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In a culture increasingly open to therapy and interested in self-care, have we finally arrived at a place where saying “I love you” outside of family or a romantic relationship is not only accepted but lauded?

It’s not an unusual verbal exchange on the social networking site Reddit. “We normalize saying ‘I love you’ to our friends,” read an article in a thread titled “r/unpopularopinion” this year. It has been voted on more than 10,500 times.

Also this year, Hanif Abdurraqib tweeted: “A small adjustment I’ve made to my communication practice is saying ‘I love you’ at the beginning of conversations/interactions with the other people I love, instead of (only) at the end. — In fact, I discovered this by watching an elderly man interact with his peers and followed it for myself.

In a short, viral video last month, an airplane pilot giving a teary retirement speech tells his passengers, “I love all of you.”

The gentlemen who host the “SmartLess” podcast — actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett — often say it warmly and easily to each other and to their guests at the end of episodes. Not “Love you, bro” or some decaffeinated variation but, “I love you.”

Forget the teenagers in the 2007 movie “Superbad,” who express their platonic love for each other in a drunken state, only to wake up embarrassed. Or the guys in a recent Infiniti ad who can only say “I love you” via text message. Or the fictional character imagined through this name Onion: “The man ends a work call with an “I love you. “

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Of course, the authors of those jokes have understood that the more unforeseen the source of the expression (teenagers, finance siblings), the more difficult it can be. Former President Donald Trump understood this, too, and he harnessed that force early in his political career. race. For all his machismo and braggadocio, he would shout “I love you” at rallies. He said it in his speech before the storming of the Capitol or in his video message calling on the rioters to return home.

Perhaps the most unexpected, and therefore most poignant, “I love you” came from Norm Macdonald. The comedian has shied away from sincerity. After all, this guy wrote fake memoirs.

Which made the ending of his new monologue on “The Late Show With David Letterman” so surprising. After a monologue of just eight minutes on LSD and cell phones, Norm lowered the veil for the first and only time. to speak directly to your hero.

“I know Mr. Letterman is not for sentimentalists, and he’s not for sentimentalists,” Norm says. “But if one thing is true, it’s not sentimental. “

His voice cracks.

“And I say, I really love you. “

Boldface. Vulnerable. Touching. Letterman can simply reply, “Oh my God. “

As Carey says: Better than a slap, isn’t it?

Of course. But just as surprising, in a way.

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