I'd thought this article was well circulated, but it seems some that gun bloggers who have been around a long time hadn't seen it yet. On Jewish World Review, Julia Gorin explains why many so-called men are against others having guns.
They accuse US of compensating. The truth is, like most liberal accusations, it is another case of liberal projection.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Unplesant People
I've been working for a little over a year doing phone tech support for a major satellite television provider. It isn't a particularly good job for a career. In fact it sucks. For someone working their way through college, it would be an excellent job. Since I am technically working my way through college, again, I guess I could look at it that way, but at my age, and with trying to start a family, it feels a bit different.
Probably the most difficult part however is dealing with unpleasant people, and customers can often be extremely unpleasant. I generally find sports fans the worst. Somehow their team is more important than everything else, and they can't imagine how anyone couldn't be just as in to their team as they are.
I once had a woman call me screaming to the top of her lungs that she couldn't get "The Game". When I tried to find out which game she became totally incoherent with rage. I didn't even know what sport she was talking about. Since there were at least 40 different games on various channels at the time in various sports, I couldn't help her until I had a little more information. She ended up demanding immediate cancel because I was so incompetent as to not know what "The Game" was.
While Sports fans are the most commonly unpleasant, they aren't by any means the only unpleasant people out there. One man I talked to was angry because he was told his bill would be about $20 per month for the first year. He said he paid it, and suddenly he owed $40, and he paid that, and was absolutely having a fit that he now owed $80. He yelled at me for over 30 minutes, and berated me for incompetence, even though I could see what the problem was from the minute I saw his account.The amount he owed was negative. In other words, he had been paying the credit amount. It took me another 30 minutes to get him calmed down enough to comprehend that the amount he saw on his billing was not how much he owed us, but how much we owed him.
It is interesting how often people get an idea in their head, and are either completely unwilling or unable to get over it sufficiently to actually hear what is going on. A lot of liberals, particularly university professors, like to tout being open minded, but when it comes to tech support (actually anything other than what they want to believe) they're about the most closed minded people out there. They refuse to understand what you're telling them when it comes to what you need to do.
TheWife worked at Taco Bell before I met her. She talked about people seeing you as a glorified vending machine. I'm OK with that. It's the ones that consider you less than a machine. Some people feel that since you are paid to see to their needs, you are somehow less than human. That it is somehow their right to abuse you.
I think that part of this is a relatively recent development in our society. There was a time when people wouldn't consider abusing someone serving them in a business, and if they did, they would quickly become a social outcast. Now however, we've lost all of our manners and self control. There are no consequences for being an unpleasant person. There are no real consequences for losing control. In some subcultures, it is actually seen as not only reasonable, but a desirable personality trait.
I have no idea how to solve the problem. It seems to be a form of barbarism. As I write this, there is a program on that was talking about the fall of Rome. It pointed out that as Rome started to fall, things got really bad. The Barbarians came in and took over. Now however we don't have barbarian hordes outside waiting to take us down, we have barbarians already here ready and working to take us down without even knowing.
I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen, but it should be interesting to see how things shake out.
Probably the most difficult part however is dealing with unpleasant people, and customers can often be extremely unpleasant. I generally find sports fans the worst. Somehow their team is more important than everything else, and they can't imagine how anyone couldn't be just as in to their team as they are.
I once had a woman call me screaming to the top of her lungs that she couldn't get "The Game". When I tried to find out which game she became totally incoherent with rage. I didn't even know what sport she was talking about. Since there were at least 40 different games on various channels at the time in various sports, I couldn't help her until I had a little more information. She ended up demanding immediate cancel because I was so incompetent as to not know what "The Game" was.
While Sports fans are the most commonly unpleasant, they aren't by any means the only unpleasant people out there. One man I talked to was angry because he was told his bill would be about $20 per month for the first year. He said he paid it, and suddenly he owed $40, and he paid that, and was absolutely having a fit that he now owed $80. He yelled at me for over 30 minutes, and berated me for incompetence, even though I could see what the problem was from the minute I saw his account.The amount he owed was negative. In other words, he had been paying the credit amount. It took me another 30 minutes to get him calmed down enough to comprehend that the amount he saw on his billing was not how much he owed us, but how much we owed him.
It is interesting how often people get an idea in their head, and are either completely unwilling or unable to get over it sufficiently to actually hear what is going on. A lot of liberals, particularly university professors, like to tout being open minded, but when it comes to tech support (actually anything other than what they want to believe) they're about the most closed minded people out there. They refuse to understand what you're telling them when it comes to what you need to do.
TheWife worked at Taco Bell before I met her. She talked about people seeing you as a glorified vending machine. I'm OK with that. It's the ones that consider you less than a machine. Some people feel that since you are paid to see to their needs, you are somehow less than human. That it is somehow their right to abuse you.
I think that part of this is a relatively recent development in our society. There was a time when people wouldn't consider abusing someone serving them in a business, and if they did, they would quickly become a social outcast. Now however, we've lost all of our manners and self control. There are no consequences for being an unpleasant person. There are no real consequences for losing control. In some subcultures, it is actually seen as not only reasonable, but a desirable personality trait.
I have no idea how to solve the problem. It seems to be a form of barbarism. As I write this, there is a program on that was talking about the fall of Rome. It pointed out that as Rome started to fall, things got really bad. The Barbarians came in and took over. Now however we don't have barbarian hordes outside waiting to take us down, we have barbarians already here ready and working to take us down without even knowing.
I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen, but it should be interesting to see how things shake out.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving
It is Thanksgiving, and as part of my ever failing goal of actually writing more in this blog, even though no one seems to be reading it (perhaps there's a connection there), It's time to talk about Thanksgiving. As the name implies Thanksgiving is, or was supposed to be about giving thanks, but it has long ceased being so. Most people still try to do some lip service to that by listing a few things they're thankful for, but that is no longer the primary purpose.
In that vein, I would like to say that I'm thankful for my new job. I'm finally away from substitute teaching. I'm working for a place that takes outsourced tech support calls for a satellite television service. I have one day of classroom training left, then will be starting live on the phones with added help for another two weeks. I get a decent benefit package, and a few other perks that make it nice. This means I get to pay off some bills, and finally have a bit of fun too. I can also do some of the things with the scouts that I've been meaning to do. It's amazing how many wonderful things can be directly traced back to being able to actually earn something resembling a living.
I'm also grateful to my parents that we've been able to live with them. It's solved a great many problems for us, and allowed us to get on our feet far better than would otherwise be possible.
The only thing is that I guess I can't exactly call myself "formertech" anymore, except that I'm not going to change it because I'm not a computer tech, and I don't intend on staying a front line phone tech for long. I'm going to work my way up, or find something even better.
What I'd actually like to talk about though is Thanksgiving. It isn't really about overtly giving thanks anymore. It seems to be about gluttony, and watching a stupid athletic event on television or similar. But is that really a bad thing?
First off, let's address the charge of gluttony. A cynic might suggest it's a bad ting, as would someone trying to find sources of "bad" in society, but first and foremost Thanksgiving is a celebration. Humans have nearly always celebrated whatever they are celebrating with some sort of feast. While Thanksgiving isn't really celebrating anything in particular, it is still done with a feast. If approached with the right attitude, that can be a great thing. Enjoy it, and have fun.
Now for the football. I'm not sure why football is played so much on Thanksgiving, but it doesn't really hurt anyone. Sure for those of us who hate the sport, it's annoying, but don't watch. I don't and no one in my family does.
So what is Thanksgiving really about? It's about family, about seeing them, and being together. A shared repast is a traditional way of doing that. Food is generally about socialization, and often love or friendship. Thanksgiving should reflect that. Even if the original idea of giving thanks is going away, it can still be a celebration of being together.
In that vein, I would like to say that I'm thankful for my new job. I'm finally away from substitute teaching. I'm working for a place that takes outsourced tech support calls for a satellite television service. I have one day of classroom training left, then will be starting live on the phones with added help for another two weeks. I get a decent benefit package, and a few other perks that make it nice. This means I get to pay off some bills, and finally have a bit of fun too. I can also do some of the things with the scouts that I've been meaning to do. It's amazing how many wonderful things can be directly traced back to being able to actually earn something resembling a living.
I'm also grateful to my parents that we've been able to live with them. It's solved a great many problems for us, and allowed us to get on our feet far better than would otherwise be possible.
The only thing is that I guess I can't exactly call myself "formertech" anymore, except that I'm not going to change it because I'm not a computer tech, and I don't intend on staying a front line phone tech for long. I'm going to work my way up, or find something even better.
What I'd actually like to talk about though is Thanksgiving. It isn't really about overtly giving thanks anymore. It seems to be about gluttony, and watching a stupid athletic event on television or similar. But is that really a bad thing?
First off, let's address the charge of gluttony. A cynic might suggest it's a bad ting, as would someone trying to find sources of "bad" in society, but first and foremost Thanksgiving is a celebration. Humans have nearly always celebrated whatever they are celebrating with some sort of feast. While Thanksgiving isn't really celebrating anything in particular, it is still done with a feast. If approached with the right attitude, that can be a great thing. Enjoy it, and have fun.
Now for the football. I'm not sure why football is played so much on Thanksgiving, but it doesn't really hurt anyone. Sure for those of us who hate the sport, it's annoying, but don't watch. I don't and no one in my family does.
So what is Thanksgiving really about? It's about family, about seeing them, and being together. A shared repast is a traditional way of doing that. Food is generally about socialization, and often love or friendship. Thanksgiving should reflect that. Even if the original idea of giving thanks is going away, it can still be a celebration of being together.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Federalist Papers: A reading and blogging project
I have begun to read The Federalist otherwise known as The Federalist Papers. For those who've never heard of it, it is a collection of papers written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in support of the then new Constitution. It explains the reasoning behind pretty much every part of the constitution.
The edition I have is a "Signet Classic" published by New American Library, a division of penguin group. I don't know if it's the best version, but since I'm basically without income for the time being, It had to be something cheap.
As I read, I will be posting a summary and my initial thoughts about each of the letters. Hopefully, I will get someone to read it, and maybe learn about our country.
The edition I have is a "Signet Classic" published by New American Library, a division of penguin group. I don't know if it's the best version, but since I'm basically without income for the time being, It had to be something cheap.
As I read, I will be posting a summary and my initial thoughts about each of the letters. Hopefully, I will get someone to read it, and maybe learn about our country.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Joplin, Missouri vs New Orleans, Louisanna
Joplin, Missouri was hit by a severe storm a short time ago. The storm spawned several tornadoes, including at least 1 EF5, which hit Joplin. At least 200 people unaccounted for, with at least 125 confirmed dead, and at least 900 injured. The entire town is basically gone. Yet despite all of this, people are already rebuilding. Everyone is pitching in to help, and some have already started rebuilding. It is an inspiring view of what America should be.
Let's contrast this with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years ago. Everything was Bush's fault. FEMA somehow caused all of the problems, and the government didn''t just come in and fix things. People basically sat around waiting for mommy government to come and kiss it all better or something, and when that couldn't happen, the result was anger and helplessness, not self sufficiency, or personal responsibility.
Let's view some basic differences:
First a nicely illustrative picture of the attitudes in New Orleans.
Now some comments from Joplin:
Now one could argue that it is simply biased reporting, but I've heard nothing about how the government failed Joplin, only New Orleans. I've also heard nothing about FEMA coming in to take care of things in Joplin. What I hear about are people coming together to get things done.
Now a lot would call this racist, but it isn't. It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with ideology. Everywhere a socialistic/progressive viewpoint prevails, helplessness prevails, not only are people unwilling to help each other, they are unwilling to help themselves. They sit and wait for someone else to take care of it for them.
In areas where people have a sense of individuality, not only do they help themselves, they help each other. It is a truism, that if you can't help yourself, you can't help others. As we can see, in areas where people are willing to own their misfortune, things are getting better. In areas where progressivism reigns everyone sits around waiting for someone else to take action. The worst part is that in these areas, if someone does stand up to try to help, no one else stands up with him. He is crucified in the court of public opinion for not helping more.
Let's contrast this with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years ago. Everything was Bush's fault. FEMA somehow caused all of the problems, and the government didn''t just come in and fix things. People basically sat around waiting for mommy government to come and kiss it all better or something, and when that couldn't happen, the result was anger and helplessness, not self sufficiency, or personal responsibility.
Let's view some basic differences:
First a nicely illustrative picture of the attitudes in New Orleans.
Now some comments from Joplin:
Now one could argue that it is simply biased reporting, but I've heard nothing about how the government failed Joplin, only New Orleans. I've also heard nothing about FEMA coming in to take care of things in Joplin. What I hear about are people coming together to get things done.
Now a lot would call this racist, but it isn't. It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with ideology. Everywhere a socialistic/progressive viewpoint prevails, helplessness prevails, not only are people unwilling to help each other, they are unwilling to help themselves. They sit and wait for someone else to take care of it for them.
In areas where people have a sense of individuality, not only do they help themselves, they help each other. It is a truism, that if you can't help yourself, you can't help others. As we can see, in areas where people are willing to own their misfortune, things are getting better. In areas where progressivism reigns everyone sits around waiting for someone else to take action. The worst part is that in these areas, if someone does stand up to try to help, no one else stands up with him. He is crucified in the court of public opinion for not helping more.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Starting Back in College
Well, I've started back in college again. I don't know exactly how I'm going to pay for it all, but I'm in college, I just signed the papers.
I won't go back to take classes from my former employer. I don't care if I'm 90% of the way to a degree there, and could do it in a couple of semesters. I won't go back, because my experience there as an employee was simply too horrid, and a number of people there made it clear that if I did try to come back, they would be out to destroy me.
Now to continue my education, I have to pay around $75.000 to an online college, with a less than stellar reputation (strangely, only very slightly worse than the state school I came from). Few if any of my credits transfer, and I have to take three years of year round online classes to get a degree.
In my opinion it's totally worth it. The cost, the time, and the effort are all worth it. I need a degree, and I hate the university that I gave nearly 20 years of my life to. I've vowed that they will never receive another dollar from me. They've taken too much from me and those I love already. I owe them nothing.
As for my major, I'm majoring in computer science. They offer two (better than my former university), one with an emphasis in programming, another with one in networking. For the time being, I'm going for programming. I'll post about the overall quality of the classes after I actually experience a class.
I'm actually a bit excited. If I can complete my degree, I can get a better job, and more importantly, I can get the skills I need, as my wife and I are trying to go into business for ourselves, as that is the only realistic way to get a job when there simply are no jobs. When measured using equivalent criteria, unemployment is almost double that of the great depression.
We're also talking about my wife going to school and getting her photography degree, and me getting an MBA. This would give us the skills we need to run our business as we get it started, as it is our preference to be self sufficient, rather than reliant on the whims of others.
I won't go back to take classes from my former employer. I don't care if I'm 90% of the way to a degree there, and could do it in a couple of semesters. I won't go back, because my experience there as an employee was simply too horrid, and a number of people there made it clear that if I did try to come back, they would be out to destroy me.
Now to continue my education, I have to pay around $75.000 to an online college, with a less than stellar reputation (strangely, only very slightly worse than the state school I came from). Few if any of my credits transfer, and I have to take three years of year round online classes to get a degree.
In my opinion it's totally worth it. The cost, the time, and the effort are all worth it. I need a degree, and I hate the university that I gave nearly 20 years of my life to. I've vowed that they will never receive another dollar from me. They've taken too much from me and those I love already. I owe them nothing.
As for my major, I'm majoring in computer science. They offer two (better than my former university), one with an emphasis in programming, another with one in networking. For the time being, I'm going for programming. I'll post about the overall quality of the classes after I actually experience a class.
I'm actually a bit excited. If I can complete my degree, I can get a better job, and more importantly, I can get the skills I need, as my wife and I are trying to go into business for ourselves, as that is the only realistic way to get a job when there simply are no jobs. When measured using equivalent criteria, unemployment is almost double that of the great depression.
We're also talking about my wife going to school and getting her photography degree, and me getting an MBA. This would give us the skills we need to run our business as we get it started, as it is our preference to be self sufficient, rather than reliant on the whims of others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)