Elmo wrote a simple tweet that revealed widespread existential dread. Now, the president has weighed in.

3 years ago by Flying Squid to c/nottheonion

"Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" the X page for the Sesame Street character posted. Many answers were brutally honest and downright cynical about the dread people are feeling.
flicker 146 points 3 years ago

The message from the Elmo account, the follow-up and the Sesame Street account linking mental health resources is some of the most wholesome stuff I've seen in a while.

It's easy to get in your feelings, and it would've been easy for a social media "win" to play into the doom and gloom or to add to it. Or even to ignore it! But the people responsible for those decisions definitely count as some of Mister Rogers' helpers. I'm grateful for that.

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Mycatiskai 56 points 3 years ago

Mr Rogers could really help this world right now.

"Feelings are mentionable and manageable."

It isn't that everyone is special, like superheroes. Everyone is special because we are the only one experiencing the world how we experience it and how we react, in anger or in love can make the world a better or a worse place. He wanted the world to be a better place by letting children love and be safe, and work through the negative feelings in healthy ways.

Mr Rogers testifies in front of Congress for funding is a great video because the man in charge was completely ignorant of what Mr Rogers was doing but in minutes was able to change his mind about how the funding for public television education programs would clearly help children.

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dmtalon 8 points 3 years ago

I've seen this before, and I watched every second of it again tonight. An amazing human.

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Sanctus 109 points 3 years ago

A real time peak at what happens many years after selling out the health of your citizens so that insurers can generate money off of misery.

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EmergMemeHologram 57 points 3 years ago
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Sanctus 31 points 3 years ago

That site always sounded like a poly dating site to me. Is the domain for sale?

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homesweethomeMrL 4 points 3 years ago

Life insurance? Pfft biochemical and pharma more like.

Monsanto!

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coolkicks 37 points 3 years ago

Been looking at therapists for my teenage daughter, she’s been debating therapy for a couple of years and has recently fully committed.

We have good insurance and are financially secure, and holy shit it’s still going to cost an extraordinary amount. I don’t understand how anyone struggling with financial insecurity could even consider having access to therapy as an option.

What a fundamentally broken system, there is not a single type of care that exists that is accessible to the people who need it.

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MrFappy 7 points 3 years ago

As someone who is indeed struggling with financial insecurity, on top of depression, anxiety, and I’m pretty sure adult ADD, it sucks a great deal. My spouse also has similar issues, and so we try to just find the joy in our kids, but I’m worried about passing our issues on to the kids. I truly don’t know what to do at this point.

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Spot 4 points 3 years ago

Check the HR, insurance extras or employee perks whatever page or call the insurance about Behavioral Health programs. Some companies (not enough by far) have some free or lower cost providers in those programs. Not just EAP, which is also a great offering, just usually not long term. Some, it may just be "virtual in-network visits" are discounted over "in person" visits or something simple. A common obe I see is ~5-8 free w/the matched provider then it rolls into the benefit payments if you keep them going.

Its all a very dumb game and I try to pass along any "tricks" I can find to make the system remotely usable. If anyone has any, throw 'em my way!

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coolkicks 2 points 3 years ago

Yep, we’re looking at that exact option right now. 6 free to see if it’s going to work then it’s time to max that deductible!

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kofe 3 points 3 years ago

I'm going to start seeing a sliding scale therapist at $60/hr once a week. I'm donating plasma to afford it, along with using student loans. I figure it's an investment that will pay off. There are therapists that will work pro bono, too.

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Asafum 2 points 3 years ago

Think about it this way: the payments you're making for insurance, that they aren't reciprocating in terms of service coverage (their only fucking job), is providing a very needy owner with another private island! You're making the world a happier place as one person can now have multiple islands to lounge on while their corporation does the actual work of syphoning your money for them!

Hashtag SilverLinings!

:P

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Sanctus 23 points 3 years ago

And I just thought I'd reply to say thats 1 of the countless issues facing average people today.

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Lord_ToRA 85 points 3 years ago
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RememberTheApollo_ 55 points 3 years ago

Ask for help? This country is built around avoiding meaningful help for others because of “freedom”. You are free to live in a box under a bridge. Free to lack upward mobility. Free to be jailed because of homelessness, drug addiction or mental health problems. Free to lose your home because of a health problem. Help is “socialism” in this country. Can’t have that. Gotta have those freedoms instead.

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troglodytis 38 points 3 years ago

In America, you are not free to live under a bridge. People get run off of that situation all the time.

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FlyingSquid 7 points 3 years ago

The bridges around here all have no trespassing signs. In English and Spanish despite this being Indiana.

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Asafum 6 points 3 years ago

You'd think they'd at least have it written in Indian.

:P

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RememberTheApollo_ 5 points 3 years ago

You’re free to go find another bridge to live under.

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lightnsfw 5 points 3 years ago

Ok Mr. Biden, can you help me afford a house? I've been working my ass off for the better part of 2 decades and can't seem to manage it.

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LifeOfChance 3 points 3 years ago

How is the guy (biden) who's in a position to actually get shit figured out responding like it's our responsibility to?

Just to be extremely clear, there is no presidential candidate worthy of the position. Trump and Biden can both wheel their crippled old asses to the nearest nursing home.

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Davin 10 points 3 years ago

How is the guy (biden) who's in a position to actually get shit figured out responding like it's our responsibility to?

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for the country...

I think that's one of the worst quotes from a president of a country. The government is for the people, it's supposed to be doing stuff for the people. It should be our sword and shield against the corporations and fascists, but instead it's become the shackles of the people.

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Asafum -10 points 3 years ago

Christ... Thanks Biden for your version of "thoughts and prayers."

Just as fucking worthless as the typical Republican response to our suffering.

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mhague 9 points 3 years ago

One thing is a platitudinous phatic expression and the other is legitimate mental health advice.

Like seriously, how do you think "Be there for each other, don't be afraid to reach out to others, and remember that you're not alone" is vapid advice?

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Asafum 8 points 3 years ago

Because the problems people are having are not purely emotional family stuff that can be hugged out. It's shit that we need the government to actually act on, not just give us some bullshit feel good reply about sunshine and rainbows.

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magnusrufus 5 points 3 years ago

And has he taken action on problems that people are facing? Is he never allowed to talk about anything other than what's on your secret list of valid topics?

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mlg -60 points 3 years ago

offer our help to a neighbor in need

spoiler

Damn this senile dumbass really is just the same mouthpiece for Obama when he was vice president.

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barter 56 points 3 years ago

Yeah how dare he suggest we should be nice to each other, what a moron

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Duamerthrax -18 points 3 years ago

Words are cheap. I don't want people to be "nice" to me. I want them to stop burning fossil fuel.

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kattenluik 21 points 3 years ago

It's not one or the other, you get both words and actions.

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FlyingSquid 0 points 3 years ago

I don’t want people to be “nice” to me.

That much is clear. And the quotation marks don't seem necessary.

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RememberTheApollo_ 30 points 3 years ago

I introduce you to one of the people inspiring the dread in so many others.

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hitmyspot 17 points 3 years ago

Do you mean Biden or the social media manager that wrote the tweet?

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SpaceNoodle 59 points 3 years ago

Garfield, the animated orange cat, famously hates Mondays.

Actually top-notch journalism. There's that one fucker out there who still didn't know who Garfield was.

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samus12345 21 points 3 years ago

The older Garfield is, the more people there are who don't know much about him even if they know who he is.

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fmstrat 9 points 3 years ago

Someone's a 10,000

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lntl 10 points 3 years ago

That's me! Didn't realize they ever animated Garfield. Always thought he existed in panel cartoons only.

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SpaceNoodle 17 points 3 years ago

The Garf has been in animated form since 1988.

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AtariDump 5 points 3 years ago

ImSorryJohn

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pastermil 56 points 3 years ago

Elmo asked how everyone was doing, the replies were so bad president of the United States had to come in.

Who got that on their bingo card?

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limelight79 2 points 3 years ago

Imagine if it had been the previous president...

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Rentlar 32 points 3 years ago

If you are really experiencing anxiety, stress, addiction and/or dread, sometimes it's important to get it out there, acknowledge your situation and don't try to hide it from yourself and pretend everything is fine. Then get yourself the support you need from others and also try to change things, but recognizing the signs is a first step.

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lightnsfw 22 points 3 years ago

What I need is for the people creating problems in my life to get their shit together and fucking stop. No amount of support from others will achieve that.

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DangedIfYouDid 3 points 3 years ago

I would accept support coming in pretty much any form other than pointing at boilerplate "solutions" ignoring reasoning behind why they're out of reach, and washing their hands of the situation as though they did everything they could.

We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!

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LarmyOfLone 25 points 3 years ago

"Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. #EmotionalWellBeing"

Elmo lying. Elmo sorry he asked, just wanted to sell more junk. Existential dread no good for selling junk! And slogans not further good policies!

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DragonTypeWyvern 15 points 3 years ago

I forgot HBO bought Season Street.

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frogfruit 8 points 3 years ago path: 0 7189855 7191393 7199972, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
BassaForte 23 points 3 years ago

Inb4 MAGAts claim that Sesame Street was bought out by dark Brandon to spread his propaganda.

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MisterSteve 18 points 3 years ago

Part of the problem, IMO, is found in the deep divisions presently found in our country. Most forward progress comes from the network in which people exist (notwithstanding the myth of "rugged individualists" as the secret to success). Our present society is riven with deep divisions along generational, ideological, political, socio-economic, and racial lines. If we want to break out of the present "us vs. them" trap we're in, we have to begin to reach across the divisions in everyway possible. (And I am not suggesting that we give up our differences, only that we reference them only when they are appropriate to the overall welfare of our network/society/culture.)

It's a lengthy quote, but it comes from one of the foremost authorities on democratic leadership, James MacGregor Burns:

"The function of leadership is to engage followers, not merely to activate them, to commingle needs and aspirations and goals in a common enterprise, and in the process to make better citizens of both leaders and followers. To move from manipulation to power-wielding is to move from the arithmetic of everyday contacts and collisions to the geometry of the structure and dynamics of interaction. It is to move from checkers to chess, for in the “game of kings” we estimate the powers of our chessmen and the intentions and calculations and indeed the motives of our adversary. But democratic leadership moves far beyond chess because, as we play the game, the chessmen come alive, the bishops and knights and pawns take part on their own terms and with their own motivations, values, and goals, and the game moves ahead with new momentum, direction, and possibilities. In real life the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like persons." ~Burns, 'Leadership,' (1978)

Edit: typo

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casmael 11 points 3 years ago

Jesus Christ that’s the worst website I’ve had the displeasure to visit all year :(

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Smashfire 5 points 3 years ago

I learned of the below site recently to help avoid paywalls and crappy websites etc

https://archive.ph/

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homesweethomeMrL 6 points 3 years ago path: 0 7181233, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1
otp 2 points 3 years ago

That was actually a great video

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Smashfire 4 points 3 years ago path: 0 7180689, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
NGC2346 -24 points 3 years ago

Psy-op more than anything, especially with Biden stepping in as if he understands what people are going through. You have no idea buddy.

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webghost0101 12 points 3 years ago

I agree that this kind of stuff does little to actually help anyone but i much, much prefer a president capable of behaving in a respectful emphatic manner.

I cant even begin to imagine if trump had to respond to something like this.

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FlyingSquid 6 points 3 years ago

Oh my god! Biden is controlling Elmo to capture the preschool vote! It's ingenious!

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Altofaltception -48 points 3 years ago

Well the president decided to stand by (at best) or enable (at worst) a genocide of a people. So yeah thanks, but those sunny days seem a bit bleak right now.

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rustyfish 28 points 3 years ago
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MamboGator 25 points 3 years ago
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PugJesus 46 points 3 years ago

It should have been Bernie - and yet I and every Bernie voter I know are hell-bent on voting Biden. Because no Bernie voter who isn't a troll or a moron thinks that Trump will improve the status of the left-wing in this country.

I hate these Very Concerned Voters(tm) online who push these purity tests.

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FlyingSquid -5 points 3 years ago

Because no Bernie voter who isn’t a troll or a moron thinks that Trump will improve the status of the left-wing in this country.

You'd be surprised.

https://en.wikipedia.org/...

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Grimy -8 points 3 years ago

He kind of gave them the thumbs up tbh. It definitely doesn't need to be brought up on every post about him but I don't think framing it as "unilaterally discarded a long-standing alliance" is being honest about it. It's also a genocide, not tax evasion.

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kttnpunk 1 point 3 years ago
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Nudding -1 points 3 years ago

Nancy Pelosi?

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Wogi -24 points 3 years ago

Oh right, it's an election year so we're not allowed to feel bad things about a generally lame president. We gotta suck down the blue flavoraid or else the red flavor aid drinking idiots might scootch closer to winning.

Forget about actually doing anything though. Let's just gaslight each other until he suddenly seems like a decent president.

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lightnsfw 22 points 3 years ago

So tired of people acting like because I shit on Biden I think Trump is better. All of our options are garbage and I'm not going to pretend that isn't the case. Yeah, I voted for Biden and I will again. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

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Plopp 11 points 3 years ago

Get out of here with that nuance, Satan! Real humans deal in binary only! And in a first past the post system boiled down to a choice between two parties one side is automatically perfect!

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agent_flounder 10 points 3 years ago

Sure. Totally fair. We could do better than Biden, and I'm sick of voting lesser of two evils since the 80s. (Stupid first past the post voting and electoral college system are largely to blame).

Also, I'm insanely sick of the deliberately obtuse trolls trying to split the democratic vote. These are the ones insisting we teach the Democrats a lesson and who ignore any argument to the contrary as if Trump and Project 2025 didn't exist. Nobody of legal age can possibly be that short sighted so I assume it is a psyops campaign or some shit. Makes me reflexively downvote any "but Biden's genocide" type comments especially when they're out of left field as above.

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Altofaltception -2 points 3 years ago

You get downvoted so hard if you say anything negative against Biden. A piss bucket might be better than a turd bucket but that's not saying a lot.

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homesweethomeMrL -5 points 3 years ago

Also to remember the Democrat pizzaphile eaters who have satanic meetings about the eating of pizzas and handkerchiefs. Many people are saying so, more and more. It makes the most sence not to vote and all of my tiktok generation are not voted.

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homesweethomeMrL 1 point 3 years ago

Am also agreeing with the Elmo that Biden Genocide Joe is not strong candidate for president. Voting will only encourage weak peoples. A strong leader as Trump or great president Putin loves the freedom not a genocide like Bidenski.

Source: am independent woman of color working in strong factory job with many transgender friends. Am looking forward to the American football contest later for the Superb Bowls. Like and subscribe!

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ShaggySnacks 1 point 3 years ago

"1 Genocide! Ha ha! 2 Genocide! Ha ha! 3 Genocide! Ha ha! That's how many genocides, Genocide Joe will have. Great Dear Leader Trump makes me sad as I won't be able to count genocides." Count von Count

Edit: This is a sarcastic comment.

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GilgameshCatBeard 1 point 3 years ago

Lol

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