What's that line about an apple and a tree again?

So. Recently, there has been a lot about bullying and the terrible affects it has on it's victims. And I am truly sorry for those families who have experienced an unmentionable amount of loss because of it. And there has been talk of cracking down on bullies, and on the instatement of  no - tolerance policies at schools.

While I agree that the recent events in our country have created a need for change, I don't think we are looking to the right source for the change; in short, bullies and victims are created long before they enter the public school system.

My friend Adam, who's father is in charge of a potato roguing company in eastern Idaho during the summers, talks about 17 and 18 year old kids who get made fun of at work, and then who's mothers call and complain. What does this have to do with my above point? A lack of good parenting, or the decline of having two strong parents in the home, is resulting in a generation of attention - seekers, drama kings and queens, and a complete lack of coping mechanisms.

So the solution shouldn't be to make teachers with already difficult jobs have even more responsibility, but to shift the blame to the shoulders of those raising those children who come in either so unequipped to deal with the problems of life or so attention - starved they seek recognition in the worst places.

Thank you for your time. 

The worthlessness of the human populace at large

You know, there are some pretty useless people out there.

Just sayin.

Now, I would never assert that people are born worthless. Or that they are terminally worthless. But some people. because of their decisions, render themselves useless. People who radically spout off anything they hear a semi-reputable source declare. People who choose NOT to think for themselves. People who just take up space in the world.

I'm sure they could make themselves worthwhile. But what are the odds of that? Slim to none, I'd say.

Postulate: A group's collective IQ is only as high as its lowest member...

SO. I'm sure by now that you've all seen the video "everything amazing and nobody's happy". (If not, take a moment and click that link.) Just a commentary on that.

You know what is incredibly frightening? Mob mentality. Thinking as a group, acting as a group. It's like the collective IQ of a group is only as high as it's lowest iq'd member. It's incredible - people do things in groups that they would never do by themselves. It's like the whole idea of consequences goes out the window. When it's a "we", people feel more comfortably acting stupid, racist, violent, sexist, ignorant, or any combination of the above.

ANYWAY - getting back to my point - I noticed how you have to very consciously decide not to participate in whatever group attitude is prevalent. I was hurrying through the airport this morning, annoyed at everyone and everything, when I realized - I have nothing to hurry for. (As evidenced by my current state of partial dress in my apartment...) I have no reason to find that clueless foreigner annoying. They're just trying to figure things out. And all those short women who walk slow? Join arms and create a barricade! Why not?

I guess I'm just musing about the fact that we never actually have to feel pissed off, hurried, annoyed, or any of those negative emotions. Choose to enjoy the experience.

That is, after all, what life is all about right? Learning to be happy even when things aren't perfect?

P.S. I just have to say, though, that I find short people who complain about airplane seats REALLY obnoxious. Really? You think you're uncomfortable? Try growing 8 inches and then tell me how you feel.

VS.

To the middle - class, double X chromosomed collective of America

Here comes another venting sesh.

SO. I have a beef with women who like to tell me how oppressed I am. That because some women don't get paid as much for the same positions as men, or because most of the art featured in museums was done by men, that means we all have to join an eternally offended and overly vocal crusade against our heterogeneous chromosomed counterparts. I have one thing to tell all of them.

I am not oppressed.

Now, I would never deny that there are women in the world, and even in the counterminious  United States, that ARE oppressed. Women who have been trafficked, abused, oppressed, and underprivileged for years. I, however, am not one of them. Neither are most of us who belong to the middle class of this country. Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not.

You know what else?

When you claim to be oppressed, you are mocking the real pain of those women who actually suffer.

So STOP IT. Count your freaking blessings people. I don't want to hear it. Neither do most of the men that surround you. Neither do most of the educated women.

Oppressed

NOT oppressed.

Thank you for your time.