible.

 

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Nah, I'm with the OP. It's dumb.

If you like something, it means it has something that appeals to you. Just own to it. What's there to be guilty about? Sure, a TV show or movie or book can have flaws and things you dislike, but it just means that you're aware of them, but still enjoy other aspects.

"Guilty pleasure" sounds like you're embarrassed to admit that you like something because it's not supposed to be 'cool' to like it or because you've heard people say it's bad, so you're going by the majority opinion in spite of your feelings, which is stupid.

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2 hours ago, Dr. Pepper said:

...because even pleasurable things can come with a measure of guilt or shame.  There's a thread on here about eating at Chick-fil-A.  If that's not a guilty pleasure, I don't know what is.  I certainly feel a measure of shame everytime I give that place money, and that's despite the food being yummy.  I mean, you do you get that humans are generally capable of complex emotions, right?  We can feel two things at once.  I assure you it's possible.

 

I think he's using the phrase "guilty pleasure" in the more colloquial sense of being embarrassed about liking something that's considered lowbrow, unsophisticated, or just not "quality." 

I agree with you about the kind of guilty pleasures you're talking about, but I also agree with OP about those kinds of guilty pleasures; it is kind of stupid to limit one's own pleasure because of something completely subjective and also incidental to anything of import. We're all guilty (hehe) of insecurity, though. 

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4 minutes ago, MercurialCannibal said:

an actual guilty pleasure is one you would likely not share with people. big Macs and Dean koontz books are a far cry from autoerotic asphyxiation.  

Not sure that's really what the phrase means any more. Merriam Webster's definition is more in line with OP's conception: 

"Something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilty pleasure

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5 minutes ago, IamMe90 said:

Not sure that's really what the phrase means any more. Merriam Webster's definition is more in line with OP's conception: 

"Something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guilty pleasure

I take more of a hardline approach to the meaning. 

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I can't imagine there is much energy wasted by doing something in private.  For me, it would often take much more energy to get someone to my house at 9pm to come watch me eat 10 pieces of chocolate.  I also don't find it necessary to go and tell everyone I know about what fan fiction I am reading, what form I've spent years reading and writing on, etc. Furthermore, there are some pretty serious things where it's reasonable to feel some measure of guilt (like the Chick fil A thing mentioned already).  
 

This is all just really bizarre.  Like, people can feel multiple things at once.  You all know this, right?  This seems like some problem the ultra 'positivity' community has created to make people feel bad for not wanting others to know some of the private things they do.  Life is too short for me to be worried that someone thinks I'm doing my own fucking guilty pleasures wrong.  Geesh.

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I get it in the sense that I really fucking love food and drink.  Like, for example, today at breakfast I went to a cafe with my girlfriend and out of a whole menu of food it was the steak and eggs that really grabbed my attention.  So I ordered it.  I felt a little bad for doing so because I clearly could have gotten a healthier option featuring less calories and red meat but I completely let my stomach make the decision.  And I had a big plate of Italian sausage and pasta yesterday.  Clearly I had not earned the steak and eggs through good choices made earlier in the week.

But then I think to myself - are there many things in life better than food, though? There’s a few things I’d place above delicious food, but there’s really not many.  If given a choice between, say, you can eat whatever you want and live to be 70 or you can eat nutritional sawdust cakes every day and live to 85, to me I’m not so sure that taking the extra 15 years is worth missing out in all the delicious food life has to offer.  But I also understand that to an extent you can have both things by simply practicing moderation and trying to  exercise and stay in shape - which I do try to do.  I think the (slightly) guilty part happens to me when I know I’ve been immoderate and/or too indulgent in my consumption of late more so than the consumption itself.

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11 minutes ago, S John said:

If given a choice between, say, you can eat whatever you want and live to be 70 or you can eat nutritional sawdust cakes every day and live to 85, to me I’m not so sure that taking the extra 15 years is worth missing out in all the delicious food life has to offer.  

Nutritional Sawdust is going to be the name of my vegetarian progressive grindcore band.

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If you don't see how one's pleasure can lead to guilt then surely you lack imagination.

I can think of about half-a-dozen things in as many seconds that would definitely make any sane person ashamed of themselves. Seriously, does everyone really need to be reminded just how weird humans are?

Of course, if your guilty pleasures are limited to junk food and lame TV shows, then perhaps it is indeed ridiculous to feel guilty about them. ^_^

In a totally unrelated note, has anyone here heard of Slaanesh? I'm asking for a friend.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SY28VkP2gKo/TNxcfMEOB-I/AAAAAAAAAe4/hlh648xZ41o/s1600/slaanesh.jpg
https://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/11/35/07/06/slaane10.jpg

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On 07/01/2018 at 8:37 PM, Starkess said:

I actually wrote a blog post about this last year (http://write.nora-bailey.com/guilty-pleasures/). Basically I agree with the OP: stop wasting your energy feeling guilty about enjoying things. Caveat added for enjoying things that cause harm to others.

I think your interpretation is a bit over literal. I don't think most people who use the phrase "guilty pleasure" are literally stressing about how guilty they feel about it, it's just a phrase used for "thing I enjoy but consider somewhat "low brow". People's real guilty pleasures, like extreme pornography, aren't usually what they discuss.

I'm also against the phrase, but only because I find it cringeworthy.

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1 minute ago, mankytoes said:

I think your interpretation is a bit over literal. I don't think most people who use the phrase "guilty pleasure" are literally stressing about how guilty they feel about it, it's just a phrase used for "thing I enjoy but consider somewhat "low brow". People's real guilty pleasures, like extreme pornography, aren't usually what they discuss.

I'm also against the phrase, but only because I find it cringeworthy.

Yeah, bingo. 

What I don't get is this talk about "expending extra energy" being 'guilty' about something.  I'm waiting for the article that shames someone for expending energy enjoying something.  Because spending energy is bad.  Or something.  

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