Losing the Right to complain
June 17th, 2009If you are a Yuppie living in the suburbs and drive an SUV, you lose the Right to complain about the price of gas. That’s right. STFU.
Not saying that SUVs have no purpose. They do. They’re for Blue Collar workers or people who live in Montana.
If you are “too busy” to vote, you lose the Right to complain about the direction this country is headed. Funny, people who claim to be “too busy” to vote always seem to find the time to watch American Idol and Survivor. Go figure.
If you’re an American driving a foreign made car and supported outsourcing and illegal immigration, STFU about the recession. I don’t want to hear it. You caused it. Sure, the avarice of the banks was the last straw, but I saw this one coming from 2005. You simply can’t export more jobs than we create every year and not expect the economy to collapse.
And lastly, if you support illegal immigrants, you lose the Right to complain about the increases in crime and graffiti in your neighborhood and how the schools are all going to pot. No shit. You caused it.
It’s amazing how people go through their lives with complete tunnel vision and don’t see the irony of their complaining. I got plenty more examples, but it’s a beautiful day and I’m going to enjoy it. Plus, there are hot babes downtown.
Later.
Oh man, you’ve only scratched the surface. I have so many of these–
If you homeschool your kids, don’t tell everyone who will listen that public schools are messed up–you have no clue what you’re talking about.
ugh. I can’t do a rant today–I’m already grumpy.
hmm. well I guess I have every right to complain… but pretty sure my Canadian status will earn a ding in that right
w00t! i have, according to this, reserved my right to btich and moan to my heart’s content!
Actually, I’m not sure SUVs serve a purpose at all. They can’t do anything a truck, van, or full-sized car can’t do. Whoever thought up the SUV hit the marketing jackpot on making millions of people waste their money on something they don’t need.
I’m a very friendly driver, and I always let people go in front of me. But I’ve decided I’m not gonna do that if you’re driving an SUV. Feel free to follow suit.
Actually, most of the SUV’s I see here in Montana have California license plates. Most people drive Trucks or cars.
Sadie - That’s a good one. Actually sending Junior to a public school. His last one was excellent. I mean, really, really good. This new one seems to be very, very good as well.
So, depends on the school. South Park had a pretty good episode on homeschooling.
Xmichra - Heh. I’d love to live in Canada. Been several times to Vancouver. I know, that’s like saying you know Mexico when you’ve been to Tijuana, but still….
Everyone I’ve ever met from Canada has been hella cool and I wonder what they’re doing here. Yeah, I know. It’s the jobs.
Lime - Let it all out.
Skeletor - They serve a purpose. It’s just the vast majority of people who have them don’t need them, can’t drive them, and can’t shut up about the gas prices that THEY caused. I just want to tell them “simple supply and demand, stupid.”
Courtney - Yeah, after living in the Midwest and the South, sometimes I think a lot of Californians are just lame. Yes, there are some really cool people here. But a lot of lame ones too.
Just heard a funny SUV joke in the movie “Over the Hedge.” The raccoon was describing the SUV and explaining how it was slowly taking away humans’ ability to walk. Then I think the turtle asked how many humans can this huge thing carry. So the raccoon replied, “usually one.”
Its dark and rainging here. I dont even have a car right now.. it sucks because I would take the girls back out to the YMCA for more swimming.
Hmmm mini van, SUV, not a big difference in my book and if you have more than one kid with this country’s nanny laws about car seats, and jumper seats and everything else you need something pretty big. Although, if someone is the only passenger and is commuting to work, STFU.
A for “foreign” cars, well LOTS of them now are made in Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina, while a lot of “American” cars are made in Mexico.
I loved Vancouver as well and wondered why I choose to live in northern Alberta after visiting in december (for the Tori Amos concert) and it was +13c to our -36c…lol!!
It looks like my right to bitch is safe.
We drive a 2003 Ford F-150 with 22,000 miles on it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Ford took any bailout money. This is our first 4×4 and there have been many mornings that I wouldn’t have made it to work without it.
I’ve got an addition to your list: Yuppies that live in a house larger than 1500 sq ft. I know way too many people that live in 2000-4000 sq ft houses. Heating and cooling those monstrosities requires a LOT of resources!
Skeletor - Amazing how lazy humans have become. And yes, almost always, I just see one person, usually a young (as in under 40) woman driving an SUV.
Tweety - I’d love to swim more. It’s one of those things that’s easy on the knees.
Exmi - True. I think some of the Honda Accords are actually made in California. I’d have to look that up. Saturns I think are still made in Tennessee.
Xmichra - I could live in Vancouver in a heartbeat. That town has so much character. By the way, I saw Tori in Houston.
Tshsmom - The Ford F-150 is a really good truck. I actually met someone whose life was saved by it. Under an extreme accident, the engine actually falls to the ground instead of smashing your legs. Good to know. He could have been killed had it not done that.
And yes, you are correct. Ford never took bailout money.
So here’s what I’d say to keep the “Losing the Right to complain” consistent - Yuppies who live in a house larger than 1500 sq ft lose the Right to complain about their energy bills.
I see them all the time in 2400 sq ft houses with 4000-5000 sq ft lots. I don’t get it.
I vote. I can complain.
I would add people who complain about the U.S president (Bush OR Obama) being a “fascist”. Until you’ve lived under actual fascism for a year or two, STFU.
Sadie - I respectfully disagree with you.
I certainly know what is going on in public schools and I RESENT having to pay for it. I RESENT having idiots ‘teach’ classes that they, themselves, can barely comprehend (and they students probably don’t either). I resent kids graduating from high school that are barely literate, and cannot speak English. I RESENT paying for football stadiums for a few ‘gifted’ athletes to prance around on and ‘impress’ their parents and get great athletic scholarships to major universities. I RESENT that I had to PAY for my education, and got by on very little scholarship money - because I am a math dweeb, not a football player. VERY few academic scholarships actually pay your way and your board and room. But athletic scholarships do. No I am not bitter, I am RESENTFUL. I RESENT having to hire ‘computer science’ graduates who are, for all intents and purpose, ILLITERATE except in their ‘field’. (I no longer work in research, I make more money as a programmer/analyst.)
My neighbor is a ‘bilingual’ teacher (this means that she teaches in Spanish - she doesn’t teach Spanish speaking kids to speak English - does this sound like a way for the Teacher’s Union to expand their membership? Class? Anyone? Anyone?). We were chatting one day and she told me (because I ‘help’ with homeschooling a few seriously talented math savants around my area) that I should become a teacher! BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Oh yeah, sure. I have a post doc in statistics and I am going to go make less money than a basket weaving ‘teacher’ that barely got through the least-common-denominator degree program available (teaching) and holds a ‘certificate’ but can’t comprehend fractions! Sure. That makes economic sense to me! And then I have to sit through endless meetings, listening to psycho babble about why kids need to be ’self actualized’. Public Schools are, largely, warehouses where people stuff their kids and expect miracles to occur. Occasionally a miracle does occur. But that miracle kid would probably have done well anywhere.
No, they do NOT need more gold stars. They need to understand that ‘good things’ come ONLY with accomplishment. (Oh, Johnny, you didn’t do your homework? Oh, that’s OK, but here’s a gold star for your HONESTY!)
So. There are good public schools. My husband went one. I went to one (Montgomery County, Maryland) that had an onors program for gifted math students. But that is not the norm. Here in Texas (even near major universities) we have mostly LCD schools I spoke of earlier.
People who have ‘gifted’ (and by that I mean GIFTED, not ‘every child is a GIFTED child’) children either impoverish themselves by moving to a neighborhood with a highly competitive school system (read the parents GIVE A D$%M) or they pull their kids out of public school and put them in private schools, hire tutors or just home school themselves. There is a girl in my neighborhood that shows great promise… I tutor her for free because I like her and I like her parents AND it is fun for me. She is an exceptional student, and frankly, I got no time for the also-rans, however ‘deserving’.
Well, that’s my rant.
I think that the biggest threat we have in this country is changing from a meritocracy to a mediocrity. The Teachers Unions have lead the vanguard in this death march and Public Schools have fallen in line with it. Why? Because, ZS as you well know, most people are ‘below average’. And average is pretty awful.
Wallflower stands at the wall waiting for the rifle shots.
Wow. I should actually PROOF read what I write. What a lot of bad grammar I foisted on your audience, ZS. (But at least I can proof read, if, in fact, I don’t sometimes.)
But as Oscar Wilde once said “I’d have made my note shorter, if I’d had more time…”
Great post, by the way. Love the rants! I expect I’d agree quite well with most of your opinions.
Wallflower - Public schools in this country are a reflection of their neighborhoods. I’ve found the secret to getting a good education in a public school - finding the right neighborhood.
The ones with gang bangers and pregnant teens are generally the ones to avoid. If you see a bunch of young males sitting around doing nothing, odds are, the public schools nearby are going to suck.
The public school I’m sending Junior to is excellent. I got a decent education out of my public schools. Not good, just decent. He’ll be getting a pretty good one.
Now 2 other points you bring up:
1) Athletics over education. Good point. So, an athlete can dig a ditch faster than someone who’s physically average. Wow. I’m sooo impressed.
The Romans before they fell used to spend their spare time watching athletes do amazing things. Sound familiar?
Sure, I watch football. I’m guilty as well, so even making fun of them I’m being a hypocrite. But I’m ok with that.
I was a Gifted student. Bored out of my mind in HS so I barely passed. The school I’m sending Junior to actually has programs for Gifted students so Junior won’t be bored out of his mind.
2) People who go into education are often the dumbest people on the planet. Yeah. Unfortunately, saw this first hand. The two stupid majors in college - athletics, and education. I love how people had education degrees and couldn’t spell. Amazing.
Now, not every educator is dumb, but let’s be real - compared to other majors, education is pretty dumb. I know that will ruffle a few feathers but I’m reporting what I saw in my 6 years in college (2 1/2 years at a JC, 1 1/2 years at a 4-year-school where I got my Bachelor’s in History, then 2 years at Graduate School for Computer Science).
Now, you also bring up another point - it has become mediocrity over a meritocracy. I don’t think this is limited to schools, but the whole country has become this way. It’s creeping Socialism, where everybody is somebody (and in turn, nobody is anybody).
I hate Socialism with a passion for this very reason. Speaking of which, a new post is due.
No, ZS and tshmom, Ford did not take any bailout money. And the F150 is built in Dearborn, Michigan.
Re: the argument that some Hondas and Toyotas are built in the South - big friggin’ deal. All engineering was done in Japan. When you buy that Japanese car you’ve employed 100 people. When you buy a Ford or GM or Chrysler, you’ve employed THOUSANDS. Also, all money from that Japanese car goes back to Japan. Money to the Detroit stay in this country and keeps Americans employed to say nothing of being put into Research and Development.
As to letting in other drivers? If I’m going to let somebody in, they’ll be in a Ford, GM and Chrysler. Anybody in a foreign car will find it extremely difficult to get in front of me, if not downright impossible.
Kathleen - Good points. I’ll relay them to the people who buy Honda Accords (which are only built in California, but engineered and designed in Japan).
I am Ravenclaw. If I do not have those attributes, I seek them and hope to embody them.
Slytherin. not much there I am interested in. Ambition,cunning etc. Nope not for me.