Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
So we got to see our favorite waitress last night, and Mrs. Freeberg has to ask her: Restaurants are busy on Valentine’s Day, but this place looks like a tomb. What’s up? Answer: Couples go to restaurants picked by the woman, that’s the plain truth of it. And women don’t want to go to a place where the waitresses wear skimpy denim shorts.
Yeah, she’s right. This has always been right, as far as husbands or boyfriends rudely leering at younger, skinnier women; the gals don’t like it. And they shouldn’t. But since when did that mean the Valentine’s Day crush of restaurant-dining should fall only on certain restaurants? There is something new happening here. Something bigger than restaurants or leggy waitresses. It applies to money, too. We just had an “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which as near as I can tell, was about making something called “one percenters” into unidentifiable strangers, and celebrating the camaraderie of “the ninety-nine percent.” The common theme that applies to both: I’ve picked out a target I wish to alienate, and you should help me alienate it, because the target is doing better than I am at something.
It has to do with ambition, and desire. Women desire a nice firm butt and long, lean, supple legs; men desire a hefty portfolio and a thick billfold. The gender identities are wearing down, too, and I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. I could stand to lose a few pounds, and Lord knows women like to have more money. But there are those people doing better than we are. What is our behavior around those people? That is what’s changing.
On the “other women have nicer looking legs” thing, the thinking seems to be that if the lady of the house can manipulate her boyfriend/husband and herself into staying the hell away from the leggy bitch, that will eliminate the competition. This is a fairly ancient thought. It’s the acceptance of it that is new. It used to be a thought not to be taken seriously; frowned-upon. Then smirked-at. Then it aroused a newer sense of sympathy that was missing before. And now we’ve reached the point where it is to be encouraged. If Couple A only goes to restaurants friendlier to the preferences of a jealous female, but Couple B goes to Hooters, then Couple B is making Couple A feel bad and they need to reform. Thus it is with the Occupy movement; deep down everyone seems to realize the obvious, that this is a protest against success. But, by rights, the Occupy movement should be eyeball-rolled outta here for good, and instantly, which is not what’s been happening. Here and there, on Facebook, in the office, you still hear all this righteous sniveling about “we are the ninety-nine percent.” The issue is sustainability across time. The appropriate and correct eyeball-rolling lasts the lifetime of a gnat, while the very silly sympathy is more like the tortoise that lives a century or two.
The jealous have an impact on the conduct of the non-jealous, rather than the other way around. I fear we are living in an age in which we are culturally expected to maintain a phobia against success. We are expected to nurture that phobia, as if it is something that will lead to that success, when the truth is that it can only take us in the opposite direction.
I don’t understand it. It is not my world. Dining at the place with the young, skinny, leggy waitresses was actually my wife’s idea. She’s not insecure, see. And as for me, I’ll make no claim to go around emulating people who are in better shape, physically or financially. At least, not in an instant or anything like that. But occasionally, once or twice out of the span of a few years, I’ll come to find out about a good habit that might be compatible with my lifestyle and expectations, and possibly do some learning. There may be some slow progress here, or not. But the point is: That’s the thought in my head when I find out about them. Oh, he’s rich? What did he do? Oh, he’s my age but can still wear size 34? What’s his routine? I’m so old that I can remember when people did that all the time…when adults got together for some kind of occasion, like a backyard BBQ or whatever, that was most of what was happening. Peers, telling stories of common problems, sharing solutions. A custom centuries old.
Now, seems we’re becoming more like ostriches. S/he is doing better? I don’t wanna know. Don’t tell me. And let’s stay away.
But if that guy has more lucre than I do, he must have stolen it.
This is not good, because the first step to improvement is to admit that the improvement is possible. Second step, I guess, would be to contemplate that the improvement is needed. All learning begins with the statement: “I don’t know.” All enrichment begins with the statement: “I’m not satisfied.” All self-improvement begins with “I could do better.”
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Special Snowflake Syndrome. It’s infested our educational system and cultural mainstream for at least two generations now. Since we’re all unique and special and perfect just the way we are, if some other guy / gal has more, he/she must’ve stolen it. Add to this thirty or forty years of feminism, postcolonial studies, critical race theory, and whatnot, and you’ve got a situation where the appearance of success masks the reality of oppression, always and everywhere. You can only be a certified Good Person if you don’t learn what they did to become “successful,” because it must be evil.
- Severian | 02/15/2014 @ 09:24Exactly. For examples in life from which you can learn valuable things to emulate, you should look toward people who have failed. Grandiosity and fanfare when consuming resources, humbleness and timidness when replenishing them. And then when the resources are all used up it has to be someone else’s fault…that’s modern liberalism in a nutshell.
- mkfreeberg | 02/16/2014 @ 12:31