One Cell wrote:
Now that would be pretty impressive! I think the only person who’s succeeded in adding a W to their title thus far is Michael Jackson. 
(But seriously, folks, I have looked into on-line dating services. And off-line dating services, for that matter. Part of the problem is I live in the Silicon Valley, which has a guy-to-gal ratio of, oh, around 75000 to 1.)
Elvis:
You asked ** And how is it that you’re having so much more fun with your own chosen lifestyle that you’re spending Saturday night cruising Internet message boards? Where’s that “lively and fun non-SWME party” you mentioned? **
The answer is that she is right now in the bathroom preparing her pussy to make love, and that is the only time I have to even bother to talk to losers like you.
Hey, let’s get back to the OP’s point. The OP challenged anyone to ask him a question, and I did. What is your two cents at the middle of all this?
Shouldn’t this thread be titled: Ask The Patriarchal Oppressor?
Well, my two cents, though I’m not a SWME is that your question isn’t worthy of discussion, as it depends on assumptions that are wrong, and you’re being insulting as well.
That one made me inhale my nicotine gum.
Elvis:
First of all, I’d like to apologize if I inadvertently called the SWME people a bunch of losers. I was too drunk when I said that, and I am sorry if it insulted anyone. But please give me a credit that, at least, I was cruising the Internet rather than driving under influence.
Now that I have some of my faculties back together, I’d like to answer your rightful question: What are YOUR attributes that make you so special and fascinating to others?
1- I do not believe I am an egocentric. Most SWMEs I’ve met seem to be proud of the fact that they sold their high-tech NASDAQ stocks when it was at 5,000 and diverted their portfolio into bonds or money market funds. They seem to have contempt for those who were not as “smart”, let alone us little non-SWMEs who were never interested nor could afford to buy stocks during the boom years. Does that mean I am envious of the SWMEs? Hell, no. They have bigger problems to face next time when they won’t be so lucky.
2- When I give a party or go to someone else’s party, I try to find out who is going to be there and what are their tastes in music, food, favorite subjects, etc. In preparation for the occasion, I spend tens of hours taping or burning a custom-built CD as background music, or preparing delicacies made to the taste of that specific audience. Most SWME’s I know, would think that a mere bottle of Mois-Chandon champagne would suffice.
3- If the party is at my place, there are candles and flowers galore, let alone the custom-built music for dance, and the food-made-to-the taste of-invitees and intellectually stimulating topics for discussion. If I cannot afford that, everyone will be at the beach or the local lake with firewood, and sandwiches from your local Submarine franchise. But, I’d make sure that there is a heater canister for that thin little lady who is an interesting personality , but gets cold easily. Most SWME’s I know, either think that everyone is responsible for their own wellness, or at most, the SWME is merely prepared to pay the bill. They simply don’t give a shit about other people’s special needs, let alone the needs of Africa.
4- So, SWME’s are not materialistic? If they are not, who is? One of the nice attributes of non-SWME’s is that they are generally free – mentally. Most SWMEs are not even aware why $300 billion of everyone’s tax dollars in the US are going to defense (to serve what purpose?). If it is to get rid of Saddam Hussein, Bin-Lada, Ayatollah Khamanei, or Gaddafy, we could hit them with our Precision Weapons guided by satellites at any second. It makes me shiver to see the absolute ignorance of the SWME’s about the world affairs. And though, the same ass-holes are the board members of the fortune 500 corporations in the United States and other “1st world” countries.
5- And, of course, there is that God and religion thing. I believe the majority of the SWMEs are either into that , or they like to see the none-SWMEs getting busy with that shit. After all, the M in SWME stands for marriage. And here is the latest logic statement from deductive science:
Therefore :
Marriage is an institution for the blind."
And there goes my five attributes. And I have not even touched the subject of Unions in giant corporations nor the E in SWME. Please read the recently published book: White Color Sweat Shops.
Now, what are your attributes?
Are you happy?
I am happy only when I do my best to make other people happy
Insufficient answer.
Again. Are you happy?
Happiness is something you find out about, after you have experienced it. There is no state of happiness at the time it happens, unless you are fornicating or “you’re high” (fucked?)
I do not understand your insistence on the definition of “happiness” as opposed to the point: Debating the OP.
Are you a mere hijacker on some kind of a dope? (Like I was, when I insulted the OP)
You really should not be acknowledged as a legitimate participant in this debate, simply because you have nothing to say or add to the OP
Now, since you have been a pest, insulting and hijacking further the OP, here is an illustration of happiness:
If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap
If you want happiness for a day, go for a picnic
If you want happiness for a week, go on a vacation
If you want happiness for a month, get married
If you want happiness for a year, inherit wealth
And if you want to know what happiness is beyond a year, you are in the wrong place. We have problems to solve – And we have no time for inquiring minds that are here with nothing to contribute except a mere “wish to know”.
Maybe they have had a bad experience with marriage in the past and would rather dog paddle through a swimming pool full of razor blades than do that again.
Just a guess.
The specific needs of the SWME are not usually addressed because, in our culture, they are taken as the implied basline for any discussion of any other group.
So quit whining: your privileges are acknowledged implicitly in any SDMB thread about oppression or racism or inequality or discrepancy of opportunity, etc.
In any case, I have my feet in two different camps: I’m “straight appearing,” white, and employed. So I feel somewhat qualified to chime in in threads from either perspective. In addition, gay people are more qualified to contribute to discussions about the straight world because we live in the straight world; whereas very, very few straight people live in a predominantly gay world.
Uh oh. I better get out of here then.
Changed my mind. I’m back
Goboy. I am fully aware of the income devide in this country. YOU try driving around in last years SUV while all your friends are driving brand new Porsches!
Since the title of this thread is “ask the white guy” and not “bitch about all the inequalities in life”, I’ll try to answer some of your questions.
I’m sure they do. It’s just that the shows do not have any gay main characters. Sex in the City does have several reoccuring gay characters and is a little less conservative than Friends.
Because I don’t want to hear uncle Pussy talking about how “I was bangin’ dis dude in da ass last night”. As far as I know, the Mafia isn’t really an equal opportunity employer.
I don’t personally know any SBPWJ’s so I can’t comment one way or the other.
I don’t particularly care about gay people one way or the other. I just don’t want their gayness in my face any more than the gals at work want me throwing my sexual exploits in their face.
I don’t particularly like dot-commers. Anyone who works 120 hours a week for little pay and useless stock options at a company that should never been formed in the first place deserves to be broke and unemployed if they spend those options on $1 m homes and cars before the options are exercised.
Dr.Pinky wrote:
I’d rather dive
Into a swimming pool
Filled with double-edged razor blades
Than spend … one more minute … with you.
– Weird Al Yankovic, “One More Minute”
Crabby aren’t you? So, I’d guess you’re not happy.
The reason for the question was simple: with all that you have going for you, you are either generally happy with life or not. If not, then you screwed up somewhere. From the initial basis of your post, it seems that you have almost everything which anyone could reasonably wish for with which to live a comfortable life, but does it make you happy?
To define happy as you did is to split hairs down to the molecular level, better known as being obscure or vague. I think most folks, having what you seem to have, would have instantly responded ‘yes’.
Was that so difficult now?
Funny, the whole board is filled with inquiring minds wishing to know about things, except, of course, in this particular post I guess.
The Gay Guy is agog.
Esprix
<i> Most SWMEs I?ve met seem to be proud of the fact that
they sold their high-tech NASDAQ stocks when it was at
5,000 and diverted their portfolio into bonds or money market funds.
</i>
Well, what’s wrong with making money on an intelligent
gamble? Okay, I wouldn’t term it intelligence per se,
more like “ability to see the blinding obvious”. But is
this really such a terrible thing, to get lucky on the
stock market?
<i>
They seem to have contempt for those who were not as ?smart?, let alone us little non-SWMEs who were never
interested nor could afford to buy stocks during the boom years.
</i>
This, in my particular WME opinion, is dumb. It took the
IQ of a chimp to see the tech bubble was going to burst
from the beginning. Whoop-de-do. I don’t approve of snobs
who look down their noses at other people because they
don’t have a brokerage account.
<i>
Does that mean I am envious of the SWMEs? Hell, no. They have bigger problems to face next time when they won?t be so lucky.
</i>
Bah. You’re jealous. Better lose your pretensions pretty
quick, they’re wearing real thin.
<i>When I give a party or go to someone else?s party, I try to find out who is going to be there and what are their tastes in music, food, favorite subjects, etc. In preparation for the occasion, I spend tens of hours taping or burning a custom-built CD as background music, or preparing delicacies made to the taste of that specific audience. Most SWME?s I know, would think that a mere bottle of Mois-Chandon champagne would suffice.
</i>
Yeah, I think this one is accurate. Spending money is
considered more important than spending time. Since these
guys are so rich from their stock options, which is really
a more valuable gift? I don’t approve of this either.
<i>If the party is at my place, there are candles and flowers galore,</i>
Well, speaking strictly as a WME, candles and flowers
don’t make a party for me. Generally what I want is good
music and interesting people.
<i>let alone the custom-built music for dance, and the food-made-to-the taste of-invitees and intellectually stimulating topics for discussion. If I cannot afford that, everyone will be at the beach or the local lake with firewood, and sandwiches from your local Submarine franchise.</i>
Ehhh… I’m gonna call you a little bit on the convo.
One man’s “intellectually stimulating” is another man’s
“boring as hell.” Can you converse intelligently on
the architecture of microcontrollers? Or would such
convo just put you to sleep?
<i>But, I?d make sure that there is a heater canister for that thin little lady who is an interesting personality , but gets cold easily. Most SWME?s I know, either think that everyone is responsible for their own wellness, or at most, the SWME is merely prepared to pay the bill. They simply don?t give a shit about other people?s special needs, let alone the needs of Africa.
</i>
Yeah, guilty. Most guys I know don’t like being mothered. If we’re cold we know where to get our own jacket. And since that’s how we are, we try and “do the right thing” (from our POV) to others.
<i>So, SWME?s are not materialistic? If they are not, who is? One of the nice attributes of non-SWME?s is that they are generally free - mentally.
</i>
Well, it’s true that I own a fancy car (which really
is not mine yet - it’s still the bank’s). It’s also true
that on a daily basis, I drive a beaten up old Civic. I
live in a two-room apartment (“neighbors knocking on the
wall” as Tom Petty said). My favorite posession is an
old piece o’ crap guitar my friend gave me to try and
learn on. I’m typing these words on a Pentium 90 that
hasn’t been able to run Windows since 3.1 went out of style.
I have a mountain bike. My mom bought it for me as a
birthday present when I was still in high school. Going
on 8 years old now. I do have a big TV - someone was
selling their used 27" TV for $150. No cable though, it
isn’t worth the money. Ain’t crap on TV, and generally
never has been. No VCR or DVD player. I’d like to get
a PlayStation 2, because then I can get a few games
and also watch DVDs. But that will be beyond my means for
a couple more months here. I didn’t have a couch for
a long time, I sat on the floor. Then my parents threw
out their old crappy two-seat couch and it was small
enough to fit, so that’s been nice.
I think the point I’m trying to make here is that
you’re painting with a fairly broad brush. I’m not
entirely opposed to stereotypes, so long as people
keep in mind that they are stereotypes, and the
stereotypes are fairly accurate. I’m not sure where
you live - perhaps the white male population there
is different from where I am.
<i>Most SWMEs are not even aware why $300 billion of everyone?s tax dollars in the US are going to defense (to serve what purpose?). If it is to get rid of Saddam Hussein, Bin-Lada, Ayatollah Khamanei, or Gaddafy, we could hit them with our Precision Weapons guided by satellites at any second. It makes me shiver to see the absolute ignorance of the SWME?s about the world affairs. And though, the same ass-holes are the board members of the fortune 500 corporations in the United States and other ?1st world?
countries.
</i>
Now just one cotton pickin’ minute there, bub!
First of all, the VAST majority of SWMEs do not sit
on the board of Fortune 500 companies. That’s as stupid
a stereotype as saying that black men are wife-beaters
because you saw OJ on TV.
Secondly, personally speaking, I got sodomized by the
IRS this year, and I am fucking bitter as hell about it. ESPECIALLY because I know EXACTLY what that money is
going towards.
Roughly 30% will be used to make more bombs and do
stupid shit like invading a country that did nothing
to even vaguely threatening to the US. I don’t like
Saddam Hussien, but he sure as hell didn’t do anything
that could justify the USA invading his country. Saudi
Arabia could have taken care of that themselves. No
reason for us to be over there killing our young men -
overwhelmingly by “friendly” fire. That sucks ass. I resent
every last cent of the money that will be used to build
new bombers and pull us into a new cold war with China. Fucking death!
Another 30% or so will go towards social security. But
not MY social security. Social Security is going down
the tubes and everyone knows it. The money I pay for
SS will NOT be given back to me when I retire. One
need only look at Britian to see how easy it is for
this to happen. The money will be LONG GONE, used to
pay people who retired before me. I don’t begrude them
the money, but I highly resent being FORCED to pay for something that I’m told is “for my own good” when it’s clearly NOT. Also, I am lucky - my employer CHOOSES to
give me a 401k that I can invest in. I will have something
to retire on. Many, many people - many of them poor and underclass - are not lucky like me. They will be TOTALLY SCREWED when SS goes belly up in 30 years. So once again the fat cats will light their cigars with $100 bills, and the poor will get fucked in the ass - with the government’s
complete approval. And don’t even get me started on
that incredibly stupid “let’s gamble away retirement
funds on the stock market” talk those Washington
shitheads are currently discussing.
And, finally, the last 30% goes to things I don’t
mind or actually like. AIDS research, the arts,
social safety nets, etc.
I had to take out a loan to pay my taxes this year.
I’m getting fucked so uncle sam can build more bombers.
Not know? Are you kidding?? I know and I’M PISSED AS
HELL!
<i>
And, of course, there is that God and religion thing. I believe the majority of the SWMEs are either into that,
or they like to see the none-SWMEs getting busy with that shit.
</i>
Maybe. But this SWEM hates evangelical religious types.
I have a bumper sticker on my Civic - “He died in
AD 33 - get over it.” (You can buy your own from
http://www.pegasuspublishing.net) I have no truck with
the fucking religious right and their hypocritical
attempts to brainwash kids into believing ideas with
no basis in fact or logic.
<i>
After all, the M in SWME stands for marriage.
</i>
Actually, in my case it stands for “male.” Straight (but
not narrow), White, Male, Employed. And not going to
take any shit just because I was born a certain color,
am a certain gender, and happen to be lucky enough to have
a job.
I don’t mind marriage, though I’m not terribly interested
in it at the moment. I’m all for allowing same-sex or poly
marriages. Far as I’m concerned, a marriage is essentially
an agreement between two or more consenting adults. The
government has no business saying who can or can’t be married. It is entirely up to the people involved.
-Ben