Merry Christmas!

Its Christmas time again.  A time for good tidings, gift giving, shared happiness, and all around good vibrations from everyone and everywhere.  And yet there are people who still manage to sully all of that with their negativity.  They manage to take one of the most remarkable times of the year, where everyone is genuinely nice to everyone else and people can’t help but be all smiles and helpful and courteous, and shit all over it.   And to top it off our generation is sly and coy about their ulterior motive.  The grinches and the Scrooges have cleverly infiltrated our wonderful holiday and changed it ever so slightly.  Through the fake mask of equality, tolerance, and political correctness they have managed to add a little pin needle of negativity to everyone else’s joy and happiness.   It’s very subtle and very effective.  And they manged to do it with just two simple words.  Two words that when uttered suck the life out of everything you actually mean and want to say.   Two words that are meant to convey the spirit of the season but in actuality illuminate that you are different from I and sully the good tidings that we may be trying to spread.  Two words that are forced on all of us; at work, in our schools, and in public that remind us that some people out there just don’t care for those of us who are swept up by the good nature of the season and wish to spread to all around us.  The two words I speak of are “Happy Holidays” and they suck the joy out of Christmas.

“Happy Holidays” is a saying which is being adopted by people more and more these days.  And when Merry Christmas dominated the yule time greetings happy holidays was still used by some to convey their Christmas spirit.  But today Happy Holidays is being forced upon us as the preferred yule time greeting in order to not “offend” non-Christians or those who don’t celebrate Christmas.  Are you kidding me!?  The one time out of the year where people go out of their way to be nice to others and people get offended because you are wishing them well on account of a holiday they don’t celebrate.  Get over it Scrooge!  It is ridiculous that when I’m at work I can’t say Merry Christmas to someone because they may get all butt hurt or complain to the company or outright stop shopping somewhere on account of me being nice.  Let me tell you something, these people are looking for reasons to be angry at everyone else and if it isn’t me saying Merry Christmas it will sure as shit be something else.  The “bah humbug”-ers out there are taking our holiday hostage.

So what’s so wrong with “Happy Holidays?”  Why do I prefer “Merry Christmas” and why am I getting all worked up about this?  Because I don’t know if you can but I CAN see the effect these two words are having on people and the holiday.  I don’t know how many times I’ve seen or heard someone say “Happy Holidays” and you can just see in their eyes that what they really wanted to say was “Merry Christmas.”  Or someone wished them Happy Holidays and they get all worked up and say “Why not Merry Christmas,” which in turn sometimes brews up an unnecessary and ugly debate.  And for what?  To stop a discriminate form of well wishing?  To put a damper of good natureness (not a real word but who gives a shit, I do it a lot)?  To be more tolerant and politically correct of nation?  That’s all bullshit.

I understand we are a nation of many faiths and many customs but most people, regardless of what they believe or practice, get swept up by it all this time of year and are as well-mannered and courteous as the rest of us.  Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and all other faiths and practices all enjoy this time out of the year where everyone is nice to each other regardless of whether they say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.  But forcing us to say “Happy holidays” sucks the joy right out of it.  It’s no longer our choice to wish one well or how we do it.  No instead we MUST say this and only this so as to not offend.  And the only people who are actually offended by “Merry Christmas” are those who don’t say it or “Happy Holidays” for that matter.  The Scrooges are taking over our holiday.  Think about it, if you were so against “Merry Christmas” that you force everyone around you to say “Happy Holidays” instead, it doesn’t take long for anyone to realize that when you say Happy Holidays what you mean is Merry Christmas.

So what have you accomplished?  Putting us out of our way just that much is what and that’s their real goal.  It’s not equality or tolerance or even bullshit political correctness, it’s that you are so miserable even when its the hardest time of the year to be miserable that you gotta go make everyone around you miserable.  But that’s what our generation does.  It takes the misery of the few and puts it on everyone else in the name of being politically correct.  No we can’t enjoy this time of year by being nice and courteous to everyone, instead we got to stop and walk around on egg shells on the off-chance we bump into the very few people who are so close minded, angry, miserable and self-centered that they get offended when others wish them well.  They’ve hijacked our holiday in the name of equality just so they don’t have to put up with it.  In the end they win, they get what they wanted for Christmas and they show all of us just one more obvious reason as to why OUR GENERATION SUCKS.

Common Courtesy…

Have you ever been driving down the road at night and someone keeps flashing their brights at you over and over like a crazy person?  Or have you ever seen anyone driving without their headlights on and wondered how can I inform this person that they are doing that?  Better yet, have you ever seen someone or met someone and they invite you to something or somewhere or end a conversation with “…yeah man, drop by whenever”?  Then when you show up they look at you confusingly and ask “What are you doing here?”  And my favorite, have you ever been or met someone who was just awful at something but everyone around them told them they were great?  If you’ve been a part of or witnessed any of these everyday events then you my friend have had front row seats to yet another compelling reason as to why OUR GENERATION SUCKS.

Common courtesy is a double edge sword that is crippling us as a society while at the same time being a quality that everyone lacks to an extreme.  To top it off much of actual courteous behavior is over looked, misunderstood, or other people are just too damn stupid and/or uniformed to know whats going on.  I don’t know how many times I have watched and myself participated in flashing bright lights at drivers with their headlights off, and these drivers sit there completely oblivious as to why everyone keeps flashing them.  I’ve even seen some idiots get mad at the other drivers and go so far as to flip them off, yell out their window, and funniest of all flash their lights at everyone while in the end returning to having no headlights on.    When did they stop telling drivers what that meant.  Granted I don’t really remember being taught that but I and everyone I know still seems to know that is what you’re supposed to do.  And for those of you reading and are just now realizing “…oh, that’s what they’re doing,” shame on you.

Now if you’re wondering “is he really bitching about being nice,” you bet your ass I am.  Being nice isn’t all its cracked up to be and many instances being nice causes far more harm then good.  Now I wish I could find the video clip but my retelling will just have to suffice.  Four years ago I had this bar tending job and the waitresses used to watch American Idol when it was slow at night.  So one night I pay attention to this one poor, poor girl auditioning.  SHES AWFUL!  Just dreadful, a true torture to listen to.  And of course all you Idol fans out there love the auditioning process because you love to watch the canning process of all these hopefuls who quite simply can’t sing.  What set this poor girl apart from the rest?  She broke down crying, like they all do when they are told they are awful, but this one was devastated.  She kept asking to try again and this and that, and then through her sobs comes a bit of anger and denial.  Amidst her tears she informs everyone that all her life everyone, everywhere, all the time, tells her that she is an awesome singer with the voice of an angel.  Now if you had heard this girl sing you would know that no one in their right mind would EVER tell this girl she could sing …….unless they were being nice.

Where did being nice get this girl?  Humiliated on national TV, broken down, defeated, and most importantly learning the ugly truth that shes been lied to her whole life.  HER WHOLE LIFE!   That has to be devastating to learn that everyone you’ve ever known would rather lie to you then tell you the truth, and about something so silly as singing.  But this poor girl’s sob story isn’t the real tragedy.  The real tragedy is that this goes on everyday everywhere.  Constantly people are giving others false hope, leading them down dead end roads, and sending them off on fruitless journeys in a half-assed misguided attempt to be nice.  When in the long run the nice thing to do would be to say, “No, you can’t sing,” or “No, your cooking is awful.  Don’t try to be a chef,” or “Yes, it would be completely retarded for you to (enter lame brain idea here).”

When did lying become nice and the truth become so mean.  Honestly, who was the asshole who turned honesty into a bad trait or an asshole thing to do.  I have never in my life thought “It would be really nice if someone would lie to me about something I’m serious about.”  Yeah, at times the truth may hurt, but it will also set you free.  In the long run people are always more grateful that you told them something honest even if it was hard for them to hear or you, the informing party, come off as a total asshole.

Finally the drop by, a system NO ONE honors.  All the time these days people say “Hey, we should do this or that” or “meet up soon,” or the ever classic “drop by anytime.”  But have you ever tried following any of those invites up.  If you ever have then you are aware of the ever growing epidemic which is that no one honors the open ended invite.  Try next time.  Someone will extend you an open ended invitation and when you redeem it they look at you like you’re the one who is crazy for just dropping by.  You told me to asshole!  If you don’t want people dropping in on you unexpectedly,  showing up to something you don’t want to see them at, or they are someone you honestly don’t want to see other than through the random bump into, then stop inviting them to shit.

These three very small but very commonly occurring events are just a few of the many many ways that what is known as “common courtesy” is all but courteous.   Well, not so much the car lights thing, that’s just you being retarded.  But still!  Retarded people are lashing out at those who are being courteous and its because our idea of what is and isn’t courteous is all ass backwards.  Its time to grow up people and get some sense.  Start thinking of the people you are interacting with and less on how you think those people are viewing you.  Because quite honestly, after your “courteous” song and dance and you walk away with a false sense of superiority because you THINK people think you are a nice and courteous person, what actually happens is they realize you were full of shit and then their lasting impression of you will take hold.  And they, the temporarily duped, feel all the more retarded and are led to one inescapable truth…. OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

Free Speech vs. Intolerance

“I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Very wise words from a man now long dead and though its meaning still rings true today, it’s spirit is loooong dead.  I remember these words from grade school.  It was the fist thing that made me fall in love with democracy, history, and our great country.  But as the years have passed, I have held those words close to my heart where as the rest of the country much rather soon forget them.  Because where I see liberty others see restraint; where I see unity others see division; where I see the best part of America, others condemn it as its only drawback.  Because the biggest problem in America isn’t global warming, or over population, or even the economy; its the people.

This made the front page of the Times!

Now the First Amendment protects this man’s right to say and burn whatever he likes in protest so long as its peaceable, but is hatred peaceable.  He has no cause, no greater political agenda, no movement for which he belongs to other than the church; all he has is his message, which is one of hate.  And its blind hatred.  He knows nothing of the people he hates except that a small fraction of them are trying to terrorize and destroy our great country.

Now for most of you out there, that’s enough.  But if that’s so you should hate a lot more than just Muslims.  For one you should hate Christians because guess what, Hitler was a Christian and he tried killing all sorts of people.  Did the world or even individual countries rally behind hating all Christians for the actions of this one?  NO.  Why?  Because previous generations were a bit more level headed, not much but a bit.  But today this one religion(Islam) has taken a ton of flack for the actions of a small fraction of them.  So much so that they can’t even build houses of worship without every asshole coming out of the wood work to protest it.  These people are Americans too and they are entitled to do, pray, and be anywhere they like in America as much as anyone else.

Grade A douche bag!

As I mentioned earlier, despite all the negative things I have to say about this man and his message he has every right to say it.  Just as every other American has as well.  But should this hatred be tolerated?  To its fullest.  Should we all be burning Korans?  No fucking way.  Hate who you want, feel what you want, do what you want, but show some common sense and restraint.  If you want to burn Korans in the privacy of your home go for it!  But to make an organized event to do only that just for the sake of hate, I’m sorry but your First Amendment rights are about to be overstepped.  Because there is nothing peaceable about hate.  There is nothing good about restricting the rights of a few, or persecuting a small or large group of individuals, or sending a message to the world that even though we think we’re better than you we’re gonna drop down and sink to a level lower than you.  All this man(any all those who act exactly like him regardless of who they are hating) is out to accomplish is to make us worse than we are.  To take a step backward rather than forward.  To show our enemies and anyone who wished to harm us that we are lower than them and deserve any ill that comes our way.

The sad thing is this man isn’t the problem, we the people are.  We give these men power, we spread their messages, we keep hate alive.  And though I thoroughly disagree with this man and all like him, I would do anything to protect their right to say it.  But I’m in the minority because even though I value liberty, those who listen and follow these men don’t.  Everything about their message says “I disagree with you, so you gots to go!” And the fires of hate burn brightly in America because of this man and many like him, because as bad as they are the people listen and follow them.  Unfortunately in today’s world the worst part of America is Americans, because each and every day they give us shining new reasons as to why OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

This was added 9/13/10

Thankfully due to everyone’s protest, from the Muslim community to the President himself, this hate monger did not go through with his bonfire.  But it does not detract from the fact that he and everyone like him who goes out there daily spewing hate is a problem in this country because we the people still give them power.  I’m sure there were hundreds of people on Saturday who were just madder than a hornets nest that he didn’t burn Korans.  OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

The Sun Shines Everyday!

Before I start, first I am again sorry I always lag on updates but those who are regulars know this so you’re used to it. Second,  this is a looooong post.  It’s something I’m passionate about and I feel it can’t be stated enough.  Sorry for going on and on but this is one of the first ideas I ever had for writing on this blog and I went through far more effort than I do on any of my other posts.  I hope you all find it entertaining or at the very least informative.

The date is June 22, 2010.  The sun is shining, the air is clean, people are safely swimming in the gulf of Mexico and in the distance is a skeleton of the now obsolete oil derrick that years ago had pumped its last barrel and left the rest of the once profitable natural resource where it belongs, underground.  But alas this is not the case.  Instead, the Gulf is slowly filling up with oil, the coastline over the next couple of years will be destroyed, local ocean and wild life will take a huge hit which may never recover,  the price of oil will rise, and despite this HUGE ecological disaster BP will still probably make a profit.  Why do the two scenarios differ so much?  Why can’t we have the first one over the second?  Why do we allow this to continue to occur?  The answer is only so obvious, BECAUSE OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

Each year our dependence on fossil fuels grows and as consumers we are forced to watch at the pumps as the cost for this dwindling resource goes up, powerless to change or stop it.  And now in light of this recent ecological disaster we must idly sit by and watch as not only do costs go up but the price becomes even bigger than a simple dent in our wallets.  Wildlife and the earth itself pays the price for our dependence on this 20th century energy source.  Each year we must monitor our carbon emissions,  watch as the numbers become greater and greater and we all scurry to find just little ways to curb the every growing percentage of our carbon emissions.  And all our efforts are in vain because for every little way we dial back the percentage, others dial it up in an effort to make money on our conservation.  If only there was some easy, clean, efficient, and unending supply of energy.

But wait, there is!  The sun dumb ass!  The last time I checked the sun shines everyday.  That’s right solar power is the best and cleanest natural resource that could not only sustain our ever-growing energy needs, but could provide us with more power than we would ever need and revolutionize the world we live in.  Gasoline in 30 years could easily be a thing of the past.  The combustible engine could become obsolete, cars that run on gasoline would become novelty items or purely luxury items enjoyed by those who are nostalgic for the good ol’ days when we payed for overpriced gasoline rather than for cheap, clean and affordable energy.  We could produce so much energy we’d be allowed to waste it and wouldn’t be concerned with turning off the lights when you leave a room, you could leave your computer on all day without worry, and summers would be a lot cooler when it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to run your AC.

Since the mid 1950′s people have slowly been developing and finding uses for solar energy.  The first computer was designed only a decade earlier and look how far that has come today.  In the past 20 years computer technology has taken HUGE strides going from a home computer being a luxury item, to becoming an everyday necessity.  Computers in 50 years  have gone from over glorified calculators that occupied a building (correction the building was the computer), to fitting in the palm of your hand and doing a million more functions than the building ever could.  Where as in 1980′s they were putting little solar cells on calculators and watches to power them and today they make the same products with the same solar cells that produce only 1-2% more power than their earlier counterparts.  Imagine if the same effort in improving computers over the last half a century had gone equally into solar power.  Today we’d be able to make a solar cell that could power a house and the one next to it (a bit of an exaggeration but solar cells would be at least twice as efficient as they are today).

So why haven’t we done this yet?  Why do waste our time pumping sludge out of the earth?  Because apparently it isn’t cost effective yet, which in my mind is a crock of shit.  Take for example the oil rig that BP built, then blew up, and was  dumping thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf of Mexico causing huge lasting ecological effects and will cost billions of dollars to reverse.  That rig cost just over a half a billion dollars to build and today the cost of that rig grows hourly.  Now take North America’s largest solar-electric plant completed in 2007 located at Nellis Air Force Base in the desert of southern Nevada.  That plant cost only 100 million to construct and if anything were to go wrong, say it blew up like BP’s oil rig, you know what lasting damage and cost it would create?  NOTHING!  We’d be down one solar-electric plant.  No dead seagulls or seals, no endangered animals threatened, no satellite picture showing us just how bad it all really looks from space.  And that isn’t the only non-cost effective technology employed for generating power we use today.  Nuclear power plants cost up to 7 billion dollars just to construct and only provide 20% of North America’s power needs whereas for that kind of money we could build 70 solar plants the size of the one in Nevada and though they may not provide as much power, again if anything goes wrong you’re down one solar-electric plant.  Whereas Nuclear plants have FAR GREATER negative impacts regardless if something goes wrong or not due to nuclear waste which the plant will generate daily.

So how much solar power would it take to sustain us you ask?  The answer may shock you.  If we were to cover all the necessary space on earth with solar plants to meet the world’s energy needs, we would have to occupy .9 of a percent of the earth’s land mass.  That’s right, less than one percent of the earth is needed to power the entire earth with solar power.  Not only that, these plants could all be placed on parts of the earth where there are no people.

Can't really see it here but if you click on the map you'll see the little orange squares are where and how large solar plants would need to be all adding up to less than one percent of earths land surface

No more eye soars, no more loud humming power plants, and most importantly no more worrying about the negative impact of our power needs.  To improve the situation we don’t even need to put these plants in deserted parts of the world.  Imagine no rolling blackouts or transformers overloading leaving you without power for hours or even days.  Surprisingly we actually have the best place to build a solar plant, right over our heads.  Cities could be the power plants; homes, businesses, buildings, even parking structures all could have solar cells on top of them and last I checked, USA’s cities alone cover more than 1% of the earths total landmass.  And what would be the cost?  Probably no more than the total cost of the Iraq war (That’s still going on right?  It didn’t end over night and someone just forgot to tell me?).

So in 30 years all the troubles, road bumps, headaches, and eye soars of today’s “modern” power generating techniques could all be a distant memory.  Hell today we could have already had that memory if we had devoted any significant time or energy to working off of fossil fuels in the past.  But instead people resort to being the easily led sheep that they are.  Even though they can see a good idea in front of them they’re too stupid to do anything about it.  People are constantly fooled by the magician that has you staring at his right hand while the trick unfolds in his left.  That’s why today we have a car that barely gets 30 mpg but goes 0-60 in 3 seconds.  Because despite all the technological strides we have made and can make, we choose to stay living in the past.  People choose to live in the 20th century world with its 20th century solutions to 20th century problems.  Our nostalgia keeps us as a society stuck in the past day in and day out and illustrates clearly why OUR GENERATION SUCKS.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

For today’s post we have a little bit from Reading and Runnigwithninjas writer and friend of the site Rob Whang.

Regardless of your views on creationism and the existence of macroevolution’s occurrence, you have to admit that humans have evolved drastically ever since the first humans began populating the Earth 200,000 years ago (or 10,000 if you’re one of those “Young Earth” creationists).  No longer are we a nomadic society of hunter-gatherers that strive for survival, today we stand as an enlightened people driven more by personal success and gains than merely staying alive day to day.  And naturally, as mankind has evolved throughout the course of time, so have our paradigms.  However, in some ways our gradual changes have not all been for the better.

We USED to be so cool.

The ways that our perception of food and our diet have changed is simply insane.  The concerns that we have based on what we consume would have our early human ancestors rolling with laughter if they had known what kind of pansies we turned out to be.  They were strong, hearty people that lived off the vegetables and fruit found growing out in nature and ate meat fresh from their latest kill with their only concern being that their food might kill them in some way (whether directly by fighting back during the hunt or indirectly through spoiling/poisons).  In fact, man seemed to have this lethal/non-lethal binary perception towards their food for quite sometime; it was only until we began to become an industrialized people that our views really began to change.

Through the miracles of scientific discovery machines began to replace man in the hard labor business.  And because of this man no longer needed to focus purely on surviving life, but now had time to enjoy and obsess over trivial matters.  Of these trivial matters a major concern was then placed on the food we ate.  We began to become less worried over the fact that our food may cause immediate death and began to become more worried over food’s long term effect on us.  Scholars began to formulate the ground work for the concepts of modern nutrition and food nourishment, moving away from the medieval mindset of meat being a superior food source with vegetables being merely filler.  People were even beginning to have a rudimentary idea of how caloric intake worked from the writings of Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac.”

Though the basic knowledge of general health through good nutrition is very vital and maintaining a proper caloric intake is essential for staying fit, our growing concerns and obsession with our food took a ridiculous turn as time progressed.  As science had originally showed us how food was affecting us, we then began using science as a way to control our foods.  Our working knowledge of how excess amounts of some food causes eventual health problems such as obesity and diabetes sparked a fear fueled obsession within us.  We began to manufacture artificial replacements for these “danger” ingerdients such as sugar and fat leading to chemically laden diet foods with the nutritional value of chewing gum.  Even food not meant for those concerned about their caloric intake and diet got the chemical treatment with a slathering of chemical: preservatives, flavor agents and dyes.  In the end our attempts to manufacture “healthier” food exploded in our face with a shotgun blast of esters, coloring agents and preservatives.

It seems that in the light of all the confusion and constantly changing views on what constitutes as healthy food our modern society had officially gone insane concerning our food.  We’ve currently succumbed to all fronts and now have a type of food for every crazy school of thought.  While we still have the chemically laden “health” food; we now have a market for health food that’s more inline with what our caveman forefathers were eating, organic food that’s grown close to nature with no pesticides or growth boosting chemicals added to them.  We also have food that illustrates how much of a society of pussies we really have become.  Foods that have naturally occurring components removed from them because people are “sensitive” to them (read: too sissified to clean their plate).  This leads me to my main point of “what the hell happened to us as the top species on this planet?”

We’ve conquered nature, traveled and inhabited nearly the entire solid surface of this planet, yet we can sit there and gaily say “Oh, I’ll pass on the bread… Gluten upsets my stomach, you know.”  It’s simply unreal.  Gone are the days where we look at our plate of food and munch it done heartily after a grueling day’s work, simply because food was food.  That isn’t to say that I’m not a proponent of great tasting/well prepared food, as you’d simply be an idiot to prefer something that tasted awful and was poorly cooked.  However, I do think it’s simply madness to see several types of spinach at the market that’s not separated by brand or species, but rather the way the plants were grown.

We’ve become quite the pansies with this whole health conscious/organic food movement.  To the point where we’re concerned about harmless things such as pesticides used on our produce that’s comparably weaker and in lower concentration than that of which the agriculture industry of our parents and grandparents generation were using (and may I also add they were drinking tap water from lead plumbing a lot of the time and they came out fine for the most part).  Still is it any wonder that we have such astringent criteria of what goes into our bodies now-a-days; to the point where we’re willing to spend twice as much on a chicken because it wasn’t subjected to growth hormones (which do break down with most heated cooking methods and have not been proven to cause any long term biological problems when eaten)?  For me it’s no surprise simply because OUR GENERATION SUCKS.

Whats Really Going On…

A quick update today.  I’ve seen this commercial many many times and it always makes me completely aware of what actually is going on in this scene.  Chase’s sad attempt to be clever, or funny, and most importantly cute falls very very short when the ugly truth rears it’s head.

Want to know what’s really going on?  Let me tell you.  This dude’s wife shows up looking BANGIN and he gets the great idea to use his Chase reward points to whisk her away on some romantic get away.  Her beauty inspires him to be alone with her and spend these points he’s been saving for just the right occasion on some sort of trip or vacation for the two of them.  But guess what he can’t! because this bitch blew them all on herself. 

This dude goes on and on about how he’s got enough points for air fair or a weekend hotel and this bitch just smiles and poses because she’s wearing his hard earned points.  You know whats really going through that dude’s head?  “You selfish BITCH!”  From the look of it he had a lot of points too.  She probably got her hair done, went to a spa, bought a new dress and probably shoes to match.  This dude was saving them for the two of them to enjoy together and she just says “Fuck you hubby, I’m using this shit on me.”  And then they make it look like its cute that she blew this dude’s hard earned points all herself.  Congratulations Chase not only have you completely fallen short on what is actually cute, but you’ve exploited an idea and a practice by many women which is not cute but actually quite annoying and demeaning to all women.  I’m not saying all women are seflish bitches but trust me there are women out there where this commercial is a biography of their financial relationships with their husbands.  So congratulations Chase for poorly making a cute commerical which actually just points out a  practice and characteristic which adds to the ever growing list of  WHY OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

If the Internet Was A Room it Would Be Filled With Retards

Huge plug fo this site. Not sure it deserve's it

Imagine you’re in a room full of lets say a million people, and I stand in front of this room and say on a microphone over loud speakers “Good day million people.  I have a question for you.  I want to know such and such for such and such reasons.”  After I ask my question I add at the end “By the way, of you million people I only want the priests in this crowd to answer the question.”  How many of you would answer my question?  If you think you would then you are just another reason why OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

I am a member of an internet Q/A site known as Aardvark at http://vark.com.  This is a site where members and I can ask and answer questions on any variety of things and the members give the answers or suggestions as opposed to attempting to google it and find the answers on our own.  Great idea and concept except that you or I can answer any question asked, and sorry to say it but we’re not always qualified.  Now me, I am smart enough and reasonable enough to not attempt to answer a question I have no idea about the answer.  The rest of the aardvark community,and much of the internet population, not so much.

As I have said before the Internet is an awesome tool which is quickly unifying all of us, making conversation around the world not only possible but more and more widely common, and allowing us access to people and resources that previous generations have simply been unable to tap into.  But a good chunk of the people on the internet are IDIOTS.  A lot of people feel that their voice is unique and special, and what they have to say matters.  Sorry to say it but you’re not and it doesn’t.  When someone is talking to you, just like in real life, it matters otherwise you need to learn to shut the fuck up.  When I ask a question I don’t need to hear you’re opinion about it.  I don’t care how the question makes you feel, or if you have a funny joke, or want to suggest I try something else; I want the answer and you don’t have it.  For example I posted this:

Since the universe is finite, science has proven there is an end point, why doesn’t light reflect off the edge of the universe?

For which I got these answers:

Maybe it does, but our perception of science has cause us to word this reflection or the edges of the universe in such a way that we don’t understand that it’s happening.

It may, but considering the distances, how would we know if it did or not?

In both instances the people answering clearly had no idea what I was talking about since instead of answering my question they instead questioned THE FACT that the universe has an end point.  On the Aardvark forum this would cause my question to be considered answered and taken out of the question cue.  So not only has my question gone completely unanswered, I have to come back to find out that no one qualified has answered it, retype or resubmit my question, and I am left with the answers of two idiots who clearly don’t understand when a question is clearly over their head and well beyond their realm of expertise.  I have had several instances where this has occurred and it is becoming more and more common each day.  The other day the scenario I posited in the beginning of the article actually happened.  I specifically asked for only a priest to answer; I got 10 answers none of which were from a priest.  This is just one of the many many ways people on the internet day in and day out spoil one of the greatest tools in the modern age.

How hard is it to read and follow directions?  This retardation is not limited to just this site.  On fan sites, blogs or forums there are always people who clearly don’t understand the show they are watching but claim to.   There are hundreds of blogs out there with people ranting about stuff they know nothing about, and shit that doesn’t matter.  Hell, people get famous for that sometimes (you know who they are).  There are endless posts everywhere of people who rather than being constructive and helpful, feel the need to berate, belittle, impose, and simply muddy up sites with their feelings and opinions that either don’t matter or, at most times, have nothing to do with what anyone around them is talking about.  Its quite annoying because this behavior would not be allowed to fly in normal social interaction yet we are forced to, and have to, deal with it constantly on the internet.  And in the end I’m the asshole for berating these people for wasting my time and  yours when they are day in and day out making OUR GENERATION SUCK!

No More Woodstock

First and foremost, I apologize for totally losing all interest in writing and totally abandoning this blog.  At the time I started it I had a lot of fire in my belly and shit to bitch about.  That fire has since fizzled out,but the shit is still there.  Hopefully I can rekindle it and bring you some good, funny, and spot on reasons as to why Our Generation Sucks.  As I was perusing through my drafts I stumbled on this topic which I meant to post for the Woodstock anniversary but regardless of its relevancy this is still true.  Sorry it’s a bit long.

Ever been to a large concert?  Rocked out like it was 1999 (stupid phrase by the way)?  Had the time of your life listening to awesome tunes with good people, in a good atmosphere?  Paid near nothing to view the top bands of your time?  Had a safe environment where you could be as drunk as you want, high as you want, completely in or out of it with out any fear of anyone around you giving you shit, taking advantage of you (especially a concern for the ladies), or spoiling your good time in any way?  If so you’re OLD dude, cause the last time you could that was in 1969, at Woodstock.  Why?  cause OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

In today’s world going to a concert is no longer a simple ordeal of listening to your favorite band live, it’s a mission.  You have to find a safe zone, be aware of the people enjoying the music around you, and always be on guard cause you never know when someone might pick a fight with you, someone you know, or a random stranger next to you.  Also if you’re a lady you gotta deal with a crowd of strangers that may grope, harass, drug, or go as far as raping you at any time.  For the ladies, rolling to a concert solo can sometimes be a death sentence in a matter of speaking.

Back in 1969, during the original Woodstock, 400,000 people descended upon Bethel to enjoy three days of peace, love, and music and did so successfully.  And to top it all off it was free! During the course of those three days there were no acts of violence, rioting, or any crimes committed or reported for the duration of the concert.  The festival’s high point of any sort of violence or what could otherwise be deemed as cause for concern were only two fatalities, one involving a heroine overdose and the other a run away tractor killing someone in the adjacent field.  The only other reason emergency services were called to the site were for the two pregnancies that occurred there.

Cut to 1994 and 1999, where attempts to revitalize the idea behind the original Woodstock  failed utterly.  First and foremost the concert went from free to $150!  In ’94 it rained so much that the venue became a total mud field and people were going so far as throwing mud at performers on stage.  In ’99 riots broke out which brought the festival to an end.  In both cases the crowds had 100,000 to 200,000 less people than the original Woodstock.  Also in both 90′s festivals the crowd took to looting ATM’s harassing and burning vendors booths, there were reports of stabbings, fights, and many reports of women being raped.  The crowd also went after the stage removing panels from it and set those afire or in ’94 using them at times for crowd surfing and in ’99 the barrier fences used to keep the venue sectioned off were torn down and set ablaze.

The bonfires of Woodstock '99

What the Hell!  I’ve been to plenty of concerts and those go pretty much nonviolently, but also at festivals I’ve been to, the bonfires do start up and fights.  But why when thousands of people congregate today people gotta riot, fight and rape each other?  When did that become cool?  Even peaceful protests turn into riots these days because some people in the crowd agitate the others.  Are we de-evolving so much that we are taking on herd mentality?  Agitate one and the rest just lose their shit?  How is it that in 41 years 300 thousand people went from calm reasonable people to a bunch of jackasses who can’t get along with each other for sometimes just a few hours?  One reason, OUR GENERATION SUCKS!

Sorry no posts lately. Heart just not into it this week. Check back next week for another convincing reason as to why our generation sucks.

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