“RANT RANT RANT!!!” – Duckman
So I guess I’m supposed to contribute onto this website… what the heck should I rant about…
I suppose I’m supposed to give you a bio… you can call me JG, JGMoney, I’m a 24 year old Graduate Student in Optical Engineering. As I wrote that last sentence, I reminded myself to thank Microsoft for underlining long sentences in Word and then is gracious enough NOT to give any suggestions to fix the “error”, since everyone knows that just because programmers aren’t quite able to master the English language therefore no one else can?! And another thing, why does this fucking program underline multiple exclamation points as an error? Don’t the good people at Microsoft understand the nature of emphasis? Wait a minute… who am I complaining to? You (the reader) haven’t done anything wrong. Well, that was supposed to be a bio… but I sort of went off on a tangent there… well, as for tangents, the following diatribes will be full of them. Anyways, I grew up in the good city of Winnipeg and am now currently residing in Edmonton.
Them’s fightin’ words!
It has become apparent to me that no one has any dignity any more. About 2 months ago I went to my usual watering hole to have a few beers, sing some karaoke, and have a few laughs with my friends. Now, the pub is usually (i.e.. always) a quiet place, you know, people having a few beers, a few laughs and such, but on that Friday all hell broke loose. Why? Well, finger-pointing aside, some people should just relax a little. Aside from that, I don’t mean to bash any of those involved; I mean to slag the mentality of those involved. I’m referring to the sort of mentality that leads to fisticuffs. The sort of he-said-she-said-that-you-were-gonna-do-what-he-said bullshit that invokes the “honour” principle in which “you insulted me, I’m gonna kick your ass”. It is all about honour isn’t it? One truly wonders if it is honour or ignorance… wouldn’t it be more honourable to let the insult slide? Is it really worth a bruised face? Is it really worth broken bones? Or even death?
Now from a civilized perspective… those of us who pride ourselves on being civilized adults who believe that discussing something like a rational human being is the appropriate way to behave. Here’s where some of you reading this will justify your ignorance by saying “but there’s some situations where words just won’t do it… you have to give into your raw emotion”. Completely inappropriate behavior… completely. Now what is it hurting, two guys bringing it down to fisticuffs? They’re only hurting themselves. The point is that it’s a slippery slope… fighting leads to dueling with pistols… where does it end?
I have no respect for such behavior, and here’s why: as a hard working, law-abiding citizen, and an aspiring scientist no less, I (like everyone should) work hard to improve the society we live in and make this world a better place for everyone just by setting a good example… and every time I see behavior like that, every time someone behaves like that, it destroys a small part of the civilization that I, and everyone works so hard to build. And that goes for any inappropriate behavior. But hey, it’s not my place to say is it? Well then those of you who want to fight, go ahead, I’ll just stare on in disgust. That kind of behavior is just more evidence for me that Darwin’s “natural selection” no longer works in humans… the ignorant are still breeding (thank you social programs).
Fussing over cussing, but no stroking out smoking?
Okay, this is going to be a short one, but… it occurred to me while watching the video for Limp Bizkit’s remake of “Faith” that (and no, I’m not bashing Limp Bizkit – even though in my opinion the band is a big rip-off of Rage Against the Machine, except for the fact that Fred Durst is an idiot) smoking is okay but swearing is not. There was a scene in the video where one of the band members gave the middle finger to the camera, whilst smoking a cigarette. So wait a minute here, swearing is wrong and evil, but smoking – something that is detrimental to people’s health – is seen as being okay. Shouldn’t censorship apply to all things that are deemed bad (not that I’m condoning censorship), which brings me to my next rant (which will be coming soon):
Good or Evil – or is it just Govil? The oh so human need to compartmentalize every subject into a case of black or white, good or evil. (working title)
Footnote Dec 19, 2000:
Here’s an interesting footnote, the girlfriend just went to pick up a carton of smokes, and remembered upon opening seeing the package that the cigarette companies are required to add… let’s call them “interesting pictures”. So, wait a minute. It’s okay to display the picture of a diseased organ removed from a dead human being, but swearing is still wrong.