Games People Play

"i knew from the very beginning that i would not necessarily like this book. there’s a certain suspicion i approach all psychology and self-help books with. they like buzzer words. they like selling. and they rarely help in the long run. but i thought i would, at least, tolerate it, as i have many of its genre. and i did. i would make faces while reading it out of visceral disagreement and disbelief— this is a book written either by a cynic or a very bored man. there’s nothing wrong in trying to understand people: why they do the things they do, why they say the things they say. there is usually more subtext than we assume yes, but to this extent? it’s utterly insane. he has dissected the simple interaction of people greeting each other— of talking to their friends, of defending themselves and of helping each other to the point of complete detachment. it feels like this book is supposed to find a susceptible audience and make them think ‘haha, im so much smarter than those around me! they won’t fool me!’ only for people to instead get sick of feeling like every breath they take around them is being turned into a psychological ‘game’ which fine. whatever. but the moment i couldn’t continue was after he truly and completely believed 1) queerness is a ‘game’ for attention or something along the lines and 2) victims of abuse manipulated abusers into violating and hurting them? for FUN? now that’s just ******* abhorrent, god ****. i deserve to be paid for even just the 114 pages i read of this atrocity, but i’ll settle for an extra check mark on this year’s reading goal."