# I've seen the future, and this is it: **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 26, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486 "2009-02-26T05:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/201 "2009-02-27T20:37:34Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > I thought the $400 toilet seat supposedly happened under Reagan. Damn that liberal tax-and-spend bastard! > > And frankly, $50 isn’t extravagant for a hammer. [Indeed](http://hardware.hardwareandtools.com/search?w=hammer). Two hammers for sale at the “Internet’s Largest Hardware Store”. One for 27.59 and one for 100.39. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/202 "2009-02-27T20:42:27Z")
> [@Claptree](#): > > [Indeed](http://hardware.hardwareandtools.com/search?w=hammer). > > Two hammers for sale at the “Internet’s Largest Hardware Store”. One for 27.59 and one for 100.39. Even a basic [Stanley](javascript:BuyProduct(29765843,12464,2)😉 will cost you around $30. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/203 "2009-02-27T20:47:11Z")
Yes. But we’re talking about the good old days in the Reagan 80’s when everything cost a nickel and champagne flowed from your butthole. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/204 "2009-02-27T20:47:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Do you honestly believe that conservatism is what prevents every citizen from having to give 95% of what they make to the government? Yeah, you’re right. I’m probably wrong here, given that a great many liberals I’ve encountered in life are actually suppressed communists awaiting their time to shine. The ultimate percentage would more likely be around 100%. 😃 > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > No, what has provided that is exploitation of the working classes. Well said, comrade. Power to the people! (See what I mean, **RA**?) What a load of shit! What classroom indoctrinated you into believing that crap? There’s a guy I know who sets up and repairs computer networks. His wife does surveys for a marketing company. They have two teenage kids. They live in a nice suburban three bedroom home. They drive nice cars, have nice clothes, go out to dinner often and their home has all the modern amenites with regard to electronic entertainment. I know another guy who drives for a national delivery company and whose (Hispanic and here legally) wife supervises three McDonald’s restaurants. The have three kids. They live in a nice suburban two-story home, well furnished, with nice cars including one for the oldest child and benefits for all. I know another guy who teaches at a prison. His wife is self-employed and works out of her home. They have a nice three-bedroom suburban home, two nice vehicles and are raising their grandson whose mother is a druggie. I know another guy who works his ass off at three jobs delivering auto parts and periodical publications. His wife works customer service at Khol’s department store. You know the drill: nice suburban home, new truck, yadda, yadda, yadda. I could go on listing people like this for hours. Care to tell me how they’re oppressing the working class? Hell, they are the working class – the very proletariat you claim to champion. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > As long as you yourself are not in the segment of the population being more deprived, of course. See? Even your terminology is inflammatory. They’re not just poor or disadvantaged, they’re _deprived_, as though someone was withholding things from them deliberately. Again, what a hoad of looey. With rare exception, there’s nothing to prevent any of those people from working their way out of their situation. They can work their way up at McDonalds; they can drive three delivery jobs; they can go to work for FedEx; etc., etc., etc. Nobody and no economic class is holding these people down. True, some, due to circumstances beyond their control, would be precluded from earning their way out of poverty, but for the vast majority of people who are “deprived” their deprivation is of their own making. There is no class in this country, economic or otherwise, that prevents them from working hard or getting an education and bettering themselves. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/205 "2009-02-27T20:49:01Z")
You’re too dense even to realize when you’re being satirized, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/206 "2009-02-27T20:51:28Z")
And the award for the weakest, most intellectually dishonest and dissembling post of the year goes to… ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/207 "2009-02-27T20:51:46Z")
So who’s the original author of what you just posted, **Plagiarizing Artist**? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/208 "2009-02-27T20:55:26Z")
Did you like it? I thought it up all by myself. Hmm…come to think of it though I did forget to attribute it to me. :smack: Dang! I hope nobody thinks I was trying to steal it from me, or that I wanted everybody to think it was me who wrote it instead of myself. Man, this just isn’t my day. ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/209 "2009-02-27T20:59:27Z")
Ah, **Starving Artist** , Man of the People, Friend of Several Families, Defender of All That is Right and True, Guardian of Truth and The American Way, Stalwart Defender Against All Things Liberal and Destructive, Protector of the Little Man and his Little Family and their Little Business. This board is richer for having you. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/210 "2009-02-27T20:59:54Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Yes. But we’re talking about the good old days in the Reagan 80’s when everything cost a nickel and champagne flowed from your butthole. Response #1: “Uh, friend, that wasn’t champagne.” Or Response #2: But Olestra products didn’t come out until the mid 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/211 "2009-02-27T21:02:56Z")
> [@Claptree](#): > > Ah, **Starving Artist** , Man of the People, Friend of Several Families, Defender of All That is Right and True, Guardian of Truth and The American Way, Stalwart Defender Against All Things Liberal and Destructive, Protector of the Little Man and his Little Family and their Little Business. > > This board is richer for having you. Thank you. (Humble smilie) ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/212 "2009-02-27T21:03:39Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And the award for the weakest, most intellectually dishonest and dissembling post of the year goes to… **Starving Artist** for the stolen story “I’ve seen the future, and this is it:” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/213 "2009-02-27T21:08:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There’s a guy I know who sets up and repairs computer networks. **His wife does surveys for a marketing company**. They have two teenage kids. They live in a nice suburban three bedroom home. They drive nice cars, have nice clothes, go out to dinner often and their home has all the modern amenites with regard to electronic entertainment. > > I know another guy who drives for a national delivery company and whose (Hispanic and here legally) **wife supervises three McDonald’s restaurants**. The have three kids. They live in a nice suburban two-story home, well furnished, with nice cars including one for the oldest child and benefits for all. > > I know another guy who teaches at a prison. **His wife is self-employed and works out of her home**. They have a nice three-bedroom suburban home, two nice vehicles and are raising their grandson whose mother is a druggie. > > I know another guy who works his ass off at three jobs delivering auto parts and periodical publications. **His wife works customer service at Khol’s department store**. You know the drill: nice suburban home, new truck, yadda, yadda, yadda. (Bolding mine.) It used to be possible to have that kind of lifestyle on one income. I am not suggesting that women are not capable, or should not be in the workforce if they want to be. I highlight it only as an example of the trend in income disparity, which has lately seen the rich get richer, and everyone else work harder just to stay where they are. We could probably debate the must equitable distribution (and the way this thread has gone, who knows). Personally, I don’t believe either the “crush the capitalist oppressors” or “every man for himself” camps have it right. And I am suspicious of arguments that try to push for extremes. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/214 "2009-02-27T21:11:22Z")
I suspect **Plagiarizing Artist** of making up all of his examples, as he has shown that he has no problem with intellectual dishonesty of one sort or another. Pretty easy to say “I know fifteen people who have a nice house and a nice lifestyle and prove my point perfectly” on the Internet. Although it’s entirely possible that **PA** just copied and pasted his examples from some other website, based on his track record. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/215 "2009-02-27T21:12:28Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Response #1: “Uh, friend, that wasn’t champagne.” Really? But my girlfriend said it tickled her nose. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/216 "2009-02-27T21:15:14Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I suspect **Plagiarizing Artist** of making up all of his examples, as he has shown that he has no problem with intellectual dishonesty of one sort or another. > > Pretty easy to say “I know fifteen people who have a nice house and a nice lifestyle and prove my point perfectly” on the Internet. Although it’s entirely possible that **PA** just copied and pasted his examples from some other website, based on his track record. Huh? What? Oh, don’t mind me…I’m just playin’ out rope. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/217 "2009-02-27T21:16:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Thank you. (Humble smilie) Hint (almost certainly in vain): That was satire too. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/218 "2009-02-27T21:17:28Z")
Do tell? (I’m really beginning to wonder about you, **Elvis** ) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/219 "2009-02-27T21:18:24Z")
Yep. In vain. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486/220 "2009-02-27T21:20:41Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Oh, don’t mind me…I’m just playin’ out rope. Is that a new way to talk about trolling? (Trolling was originally just playing out fishing lines with baited hooks – and nothing to do with mythical Nordic creatures living under bridges). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-seen-the-future-and-this-is-it/487486.md?page=12)