Today's Utterances from the DJs
"This generation is not like any other. They're being torn apart by racial things." The problem? The white kids are trying to be "black". You'd think that DJs who grew up in MEMPHIS in the 1960s would have seen a bit of "torn apart by racial things" and realized that simply listening to hip hop music and wearing hip hop clothes isn't exactly "torn apart". Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case and it would appear that the black folk are once again screwing up the universe. Grrrrrrrr. That crap annoys the heck out of me. It hadn't occurred to me prior to moving here that people would *still* think that minorities, especially of African descent, were somehow inherently bad or inferior. Or that they would seem somehow proud of having had two sets of bathrooms and drinking fountains in public buildings when they were kids (one for whites and one for "coloreds").
The other quote that got my blood pressure to spike this morning:
"It's a fatherless, godless generation and then it trickles over into the white kids."
Yep. It's been 40+ years since the civil rights movement was at its peak and it appears that at least some of the people in Memphis have forgotten the lesson from it (or else never learned anything from it. I'm sure the Hispanics in the area get their share of the blame for whatever horrible life that kids these days have now.
I realize that it's a horrible suggestion, but my personal opinion is that if your kids were raised well, it wouldn't matter whether there were "fatherless, godless" kids around, regardless of their color. And as long as we're on the subject of "horrible" suggestions, I have another one: We're Americans, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation and we are *all* equal. If you can't handle that concept, perhaps it's time for you to go find another country to call "home".
An Interesting Discussion at Work
Several women were trying to figure out how Sen. Craig from Idaho knew that tapping his foot in the men's room meant he was looking for a date. At least one of them had asked their husbands if they had ever tapped their foot in the bathroom and at least one husband reported that it was possible but they hadn't given any thought to it. I pointed out that the alleged foot tapping didn't occur in Sen. Craig's stall, but rather in the stall occupied by the undercover officer and that Sen. Craig also allegedly reached under the partition into the officer's stall. Boy, did they look surprised to hear that part. They still were curious how he would have known what to do. I asked them if any of them know where in our little metropolis the gay men go to pick up other men. At least two of them mentioned a particular city park and one of them even indicated that parking your car one way means you're looking and another way means you're not. I pointed out that if my co-workers (who are NOT gay men, but rather straight women), knew how things worked, it was quite likely that that information was also known by the gay male population. That appeared to make sense to them.
I still wish that it was possible to arrest pushy men who fail to take "No, thanks" as an answer to repeated, unwanted and lewd advances toward women. I don't care if he thinks he's the savior of woman kind. If I don't want to date him, for whatever reason, up to and including that I can't be bothered, "No, thanks" should be enough. Sadly, it usually is not. They want to know why or they want to argue about how I'm missing out. Guess what? I am not obligated to defend my decisions and I get increasingly aggravated when pressured to do so. Furthermore, the longer a man argues with me about why I should "just see how nice a guy he is just this once", the LESS likely I am to ever be persuaded to go out with him. If a man fails to respect my boundaries and wishes about whether or not I want to even go out with him, why would I expect him to respect my boundaries and wishes about anything else?
Tonight's Exciting Conclusion:
I'm gonna watch Tomb Raider and knit. I might make myself a cup of tea or I might make myself a cup of hot chocolate. It's raining outside right now and I got chilly at work. I'm pretty tired again, so will probably go to bed early, but I *did* finish all the TB skin test data entry for the inmates. That's one 7 inch stack of paper down. Another 8 inches to go....
The other quote that got my blood pressure to spike this morning:
"It's a fatherless, godless generation and then it trickles over into the white kids."
Yep. It's been 40+ years since the civil rights movement was at its peak and it appears that at least some of the people in Memphis have forgotten the lesson from it (or else never learned anything from it. I'm sure the Hispanics in the area get their share of the blame for whatever horrible life that kids these days have now.
I realize that it's a horrible suggestion, but my personal opinion is that if your kids were raised well, it wouldn't matter whether there were "fatherless, godless" kids around, regardless of their color. And as long as we're on the subject of "horrible" suggestions, I have another one: We're Americans, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation and we are *all* equal. If you can't handle that concept, perhaps it's time for you to go find another country to call "home".
An Interesting Discussion at Work
Several women were trying to figure out how Sen. Craig from Idaho knew that tapping his foot in the men's room meant he was looking for a date. At least one of them had asked their husbands if they had ever tapped their foot in the bathroom and at least one husband reported that it was possible but they hadn't given any thought to it. I pointed out that the alleged foot tapping didn't occur in Sen. Craig's stall, but rather in the stall occupied by the undercover officer and that Sen. Craig also allegedly reached under the partition into the officer's stall. Boy, did they look surprised to hear that part. They still were curious how he would have known what to do. I asked them if any of them know where in our little metropolis the gay men go to pick up other men. At least two of them mentioned a particular city park and one of them even indicated that parking your car one way means you're looking and another way means you're not. I pointed out that if my co-workers (who are NOT gay men, but rather straight women), knew how things worked, it was quite likely that that information was also known by the gay male population. That appeared to make sense to them.
I still wish that it was possible to arrest pushy men who fail to take "No, thanks" as an answer to repeated, unwanted and lewd advances toward women. I don't care if he thinks he's the savior of woman kind. If I don't want to date him, for whatever reason, up to and including that I can't be bothered, "No, thanks" should be enough. Sadly, it usually is not. They want to know why or they want to argue about how I'm missing out. Guess what? I am not obligated to defend my decisions and I get increasingly aggravated when pressured to do so. Furthermore, the longer a man argues with me about why I should "just see how nice a guy he is just this once", the LESS likely I am to ever be persuaded to go out with him. If a man fails to respect my boundaries and wishes about whether or not I want to even go out with him, why would I expect him to respect my boundaries and wishes about anything else?
Tonight's Exciting Conclusion:
I'm gonna watch Tomb Raider and knit. I might make myself a cup of tea or I might make myself a cup of hot chocolate. It's raining outside right now and I got chilly at work. I'm pretty tired again, so will probably go to bed early, but I *did* finish all the TB skin test data entry for the inmates. That's one 7 inch stack of paper down. Another 8 inches to go....
Comments
I'm always impressed that you swing it.