Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

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  • Bjorn
    Phobic non-popper
    • Oct 2018
    • 59

    Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

    As a phobic non-popper, I hate popping balloons, but to me it's not only the fear about the bang.

    I love the shape of balloons, their smell excites me and I love the feeling of the latex to my skin.
    Balloons are so exciting and beautiful, I can't stand someone is popping them in my surroundings. Maybe it's a bit strange but it feels a bit cruel to me to pop balloons.

    Okay, sometimes I pop a balloon unintentionally while sitting, bouncing or humping on it. I try not to do so, but accidents happens. I always feel a bit shocked and disappointed when I broke a balloon.

    The only way to me to clean up balloons without feelings of cruelty is to cut of knot and let them deflate without popping them. That feels okay to me.

    Any other looners who feels about the same about popping balloons?
  • Yen_D_Heart
    Member
    • Jan 2019
    • 47

    #2
    Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

    I dislike popping as well. I am afraid of sudden loud noises, so inflating balloons always makes me nervous. And since balloons also cost some money, I always try to make the best out of them

    I can highly recommend clips for your balloons, so you don't have to cut of the knot. Makes re-using balloons (and storing them) hassle free! They come in different sizes and are like clips for closing a bag you want to put into the freezer. You can use them as well, if you have them on hand.
    They are very cheap, so I think it's a must for a non-popper!

    Comment

    • BalloonBoyUK
      Banned
      • Dec 2018
      • 500

      #3
      Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

      I'm a rabid anti-popper too - albeit partly because of my Autism, but also because I hate any loud and unexpected bangs (e.g. fireworks, etc)!

      To me, I not only cannot stand the noise, but it's just a complete waste of a lovely object, that I could gain so much more pleasure from. It also feels heartless and cruel.

      And, like others, I don't pop balloons ever. The only time it happens, is if I've cuddled one,and it's old and worn-out, and then it's popped, or if the balloon was defective in the first place. Other than that, I either unknot the balloons, and reuse/recycle them, or I cut off the knots and let them deflate before recycling them.

      Comment

      • scuba
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2017
        • 443

        #4
        Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

        I think that you popping a balloon intentionally is a vaste of resurses.
        If one of my GL1200 balloons pops before i have been floating on it, i always feel a little sad and annoyed.
        I don't really like to read stories about people popping balloons too.
        I think that it's becauce that i get sort of a relationship with the balloons i play with.
        When i float with balloons they almost feel alive becauce of their boyancy.
        That applies both the GL1200 balloons, but also the long modeling balloons i wrap around my body and float with this way.
        A GL1200 balloon that have carried me across the lake pushed by the wind, with me totaly depending on it taking me where it wants to become like a trusted horse.
        And you don't just kill your horse after using it.

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        • Loon119
          Senior Member
          • Jun 2018
          • 226

          #5
          Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

          I can definitely relate to this
          As a child I was abused by my parents and locked in my room for some reason there were always balloons around and I used to cuddle these to feel safe. My mother would come into my room and realise they made me happy which was a massive no and stamp on my balloons. I would throw myself on my balloons to protect them but it was no use. I'd sit there and cry at the loss of my beloved companions and to this day I can't deal with balloons being popped aggressively by others. Only my wife can pop around me because I feel it isn't evil/aggressive as she understands my feelings and my balloons

          Comment

          • Eastlooner
            Member
            • Apr 2019
            • 91

            #6
            Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

            I am a popper, but my wife is the greatest popper I know. She always says- balloons are created to be popped and they feel themselves lucky when it happens. It cannot be simple pin-pop. She pops them as an artist and it makes me happy. She isn't cruel, she treats everyone of them "personally". Sometimes I want her to be cruel and she is but it's rare...If it is cruel for you you are non popper. I love overinflated balloons, I love hard play with them and don't pop these beautiful loons just with a pin, but I thing that the loud pop with many shreds is the best way to finish their short life.

            Comment

            • PBK
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2019
              • 372

              #7
              Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

              Well I'm not sure what to think.
              I guess I have kind of a double standard when it comes to balloon popping.
              On one hand, I hate seeing people pop balloons. I avoid any situation which involves balloons and children or drunk people because I know balloons will be popped and I really hate it. It's almost like balloons are sentient beings and popping them is cruel and inhumane. This is ludicrous and downright ridiculous, of course, because balloons are mere latex sacs that are used as toys and decoration.
              Plus I hate the sound of popping and am phobic of it. Which is strange because I fired 20mm M242 Bushmaster chain guns off a Coyote and 7.62mm C6 belt fed machine guns all day. In addition to grenades going off, AT-4 anti-tank recoiless rifles, artillery and tank guns all as part of my military service. Plus I target shoot with firearms as a civilian (rifle, shotgun and handgun).

              On the other hand I do use old balloons out of my stash as targets on the range. Maybe it's different when outdoors and 300+ yards away? I dunno. It seems like to me the gun range is the one place that it's "OK" for me to pop balloons. Yet I hate popping them and the though of popping them anywhere else.

              I don't know if anyone else can relate but that's how I'm hard-wired and at 40 years old that's not going to change.

              Comment

              • BalloonBoyUK
                Banned
                • Dec 2018
                • 500

                #8
                Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                Originally posted by PBK
                On one hand, I hate seeing people pop balloons. I avoid any situation which involves balloons and children or drunk people because I know balloons will be popped and I really hate it. [SNIP] Plus I hate the sound of popping and am phobic of it.
                I'm similar to PBK. A deliberately popped or burst balloon, is a huge waste, and I would do anything to have let the balloon come back with me, and live a bit. (Waste not, want not, as the saying goes.)

                I am also phobic about loud noises (e.g. fireworks, drilling, balloon pops, etc), so I too, avoid anyone and anywhere where that is likely to occur.

                Comment

                • globos&bears
                  Member
                  • Jun 2019
                  • 87

                  #9
                  Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                  Originally posted by Bjorn
                  As a phobic non-popper, I hate popping balloons, but to me it's not only the fear about the bang.

                  I love the shape of balloons, their smell excites me and I love the feeling of the latex to my skin.
                  Balloons are so exciting and beautiful, I can't stand someone is popping them in my surroundings. Maybe it's a bit strange but it feels a bit cruel to me to pop balloons.

                  Okay, sometimes I pop a balloon unintentionally while sitting, bouncing or humping on it. I try not to do so, but accidents happens. I always feel a bit shocked and disappointed when I broke a balloon.

                  The only way to me to clean up balloons without feelings of cruelty is to cut of knot and let them deflate without popping them. That feels okay to me.

                  Any other looners who feels about the same about popping balloons?
                  I do not have problems with noise, but as a non-popper i don't like that my balloons explode. I like to keep them clean and durable as long as they can. Of course nothing last forever so some balloons just give up. Shit happends!

                  But i never explode a balloon on purpuse.

                  Comment

                  • softsquishyballoon
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2020
                    • 204

                    #10
                    Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                    I'm not sure how many people here have watched The Red Balloon, a French short film from 1956. I just watched it, earlier today - and I felt so sad when those mean boys threw rocks at the balloon with a slingshot, and then popped it by stomping on it. Even though it ends with the red balloon's owner/friend being given a balloon ride by all the other balloons in Paris, it's still heartbreaking.

                    So I'm guessing that many people who were emotionally affected by that scene are probably non-poppers.

                    Comment

                    • bubblesNdragons
                      Senior Member
                      • Oct 2019
                      • 103

                      #11
                      Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                      I'd compare my disliking of popping balloons to killing insects. It doesn't seem significant (and it probably isn't) but it still hurts if someone kills the bug/pops the balloon. It just feels needless.
                      *notices bulge*

                      Comment

                      • softsquishyballoon
                        Senior Member
                        • Feb 2020
                        • 204

                        #12
                        Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                        I understand that, unlike a vase or any expensive fancy item, balloons are not meant to be long lasting. However, popping a balloon still seems like a shameful waste of a lovely precious balloon.

                        BTW, I'm not here to judge poppers. I'm just saying that that's my own emotional reaction to it, and I would prefer people to not pop balloons in my presence. But, so long as it's not my balloons that are being popped, to each their own.

                        Comment

                        • Yonkers Looner
                          Member
                          • Oct 2019
                          • 31

                          #13
                          Re: Popping balloons feels a bit cruel to me

                          Honestly, I'm kinda that rarish semi-popper. I really hate popping them, but I know they don't last forever. If it shows signs of aging in my care, I know it's about time for me to get rid of it and buy something new. Part of the turn-on for me has always been losing something I actually find valuable. The anticipation, the sorrow, the fear and rush of emotion, it's quite invigorating. I'm never mean-spirited about it though, I always let it go with a smile and hug of course. I also try to make their lifespans as long as possible, because I can and because mad money is scarce, and if I don't have at least a couple in the house it gets kind of depressing. In the end, I think I'm platonically more of a non-popper, but the popping really gets me going.
                          Sometimes I feel like Freud would have a bloody field day with me...

                          Writer, future teacher, gamer, nerd, lover, looner, stoner, unapologetic nutcase

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