See, I never saw “friendzoning” to be the potential outcome of some questionable grand scheme to get into a girl’s pants via friendship and comfort. More simply, it wasn’t just borne out of not being able to handle the thought of rejection (a sentiment which exposes a kind of perceived cowardly selfishness), but rather lacking the charisma to get with someone in a conventional way. “I can’t win this girl over with my confidence and personality, so maybe if I try to be nice, and gallant, and supportive, things might go my way?”.

Naturally, this kind of naiveté was something I have experienced in myself and others as a teenager, and subsequently grown out of. Of course, there are those that never do, but can you not pity them? At the very least, the vitriolic contempt so abundant for the so-called “nice guys” might have been misdirected. There are far fewer Machiavellian manipulators than there are guys who simply don’t have a clue or the gumption.