Monday, August 22, 2005
Puzzled by the mountains, Tricked by the sea...
Man, I have no idea what got into the water around here... but there are a lot of people saying a lot of ridiculous things. This is more than just "eating crow," which I have to do a lot of. This is unadulterated ignorance.
There is something beautiful about the moment that someone says something so profoundly stupid that you turn to whoever else heard it and share that look; the look that says "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" This sort of thing is even better when the person who said it wholeheartedly believes it. Yes, unfettered disregard for basic human intelligence can be a beautiful thing.
Let me warm up with an example from Hollywood. Remember the movie "A Christmas Story?" You know, Red Ryder BB Gun and all that? Well, one of the child actors in the movie (I won't say who because I do not 100% remember) was on a VH-1 special the other day about child stars gone bad. It seems that this particular actor turned to porn in his 20's. He was greasy, overweight, and... well, less than grounded in reality. Other than doing porn, he said this awesome quote to give us proof, "I did what no other actor has ever done before... I was a mainstream actor that crossed over to adult movies..."
What? Okay, child actor X is a star for a brief moment at 10... cut to that same lard-o at 25, and he is no longer "mainstream." You gotta work to be mainstream. And being an extra "elf" in the movie Elf does not count as "mainstream actor" work.
So do you get the sort of ignorance I am talking about? That one was a little lighthearted... well here in Omaha we have decided to challenge for the world title in brain failure. Two things were said in the local news lately that just floor me. What is more boggling to me is why the news printed/played these quotes and didn't take the sources to task.
The first revolves around the plans for Omaha to annex a near-by suburb. The people of Elkhorn are desperately fighting the annexation. They have launched a campaign against the inevitable by yelling and waving signs... its been a lot of fun. They even tried to do a little forced annexation themselves to bring their population above mark where Omaha cannot force annexation. That failed (because it was ill conceived to start with), and the courts are siding with Omaha. Here's the punchline... of all of the angry hillbillies that they have paraded about during this argument, one old lady stood out especially ignorant.... she said that the annexation of Elkhorn by Omaha was like "Hitler invading Poland."
What? So Omaha expanding it's tax base and watering down/improving (debatable still) your municipal services is like a madman marching infantry and driving tanks into a neighboring country, only to murder thousands and send thousands more off to concentrations camps. These concentration camps, by the way, rank in the top 3 atrocities ever performed on this Earth. So annexing Omaha is like that, huh?
The other fantastic quote was just this weekend. As you know, this Cindy Sheehan has received a ton of press world wide. Her vigil in the President's property is seen as foolish, heroic, and Moby Dick-esque. Politics of her point aside, there is almost always room for extremists to come out in flocks and say stupid things. Here in Omaha they had a vigil of solidarity. The people who turned out looked like the typical Omaha vigil crew... ex-hippies, wanna-be hippies, and college kids. If there was a vigil for marijuana legalization, it would be the same crew.
Anyway, one lady was interviewed that took the cake. She was a bit bedraggled, and had something going on with her eyes (they sort of darted about excitedly). She spoke with an uncalled for urgency as she proclaimed to the microphone, "What (Cindy Sheehan) is doing is important. She is like Rosa Parks. She is going to start a movement in this country the likes of which we have never seen."
If ever you needed proof that white, middle-America has failed to understand the plight of African-Americans, here it is. Sheehan is like Rosa Parks? Have they made her and people like her a second class citizen? Is she being denied basic human rights? Is she hated because she was born with a particular skin color? Is she being denied a fair chance at success in life? Is she made to feel like she belongs to a different species? Do people look at her and immediately think 'crime,' 'drugs,' 'sexual promiscuity'? I could go on, but I will stop.
No wonder surveys show that so many Americans believe in ghost, UFOs, and other supernatural nonsense. Not to mention the popularity of Nascar, poker, and competitive eating.
Horns up.
There is something beautiful about the moment that someone says something so profoundly stupid that you turn to whoever else heard it and share that look; the look that says "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" This sort of thing is even better when the person who said it wholeheartedly believes it. Yes, unfettered disregard for basic human intelligence can be a beautiful thing.
Let me warm up with an example from Hollywood. Remember the movie "A Christmas Story?" You know, Red Ryder BB Gun and all that? Well, one of the child actors in the movie (I won't say who because I do not 100% remember) was on a VH-1 special the other day about child stars gone bad. It seems that this particular actor turned to porn in his 20's. He was greasy, overweight, and... well, less than grounded in reality. Other than doing porn, he said this awesome quote to give us proof, "I did what no other actor has ever done before... I was a mainstream actor that crossed over to adult movies..."
What? Okay, child actor X is a star for a brief moment at 10... cut to that same lard-o at 25, and he is no longer "mainstream." You gotta work to be mainstream. And being an extra "elf" in the movie Elf does not count as "mainstream actor" work.
So do you get the sort of ignorance I am talking about? That one was a little lighthearted... well here in Omaha we have decided to challenge for the world title in brain failure. Two things were said in the local news lately that just floor me. What is more boggling to me is why the news printed/played these quotes and didn't take the sources to task.
The first revolves around the plans for Omaha to annex a near-by suburb. The people of Elkhorn are desperately fighting the annexation. They have launched a campaign against the inevitable by yelling and waving signs... its been a lot of fun. They even tried to do a little forced annexation themselves to bring their population above mark where Omaha cannot force annexation. That failed (because it was ill conceived to start with), and the courts are siding with Omaha. Here's the punchline... of all of the angry hillbillies that they have paraded about during this argument, one old lady stood out especially ignorant.... she said that the annexation of Elkhorn by Omaha was like "Hitler invading Poland."
What? So Omaha expanding it's tax base and watering down/improving (debatable still) your municipal services is like a madman marching infantry and driving tanks into a neighboring country, only to murder thousands and send thousands more off to concentrations camps. These concentration camps, by the way, rank in the top 3 atrocities ever performed on this Earth. So annexing Omaha is like that, huh?
The other fantastic quote was just this weekend. As you know, this Cindy Sheehan has received a ton of press world wide. Her vigil in the President's property is seen as foolish, heroic, and Moby Dick-esque. Politics of her point aside, there is almost always room for extremists to come out in flocks and say stupid things. Here in Omaha they had a vigil of solidarity. The people who turned out looked like the typical Omaha vigil crew... ex-hippies, wanna-be hippies, and college kids. If there was a vigil for marijuana legalization, it would be the same crew.
Anyway, one lady was interviewed that took the cake. She was a bit bedraggled, and had something going on with her eyes (they sort of darted about excitedly). She spoke with an uncalled for urgency as she proclaimed to the microphone, "What (Cindy Sheehan) is doing is important. She is like Rosa Parks. She is going to start a movement in this country the likes of which we have never seen."
If ever you needed proof that white, middle-America has failed to understand the plight of African-Americans, here it is. Sheehan is like Rosa Parks? Have they made her and people like her a second class citizen? Is she being denied basic human rights? Is she hated because she was born with a particular skin color? Is she being denied a fair chance at success in life? Is she made to feel like she belongs to a different species? Do people look at her and immediately think 'crime,' 'drugs,' 'sexual promiscuity'? I could go on, but I will stop.
No wonder surveys show that so many Americans believe in ghost, UFOs, and other supernatural nonsense. Not to mention the popularity of Nascar, poker, and competitive eating.
Horns up.
Comments:
Another lady from millard on the news last night said " I'll resort to homeschooling before my kid goes to omaha public schools" Like there's something special about millard schools teachers that other schools don't get. All the teachers come from the same places and really don't care about your kids anyway. This lady as a home schooler though, you guessed it, mullet, few teeth and the tell-tell sign-arm in a sling. When did millard become carterlake anyway.
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