The $%*! frustration thread

[Sajainta]

I learned about Noam Chomsky in linguistics too.

Hehe Nim Chimpsky...

[Thought]

More than a frustration but not quite a hate: Arizona passes anti-illegal immigrant law

It is bad enough that this law essentially subverts the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty.

But not only that, it essentially invites racism by making the criteria for identifying potential illegal immigrants "reasonable suspicion."

But not only that, take a look at the comments people have left. It would be one thing if the supporters of this law had compassion for the victims that this law will undoubtedly produce and that compassion was merely overcome by an adherence to what they saw as legal behavior.

This article isn't frustrating, I don't hate the subject, but it does make me heart-sick. In the words of Cicero (I think...), "Oh the times! Oh the morals!"

[Sajainta]

People are being douchebaggy on my Facebook wall.

Lord J to the rescue!  XDXDXD

[Sajainta]

Also, the Christmas lights I had around my desk burned out.  That sucks. 

[Lord J Esq]

Nooo! I have a very long, lovely string of Christmas lights (I call them "faerie" lights) hanging in my bedroom. I've had them for years and they've brought me a lot of comfort and cheer. But their little bulbs began burning out en masse last year, so I stopped using them until I could buy replacements, since, as more bulbs burn out, the voltage on the remaining ones becomes higher, increasing the burnout rate. Well, I bought replacement bulbs with a few spare dollars around the Solstice, and they turned out to be the wrong kind! I've had to go without my faerie lights ever since, for lack of money to buy even more replacement bulbs, and this has been quite dismaying. =(

As for the Facebook person, I was wary of being rude to a total stranger in somebody else's Facebook status, especially since I didn't know if he was merely joking with you. But it seemed like he was being serious. I'm glad you didn't mind my chiming in. His comment, if sincere, was blisteringly disrespectful and Facebook is not the place for that kind of misbehavior.

[Sajainta]

It was sincere.  He's the youth pastor of my old high school.  He returned with a really fantastic preachy comment.

[Lord J Esq]

In a sense I can sympathize with his inability to apologize for his intolerance. But since he happens to have picked the wrong position to hold, his intolerance is inexcusable. I don't understand people who cause trouble on Facebook any more than I understand people who cause trouble on YouTube. It's beyond mere ordinary pointlessness. It's a special brand of egotistical absurdity. For all that his tone was kind, his action was most definitely not.

Speaking of kindness, one of the things I've learned about human nature is that, oftentimes, that famous Christian "kindness" is more of a construct to reassure the believer in their own moral rectitude than it is an actual devotion to kindness itself. Given that I know a little bit more about some of your frustrations than he does, I can see how his preaching not only is disrespectful because of the setting, but how his attempt to be "kind" to you in this way is likely to produce a hurtful effect. Too many Christians--too many people, regardless of their views on divinity--are so beholden to their own desires that they can be utterly blind to reality. "Must preach! Must proselytize! This is kindness! Must show kindness!"

You know the world has room for improvement when Lord J, Esquire can ever be considered a model of good behavior on the Internet. =/

As to the other item: If you come across a few spare dollars, I think you should replace your desktop faerie lights! Lights are a gift that give and give.

[Uboa]

Too many Christians--too many people, regardless of their views on divinity--are so beholden to their own desires that they can be utterly blind to reality. "Must preach! Must proselytize! This is kindness! Must show kindness!"

What irks me about the inability of people to see past their own beliefs is just how creepy they can come off sometimes.  Proclaiming that all human beings are destined to attain awareness of, essentially, some dude in the sky is a little odd to say the least.  The sense inevitability that comes with this proclamation is what pushes it into the realm of the creepy if you ask me.  Not to mention all of the talk about being cleansed by blood, and so on, that is often in tow.

[ZeaLitY]

Fuck Oklahoma. Burn the fucking state. Two veto overrides mean this bullshit is now law:

The first, a similar form of which was struck down by Oklahoma courts last year, requires "a doctor or technician to set up the monitor where the woman can see it and describe the heart, limbs and organs of the fetus. No exceptions are made for rape and incest victims." This is already invasive — Dionne Scott of the Center for Reproductive Rights calls it "the most extreme ultrasound requirement in the country."

The second law, however, is even more disturbing. Basically, it protects doctors from being sued if they decide not to tell patients that their fetus has birth defects. Writes McKinley, "The intent of the bill is to prevent parents from later suing doctors who withhold information to try to influence them against having an abortion."

Hoping some brave Spartacus comes forward and axes these fucking things for being unconstitutional, just like the last OK bill that would have publicized names of those who got abortions.

[Truthordeal]

Fuck Oklahoma. Burn the fucking state.

My mother lives in Oklahoma, you douche. I understand and sympathize with your frustration but quit treating the entire state as if it were one giant entity that represses abortion rights.

[tushantin]

What frustrates me? All this...

[Lord J Esq]

This kind of stuff just blows my bagpipes:

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1103ap_eu_britain_election.html

The tragic flaw of the media is that, if made to choose, they'll always pick the story above the truth. So, when the UK prime minister calls one of the British voters a bigot, no one stops to ponder whether or not he might actually be right. No one dwells upon the issue of xenophobia. No one sees any interest in pursuing that line of conversation at all. Instead, his comment is declared a colossal blunder and he is given longer odds on winning the election. I'll grant that his making the comment in private rather than to the voter's face was foolish, but I understand why he did it. Our democratic systems press candidates into the most torturous of contortions in order that they might revere the general public as the grandest good in the universe. This willful lie is a diversion from the great tragedy of democracy: it's democratic.

Blecch. Dishonesty and stupidity abound. Maybe this means I wouldn't be cut out to hold elected office in a democracy, not for any lack of qualification to discharge the duties of the office, but for my unwillingness to lick the public's boots. I would never be one of those cynical lying cowards who conceals his opinions and activities in the hopes of winning office. But I would also never be one of those cynical opportunistic pricks in the media who jumps on a candidate for saying something that may damn well be true, and, if true, ought to be seriously addressed in the national conversation.

[ZeaLitY]

Fuck Oklahoma. Burn the fucking state.

My mother lives in Oklahoma, you douche. I understand and sympathize with your frustration but quit treating the entire state as if it were one giant entity that represses abortion rights.

Hahahahaha. If I were to show you my driver's license, which state do you think it'd be from?

[FaustWolf]

[Thought]

Inspired by the "Love" thread:

I am quite frustrated by the cost of video game soundtracks, particularly for older games. I've had my eye of the SoM sound track for some time now, as well as the CT sound track, but I am always reluctant to plunk down that much money. I am cheap.

One of the really nice things about the Wii shop channel is that it addresses the market for old video games. Now if someone would just do the same but for old video game music.