Life

Quote(s) for today

/ hsoi

There are two kinds of people in the world: the ones that protest and complain and want fairness despite never having earned it, and the ones that fight their asses off to be important and make a contribution. You have to earn the right to be treated fair. The people that have a problem with that are the scrubs.

– Jim Wendler

Read the whole article. It might be in the context of football, but it’s all about working hard(er) and achieving goals.

There’s two other passages I thought were excellent:

Adopt a winning attitude that understands you will fail but allows you to achieve your goals.

If possible, have someone in your life that won’t coddle you, but call you out on your bullshit. Whenever I faltered from this attitude my father set me straight.

  • Complained about school? Suck it up and study.
  • The coaches won’t look at me? Quit crying and get better.
  • I don’t like my job! Change your attitude or quit and do your own thing.
  • I don’t make enough money! Find a way to make more.

and

The important thing is that you make yourself indispensable at what you do. Work as hard as you can to be the best at your given role. If that’s protecting the punter, do so with such precision that no one can take your job. Do not take your job for granted. Make it hard on the coaches to take you out. Fight like hell to do your job better than anyone.

That’s one I’ve known and done my best with in my own life and career, and one I’ve been working to pass on to my kids.

A year of veggies

/ hsoi

I can’t believe it’s been about a year since we started doing the CSA veggie box from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. In fact, I just renewed for another year. They were running a special of a year subscription at 20% off, and I just couldn’t say no to such a heavy discount. Plus I know it helps them a lot to have some solid cash in the bank, and it’s great to be able to support what they do.

So what do I think about the first year?

The Good

The veggies, no doubt. Oh my gosh, it’s fantastic. First, that there’s so much variety. We get forced to try new things, different things. I had no idea what kohlrabi was until it came in the boxes, and I’m totally sold on it. I love all the greens. There’s no rut of just eating the same old thing that you get at the grocery store, because it’s shipped in from wherever all year round. There’s much to be said for eating what’s local and seasonal too.

The quality is high as well. I’m not a tomato person, but after eating theirs? I’m sold. As well, who knew carrots could have such deep flavor! But when they’re able to stay in the ground until they reach their peak, then picked and you eat it within days of coming out of the ground? You’re going to get better tasting food. Plus I can see the care the JBG group puts into seed and variety selection, to make it not only something that will grow and flourish here in our climate and soil, but also that’s just darn yummy.

The price is reasonable too. I was not going to sign up for it if it was going to be really expensive vs. the grocery store. But after pricing it out as best I could, I could see it works out fine. I have to say “as best I could” because I’ve never seen kohlrabi at the grocery store. Oh I’m sure Whole Foods has it (I don’t shop there, too expensive), but that means JBG will be an ever better deal. Furthermore, when buying in bulk, they offer these discounts and so that’s even better. Sure it’s a bunch of money up front, but it pans out over the long term.

And you know what’s fun? The box. The surprise of “what is in there this week?”, and getting excited when you see what’s coming. Oh geez… as I write this, I just remembered that pattypan/sunburst squash are going to soon be here…. another new thing from the box, that I just LOVE and can’t wait for. See what I mean? No you can’t see how truly silly excited this makes me… but it does. And that’s part of what’s cool, because you can read about what they’re planting, what they’re trying, and thus what you have to look forward to. It’s fun!

The Bad

The box policy annoys me. I totally understand why they have it, and I do respect it. But it sucks when responsible people have to be penalized for those who aren’t.

The pick up. Wife and I did pick-up until recently. We actually kinda enjoyed it, calling it our “Veggie Date” because just she and I would go to pick them up. A little time with my honey is good. 🙂  But it kinda got old and sometimes we just didn’t want to drag out to do it because it didn’t fit the schedule. Or we’d have to schedule things around the pickup. So… we opted to change to home delivery. It’s $5 more per box, but frankly, it’s worth it. With the price of gas, when you account for the 30-60 minutes it takes (normally not 60 minutes, but if the truck is running late…), all that time and money adds up. The $5 for delivery ends up being worth it. And we don’t have to deal with the box issue. 😉

But the one downside is there’s no more trade box. The trade box was awesome and we took advantage of that a lot, not necessarily because we didn’t like something in the box (I think only arugula has ever been the flat out “no” to us), but because there might be something better or more fitting for us in there… like one time there was a HUGE bag of spinach in the trade box and that was a win!  But in talking to the JBG folk, they are working hard towards having more “up front” box selection, which would be really cool. Either to be able to pick and choose your box contents would be neat, or to be able to buy more of something some week would be nice. They’re working on it, and I eagerly await that.

Happy Are We

All in all, we’re really happy with this. It works out well for the grocery bill. It makes life a bit easier at the grocery store. We’re getting high quality food. We get to support local business. We get to expand our palettes. What’s not to like?

Looking forward to the next year.

SpotCrime – because crime is (unfortunately) all around you

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Clearing out the inbox and I came across something I’ve meant to write about for some time.

SpotCrime.

It’s a crime website and database.

It’s kinda like KrimeLabb, but for the whole US, not just Austin, Texas. In fact for those of us living in Austin, you might find both resources useful because KrimeLabb is more detailed, and both provide unique and different ways of viewing the data.

Go ahead. Check it out. Plug in your home address. Plug in your work address. Look at areas that you frequent in your daily life, like the grocery store, shopping mall, movie theater, parks, schools. Whatever.

You’ll find that no where is immune to crime. Sure some places have more, some places have less. Some places may see more of one type of crime. Heck, I even punched in the address of the Austin Police Department Headquarters, and look at all the crime that happens within a stone’s throw of it!

I don’t point this out to make people scared or paranoid. I point this out to make people aware of the reality. Statistically speaking, you probably do live and frequent “safe” places. But do those statistics make you feel any better after your home has been ransacked? Do numbers bring any comfort to the rape victim? Use this knowledge ahead of time. Take steps to minimize your chances of becoming part of the statistics. Do things to minimize making yourself look appetizing. Keep the exterior of your house well lit. Get and use an alarm system, and a big and useful dog. Don’t live in “code white”. The list goes on, and it’s not necessarily difficult to do… you just have to do it.

 

A proper training mentality

/ hsoi

I was pointed to this article, “On Being a Beast“. If you come to my blog for gun and self-defense stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog for weightlifting stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog period, you should read this.

The article may come primarily from the realm of strength training, but the message applies to any sort of training. The writer, Johnny Pain, talks about a conversation he was having with a friend about why they train. A question:

What if you were being sentenced in six weeks for a crime that you did not commit? (Or fuck it, what if you did commit it, I’m not one to judge).

How would you spend the next forty-five days? Think about it.

And all you gun folks reading this, oh yes, it could happen to you even if the situation was totally righteous. How would you spend the next 45 days?

Well, if it were me, I’d want to be the meanest, toughest, nastiest, most beast-like human being that I could be.

The concerns over training minutia would go out the window. Arguments over percentages or head and eye position on the squat would seem rightfully retarded. All that would matter is building a body that was strong and capable. Times to completion of various arbitrary tasks would be of little importance, as would one-rep maxes performed for other people’s benefit.

Things like biceps peak, body composition, quad sweep, or whether or not you could do a particular parlor trick on the rings would be unthinkable notions pushed aside by ever-present knowledge that your mind would be tested the most, but that your body could be called on to do very serious things. These tasks could be life or death, not win or lose. The stakes could be rectal integrity or death, not bragging rights on an internet forum.

You’d have to be strong, you’d have to be quick, and you’d have to have a decent set of lungs on you.

Quite the sound point. You get put into such a high pressure situation, and suddenly you gain great focus. You gain a greater insight into what really matters, and how most of the stuff we deal with in life doesn’t matter.

I know I get caught up in the details. I know I start to worry about all these sorts of minutia all the time. It’s just how I am. But one good lesson I’m learning right now is to just shut up and squat. The Wendler program I’m on right now? I’ve been analyzing too much, thinking about too much. I realized I was thinking way too much about it, and going back to the BBB template works better. Sure I still think about some details, like I am worrying about my knee angle because I’m concerned about the stresses it’s feeling since I don’t care to blow out my knee, but that’s different from just worrying about how good I look in the mirror.

There are situations in life where being an absolute beast could be very beneficial. Whether or not you plan on getting jammed up in the next few months, give some thought to the idea that you have one life and one shot at doing it right. We make decisions in finance and other realms based on long term payoff and relevancy, why not in why we train?

Don’t be the fat, beer bellied guy at the gun show who carries three cocked and locked 1911 .45’s and shit talks the 9mm round who loses his teenage daughter from choking because he didn’t possess basic first aid skills which would be much more likely needed in life than his 24 rounds of 230 grain hardball, or who can’t run to save his four year-old son from the drunk driver barreling down his street.

Get your basics down. Build your body up into that of a beast, a predator’s body, not a butter soft, tasty piece of food chain. It may very well all be in vain, and I hope to God that it is for your sake.

This is why I’m training to be strong. Oh sure I’m working to shed some body fat, but that’s because the fat is mostly useless. It doesn’t add anything useful, it doesn’t help me. I am not working my “chest” today because what’s the point of big pecs and big arms if I can’t do anything useful with them? I want to be strong(er) because that’s useful.

Preparing for the worst is never a bad thing. Be ready for anything. Prepare in the manner that gives you the most bang for your buck.

Oddly, some people think it is a bad thing… or at least, that you’re paranoid or have something to be afraid of. No, it’s just about being prepared because life can and does throw you curve balls, and you’ll never see them coming. It’s why we have insurance. It’s why we have smoke detectors. It’s why we wear seat belts. It’s why some of us choose to prepare ourselves physical and mentally for a confrontation we hope never comes, but we’ll be ready to meet it when it comes.

So when you train, train like you mean it. Focus on what’s really important. Yes, you’ll get caught up in minutia, but always be aware that you can, aware when you do, and willing to step back and refocus when it happens. Reading this article gave me a kick in the pants. Maybe it did for you as well.

I don’t understand racism

/ hsoi

I don’t understand racism, I never understood it. I can’t understand the fact you could hate somebody from half a mile away and never even speak to them and hate them. That’s fucking so dumb. There are black assholes, white assholes, Japanese assholes, whatever assholes… there’s always plenty of assholes. But until you speak to people, you never know which they are, a good guy or an asshole. Give ’em that chance. That’s the only thing I’m prejudiced against, that’s assholes.

– Lemmy

I love Motörhead. I love Lemmy. You can hear him saying the above at about 4:40 into this interview:

That’s how I feel about it. It doesn’t matter much what your skin color is, what your gender is, what your sexual orientation is, what your religious preference is, what your beer choice is, what your ethic background is, whatever. For the most part it doesn’t matter. All that matters — to me — is if you’re a good person or if you’re an asshole. The sort of person you are transcends all those other mundane attributes, and is really all that matters.

(I say “for the most part” because sometimes those things matter. Like the SNL sketch of Tim Meadows trying out for the Bill Clinton role. Because sometimes there are just realities.) 🙂

As I wrote before:

I guess I’m only a person of half-color… maybe even less, because mixing white and yellow just winds up some odd shade of pale. I’ve felt the sting of racism and discrimination because I’m Korean, I’ve felt it because I’m white, I’ve felt it because I’m a half-breed, I’ve felt it because I have long hair, I’ve felt it for numerous other reasons because someone judged me based upon shallow perceptions. I know it exists and have dealt with being the victim of racism and discrimination throughout my life.

I do understand where racism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination comes from. It’s a very human thing to do, and we all do it. We all discriminate. We all attempt to take our experiences and classify them and draw conclusions from those experiences. And often it’s based upon very limited experience, very limited perception. It’s how humans function. The question is, what do you do with it? Because you can laugh at stereotypes, you can find ways to bring positive things out of them, or you can focus on being negative and hateful.

It saddens me deeply to see so much negativity, especially as of late. So much hate. So much anger and destruction. So much division. And some of the worst offenders are those that think they don’t do it, that they’re better, they’re above it  (see my prior article). I have more respect for someone that’s racist and admits their racism, than someone that’s racist but denies it yet actively participates in it. That whole “log in your own eye” thing.

I’ll leave you with another song from another favorite band of mine, Tesla. The song is called “Caught In a Dream”:

If you can imagine this, the whole world sharing one big kiss
These are thoughts all through my brain, that I daydream everyday
That I’m alive and well, and right now, I’m alive, I’m feeling…well
It’s my life to live my way, so I’ll keep daydreaming away
And who knows, maybe someday, it will all come true
And I will get my way, and we will live as one

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream

And what cannot will be done, for every living thing under the sun
Forget color, forget race, and just be one big happy face
Among this sea of people, live among God’s creatures, sharing love
That was sent down from above, here to share with one another
Father, brother, sister, mother, everybody sharing love, sharing love

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream, this is my dream

What if…I close my eyes and everything will be alright
Here in my fantasy, living in harmony
Make my dream come alive

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream
I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream

Now, if you can imagine this, the whole world sharing one big kiss
Take away the pain and hurt, make like heaven here on earth
Without reason to die, and giving everlasting life to all

Informational malnutrition, and the death of Truth

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin situation in Florida.

I’ve written numerous articles voicing my thoughts on the situation, but I’ve published none of them because nothing quite captured how I felt. But writing them, talking about the situation with some close friends, and watching everything unfold over the past some days, and I’ve begun to congeal my response to the situation.

My Understanding

My understanding of the situation at the time of this writing is there are few indisputable facts. Zimmerman was head of a neighborhood watch. Zimmerman has a CHL and had his gun on him. Zimmerman was patrolling the neighborhood and saw what he believed to be a suspicious person, Martin, behaving in a manner he considered suspicious. Zimmerman called 911 to report the situation, then began to follow Martin. Martin called his girlfriend. Both parties communicated with their respective callers. Eventually the two people came face to face, something happened, Martin is dead.

And as far as I know, that’s about all the true concrete information we have.

Sure there’s lots more information, but it’s all disputed. Lots of “he said she said”, lots of things that have nothing directly to do with the case but muddies the water (Geraldo), and lots of uncertainty. But, lots of new information comes out every day.

Bottom line to me: we just don’t have enough information.

My (perceived) bias

It’s possible that some will perceive me to defend Zimmerman. I have a CHL. I believe “stand your ground” laws are reasonable (I also believe many of those presently talking about such topics have demonstrated they don’t know what they are talking about). I believe it is OK to use deadly force if you are truly in fear of your life and it’s the last resort answer towards the preservation of your life or the life of someone you love.

But I’m not defending Zimmerman.

I can’t defend his actions.

I don’t have enough information to defend him nor persecute him.

Based upon what little information I do have, I do think Zimmerman failed the “beer and tv maxim“. I think his choice of tactics was unwise, because, at least as far as I can see, he pursued something he didn’t have to. Was he in fear of his life? Was there a loved one in danger? Yes, legally you can use force to defend property (well, here in Texas; I don’t know Florida law but roll with me here), but that doesn’t mean you always should. I wrote about this very topic just a few weeks ago. If I see someone in my neighborhood doing suspicious things, I might look a little harder to determine if it’s really a problem or nothing to worry about, but I don’t want to put myself in danger nor invite trouble into my world. I may have my gun on me, because I know shit happens and can unfold in an instant, but if my family or myself wasn’t in imminent danger, I’d call the police and let them deal with it. Beer and TV maxim.

But then, that’s me. I don’t know what Zimmerman considered important. I read some interviews with neighbors saying how the neighborhood had been the target of a lot of crime, a lot of burglaries, in recent months. I figure that will give someone a different perspective. Perhaps Zimmerman thought pursuing Martin was worth dying over. Or perhaps, Zimmerman wasn’t thinking at all.

I don’t know.

I don’t know what was going through Zimmerman’s head, and I’m not going to pretend nor assume to know.

I also don’t know what was going on in Martin’s head. And unfortunately, we’ll never know. Thus, lacking information, I can’t defend nor persecute him either.

But the bottom line is: I don’t know.

Where’s the Truth?

I admit I don’t know.

Alas, I don’t see that going on in the popular media, nor around the world. I see the news reports. I see postings on Facebook and Twitter. I see all sorts of things that make me wonder… how do these people know? They’re all speaking with such confidence. They know that Zimmerman is a murderer. They know he was motivated purely out of racial hatred. They know he needs to be brought to justice. They know that Martin is totally innocent. That Martin was doing nothing wrong. That Martin never did anything wrong in his life, just an innocent black kid whose life was snuffed out too quickly by this white (latino) man. They know what’s going on, and they are all capable of passing perfect judgment… and Zimmerman should be drawn and quartered for what he did.

How do these people know?

Must be some news network that I haven’t heard of or am not tuning in to. Or maybe the facts are floating around the Twitterverse now and I just missed the tweet.

Is no one interested in finding Truth?

I do know they want to make Zimmerman “pay” for things, regardless of facts, regardless of Truth. When you have the New Black Panther Party offering $10,000 for Zimmerman. When you have Spike Lee retweeting Zimmerman’s address (which apparently was incorrect, and the innocent elderly couple that lives there are in fear of their lives due to the death threats they’ve been receiving). Gee… I thought lynching was frowned upon? But that’s what is happening to Zimmerman. Look at how people are talking about him. Look at how the media portrays the situation, be it their choice of photos or creative editing of the 911 calls. And because of this severe anger, people are afraid to speak, even as more facts come to light.

Is this right?

Is this Truth?

Is this Justice?

I guess I’m only a person of half-color… maybe even less, because mixing white and yellow just winds up some odd shade of pale. I’ve felt the sting of racism and discrimination because I’m Korean, I’ve felt it because I’m white, I’ve felt it because I’m a half-breed, I’ve felt it because I have long hair, I’ve felt it for numerous other reasons because someone judged me based upon shallow perceptions. I know it exists and have dealt with being the victim of racism and discrimination throughout my life.

And that’s where it comes from: shallow perceptions. People unwilling to get the whole truth. They get the tidbit that they want, then that’s good enough for them. They pass judgement, they execute, and they are satisfied to leave it at that. George Carlin lamented about the “sound bite” and how it dominates modern news media… and how it’s “just a bite. No chewing, no digestion, no nourishment. Malnutrition.”

That’s the greater tragedy I see happening in this Martin/Zimmerman case, and countless other stories reported every day (regardless of the race issue). There’s only a morsel of information, but people pick from that what they want, especially if it lends support to their cause and their righteousness. Calling for justice in this and every criminal case is warranted, but by saying “bringing this man to justice” you have already convicted him based upon what scant solid facts and evidence there is out there. Is that just?

If we want justice, if we want Truth, then we must seek it. That means we must gather information before we reach a conclusion. That we must question, but not seek to harvest only data that supports our desired conclusion. We must not and must not tolerate twisting and misrepresentation of fact, since that only leads away from Truth. Truth may be ugly. Truth may offend our sensibilities. Truth may totally up-end everything we know and hold to, it may shake us to our core. We may be wrong about what we thought was Truth, and we must be willing to give up what we clung to if we realize it is false. But it is Truth, and hopefully what we’re seeking. Anything less doesn’t do anyone, nor society in general, any justice.

Upping my geek cred

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Apparently my geek (nerd?) credibility has been slipping. So I made up for it today by taking the family to the Sherwood Forest Faire.

I’ve never done a “Renaissance Faire” before, believe it or not. Have wanted to for many years but often I’d learn about the faire after it was over, or schedule conflicts. Well, I knew well in advance this time and was determined to go. Weekend weather has been rough, plus I spend many weekends at KR Training, so opportunity was slipping away… but I demanded it would happen today and it did. Basically, I’ve been so busy in life that I haven’t spent enough time with my family, so by gum some family time was going to happen. 🙂

We all had a fantastic time, and actually had more fun than we expected.

Yes, the moment we walked into the faire, we all kinda stepped back a moment because yes… it did feel like we entered a time warp. It was kinda weird, but cool.

Of course, the moment I entered I was hit by an amusing bit of commerce.

“Programs! Would you like to purchase a program, which has a map and guide? Only 3£!”

“no thank you”. I figured we’d either just wander, or if I really needed it they had a map on their website and I could always just pull it up on  my iPhone.

Then I took a few more steps in.

“Here sir, would you like a map?”

Yeah… they hit you up for the $3 souvenier map first, then hand out a free black and white paper one. Gotta love it. 🙂

And yes, shops… err… shoppes… err.. “ye olde shoppes” were everywhere. Yes, we called everything “ye olde” throughout the day. And I was thinking, was this just going to be shopping? But then we saw all the entertainment, which was great. We saw a “dog show” that we figured would just be a dog doing tricks, but the lady explained a lot of training techniques and how to do things. A lot was familiar to us due to all the intensive training work with did with Sasha, but it was really cool that she wasn’t just showing tricks but also educating the crowd.

The one show we all wanted to see tho was the Sky Kings Falconry raptor bird show. Folks, that was just damn cool. Artemis, their Eurasian Eagle Owl, was awesome. And yes, the black vultures were awesome to watch… well, we thought so. Unfortunately both of them landed on top of a small child’s head… didn’t hurt the kid but sure gave him a fright, poor kid. 🙂

We saw various musicians, lots of belly dancers, Oldest threw some axes, Daughter and Youngest rode on a “jousting” ride. We watched the actual jousting… man, I have to hand it to those guys, taking a beating like that. Can’t be fun to get knocked off a horse, with force, in a full suit of plate armor. But very entertaining. Plus just lots of general entertainment by random people… and who knows if those people were official faire folk or just random folks that came dressed up for their own fun. One guy was dressed I guess as some sort of chaotic evil warrior, kinda creeped Wife out a bit but she did think it was pretty cool after her initial startle reaction. And yes, lots of people dressed in various garb of all favors from around the looseness of the genre. Tho I did see one goth girl walking around… the only way she could have stood out more was if she wore a Stormtrooper costume (Slave Leia would have just blended in).

It was a heck of a lot of fun.  And yes, I can see why people would want to get season passes and come for many weekends. There’s FAR more to do there than I expected, just lots of great and interesting stuff. Just tons of fun. Expensive, but fun. Oh and yes, bring lots of $1 bills… no, not to slip into the cleavage of the saucy wench that served your mead, but because all the performers accept tips and I think it’s right and just to give them some sort of compensation in exchange for the entertainment they gave you.

After the faire, I took the family over to the A-Zone Range, where KR Training holds classes. Tom Givens is in town this weekend teaching a course, and with us so close to the range I wanted to take the family by so they could see where it is and what it is that I slip away for all these weekends (only Daughter has been out there before). Karl was there doing some chores and he showed the family around the property. Everyone got to meet Ribo (Karl’s dog). Got to talk with Lynn Givens (Tom’s wife) for a little while; always a pleasure to see her. Tom was running class so I interrupted only for a moment to shake hands, say hello, and have a quick introduction of the family. A nice little diversion while we were out there.

Oh… and I got to try Lynn’s M&P. She was experimenting with a new gun that has Apex Tactical’s new Forward Set Sear and trigger kit. When I got my M&P I thought seriously about getting that and oh…. after trying it I think I just might. It’s awesome. Wicked tight, a thing of beauty.

I digress. 🙂

It was a fine day. Yes, we’ll go back to the Ren Faire in the future, maybe even doing multiple weekends if time allows. It was a lot of fun, and just a great way to spend a day with the family. And really, that’s what mattered most to me today: being with my family, having fun, making memories.

Thought for today

/ hsoi

We seek security, constantly demanding that there shall be no disturbance; and it is this desire not to be disturbed that makes us avoid what is and fear what might be. Fear is the ignorance of what is, and our life is spent in a constant state of fear.

-Krishnamurti, via Maku mozo!

Quote for the day

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

One last piece of advice — if in doubt and you don’t know what to do, train your balls off and take the last week off. If you’re strong, you’re strong. Weak people find excuses — strong people lift big weights. And to be honest, this last paragraph of advice is all you really need.

– Jim Wendler, from a Blood & Chalk talk.

Jim might be talking about powerlifting, but the concept applies to life period. Weak people find excuses. Strong people lift big weights. Those weights may not be pulling a bunch of 45# plates off the floor. It might be working 4 jobs because you need to feed your family. It might be writing the next big app that will change the world. It might be caring for a sick and disabled loved one, because they cannot care for themselves. Weights aren’t always made of iron, but strong people move those weights every day without excuse.

 

But when we’re doing the hating, it’s acceptable.

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

A friend posted a picture on Facebook. Some of the comments made me shake my head and against my better judgement I commented. The replies were as I expected them to be. I opted to move this to my blog because I didn’t want his Wall/Comments to become a big battleground.

So here’s a screenshot, with names and profile pictures removed/blurred.

My comment is in the middle, “So free speech…”

First, my personal reaction to the bumper sticker. Wow… that’s pretty blatant. Takes a lot of guts to put it on your car too for the whole world to see. Racist? Yes it is. Does the person have a right to say it? Yes they do. Yeah, it shocked me a bit to see it, because it takes a lot of balls to do such a thing. But it doesn’t totally surprise me because I know humans are humans and will always have strong preferences. We’re a country that’s growing very divided, very angry. This is just manifestation of that.

And I’d say, the comments are also manifestation of that.

As you can see, my first reaction was surprise to hear the call for violent response. OK, kinda passive-aggressive violent response, but still a violent response. Destruction of property. A call for criminal behavior, but (apparently) it’s justified because the car owner was being hateful first, amiright? Hrm. So violence is OK if someone is being hateful, but me possibly using violence (i.e. carrying a gun) so I could stop someone from manifesting their hate all over me is not and must be banned. *sigh*

I brought up “free speech” because that’s one they always love to parade about. Well, “free speech” and 1A is all about protecting unpopular speech. If that bumper sticker is anything, it’s unpopular speech. Is it racist? Yes it is. But the car owner still has every right to say it. Just like you have every right to voice your opinion that the sticker is revolting. One difference is the car owner isn’t advocating violence.

Then my favorite comment was the second to the last. The commenter starts off by looking down on a group of people. But I thought we were all equal? Why this air of superiority? It’s almost as if you believe you possess characteristics or abilities that distinguish you as superior (and them as inferior), and that your discrimination and hate is justified — you know, racism but without the skin tone. And if these people are not acceptable, what are you suggesting be done with them, because they exist… so what to do? Round them up? Extinguish them? Why no effort to help them? Where’s the compassion for those of lesser-brain than you? No effort to educate them? No effort to lift them up and help them become better? No… they’re just “asking for it”, apparently… and I guess by “it” you mean violent response? That’s what the other commenters were calling for.

And we cap it off with stereotyping. I reckon this person wasn’t from California, right?

I’m not defending what the car owner is saying; I find it tasteless and hateful. But what I find more disappointing is how these “progressives” can’t see the log in their own eye.