The group chat where you can't say anything

A group chat in WhatsApp where only one person can send something, I knew it existed. I even created one once, but I had never been a victim of it before. Until today. And I have never felt so powerless. Or well, almost never.

I thought: nice, a birthday chat. It clearly stated which canal the celebration was at, at which house number, that swimwear was optional (because it's going to be hot on Sunday) and that Gerben was responsible for both the barbecue and the tunes. We don't know who Gerben is, but he already seemed like a fun guy to us. But when I wanted to share my enthusiasm about the festivities with the almost-birthday person, there was a closed box with the message that only admins can send messages. Like a box from Febo that can't be opened but where your favorite snack is. I find this so un-fair, I can hardly explain it to you and actually, I can't really deal with it well. It brings up feelings I didn't know I had, which made me just exit the app within a minute. Because what are you doing to me with your closed group chat? I find WhatsApp very much coming from two (or three or four or fifty) sides, not from one. The creators of WhatsApp themselves are also very clear about this, it's about exchanging messages, they write. So no one-way traffic. Really, it was like my old school teacher could lecture endlessly hour after hour and I couldn't say anything, even though I really raised my hand and even though he definitely saw that hand. Never do that, that group chat.