It seems pretty clearly like a “what not to do at a stoplight”-style joke about unhealthy interpersonal behavior. Like it’s calling out a real pattern you may not have noticed and then, as a subversion, providing the most insecure, manchildish response to it.
Edit: To be more concrete, my interpretation of the takeaway is that if your partner is doing this shapes thing, they might have something on their mind, and maybe you should ask them if they do. (And the joke to make you realize that is to juxtapose you getting up and leaving like Patrick Bateman.)
Sometimes asking something is just hard, man. Nobody’s saying it’s your responsibility to ask or that they can’t ask on their own, but that it might comfort the person struggling to get something off their chest if you express that you’re open to it. It’s not coddling in some zero-sum game; it’s just trying to be in-tune with how your partner’s feeling.
It seems pretty clearly like a “what not to do at a stoplight”-style joke about unhealthy interpersonal behavior. Like it’s calling out a real pattern you may not have noticed and then, as a subversion, providing the most insecure, manchildish response to it.
Edit: To be more concrete, my interpretation of the takeaway is that if your partner is doing this shapes thing, they might have something on their mind, and maybe you should ask them if they do. (And the joke to make you realize that is to juxtapose you getting up and leaving like Patrick Bateman.)
Too much nuance we have to be outraged about everything around here
Or if they have something to say, they can just say it.
Sometimes asking something is just hard, man. Nobody’s saying it’s your responsibility to ask or that they can’t ask on their own, but that it might comfort the person struggling to get something off their chest if you express that you’re open to it. It’s not coddling in some zero-sum game; it’s just trying to be in-tune with how your partner’s feeling.