I said they were opposites. How could that possibly compel you to ask this question?
“You will do __________ because I said you will, and if you don’t, I will injure you physically.” People who have this mindset should all be evaporated.
“God will solve all our problems if our faith is strong enough.”
Nothing compelled me but as to why I asked, I asked because your post read to me like a snarky comment on mine. Apologies if that was incorrect.
The idea that someone’s skin color makes them good/bad/smart/whatever.
The car thing I’m guilty of. I buy a new car knowing I’ll trade it in 4 years. I change the oil and replace tires as needed. I wash it right before trading it in, but that’s it.
People who brag about getting through college without taking a single math or science course.
I know not everything is everyone’s cup of tea, but come on. Being ignorant about an entire way of thinking is not something to brag about.
I don’t really get the cartoon cow, but I love the grown up table conversation. It’s how I imagine it even today. 
“I’m angry! I’m angry all of a sudden!”
I detest driving–I had a job in outside sales for a while and that pretty much ruined driving as fun for me. So yeah, I’m with Twickster and will accept applications for a driver and a cabana boy to entertain me.
I don’t understand the entire fascination with NASCAR. What’s fun about watching cars zoom around a track? I ask NASCAR fans that, and one actually said what he finds fun is the wrecks . . .
Even stranger still, my Parents have the “I don’t want to know how it works, I just want it to work” mindset, heck, so does my Sister, I’m the only one with the need to figure out why/how things work, and I’m genetically related to these people, I must have some strange mutant recessive gene or something
Dad I can understand, he was an Executive (Vice President of Clarostat Manufacturing in Dover, NH), he had no need to know why things work, but Mom?, Mom’s a teacher (grade-school art teacher) for Og’s sake, it’s her job to impart knowledge to students, you’d think she’d want to learn herself, but NOOO!, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve answered the very same “how do I do this” computer question, or repeatedly fixed their old home theatre settings, I’ve offered to instruct them in how to select the correct audio source for their TV out, but every month, without fail, it’s “Russ, can you fix the VCR again?”
(their old JVC TV has a wonky tuner, it stutters and has Gran Mal seziures (white static bars on the TV) so I’ve jury-rigged the TV to use the tuner in my old VCR, as it feeds a clean signal, she has to change channels on the VCR, not the TV, invariably she forgets and changes the channel on the TV (universal remote) and I have to re-set the TV back to channel 3 and make sure the VCR is turned back onb, what’s so hard about “change the channels with the VCR, not the TV?”
They really need to bite the bullet and just buy a new TV, but they don’t want to hear that…
It’s got to be a recessive gene…
bolding mine. Yeah. I’m not into gang-bangs either. Sloppy two billionths is a little gross.
:dubious: Please tell me that is a whoosh. “Hello, Kettle? This is Pot. I’ve got some news for you…”
I don’t understand the mindset of the serial e-mail forwarder. You know the ones that end with, “If you forward this to 643.27 people within the next nanosecond than your favorite celebrity will come to your house to orally satisfy you. Otherwise a rabid chipmunk will sneak into your bedroom tonight and eat your left kidney.” Don’t send me any more of your useless twaddle. I get enough useless twaddle from my boss, thank you very much.
Sidewalk spitters and their brethren, the ones shooting snot rockets. The city is messy enough without you expectorating everywhere. I don’t want to play hopscotch around your phlegm just so I can walk to the train. And I especially don’t want to watch you spraying snot out of your nostrils. Use a flipping Kleenex like the rest of the civilized world.
I don’t understand people who believe they are entitled to things. Free education, free food, free money. I work hard for what I have and when things have been rough I have gone without. I’m not expecting anyone to carry me. It might be free to the recipient but someone is paying for it. Namely, the people busting their butts every day, 40 hours a week (and usually a hell of a lot more). I’m not saying people falling on hard times don’t deserve help. I just don’t think they deserve to make a career out of it.
I’m an avid reader, and this causes a lot of confused “I don’t know how you can read all the time” type comments from strangers and the occasional coworker. I’m fairly convinced that these people didn’t have parents who encouraged reading anything interesting when they were really little and that they may not have great reading skills because of that lack of encouragement/practice. “Reading is a chore” as an overarching statement is normally reserved for use by people who either haven’t found a book that’s kept their interest or for those whose reading skills are not sufficient enough to see reading as anything but a difficult task.
Understandable. I had the hardest time convincing someone I knew that girls can like camping and reptiles, despite the fact that she didn’t like that stuff. She also had a hard time believing that my favorite movie genre wasn’t feel good romantic comedies or sappy chick flicks. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where she understands why some of my favorite movies are incredibly depressing (but equally beautiful in their sadness).
I’ve got one or two POVs that I don’t understand:
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The idea that a religious building is a more perfect setting for understanding X form of “god” than nature itself. If one believes in god and believes that god was a creative force and brought about life on earth, then why wouldn’t that god’s creations be an acceptable full representation of god itself?
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This one is slightly tied in to #1: fervent “love of god” accompanied by a hatred/fear of nature and natural environments. Okay, so this is a little bit of an odd thing that I didn’t understand about Christianity. The bible does mention that humans are to be stewards of the earth and all of god’s creations within it, which would presume that at least a fleeting familiarity with nature and an appreciation of it would be appropriate, as it is god’s creation and we are (as humans) responsible for taking care of the earth. Yes, nature can be dangerous (it’s an effective repellent for would-be predators) and not all of nature is kind, but neither are humans, so nature not being “nice” or “safe” in a suburban domesticity kind of way is not a valid excuse for actively destroying the natural world.
To make this idea broader, I don’t quite understand the “I hate nature in general” POV. Nature carries a great deal of beauty with its unpleasant realities, and you don’t necessarily have to be out in the deepest and most wild parts of nature to appreciate some of the beauty and wonder that’s within it. Yes, bugs aren’t fun to deal with when they want to crawl and bite and fly around you, but they’re not the entirety of nature itself. I don’t like to deal with bugs either, but the existence of insects does not completely ruin my experience of the natural world. It’s just a small aspect of a really fascinating and complex environment.
No, this is not a whoosh. I was raised by people like this, and I still have the scars to show it. If this is how important (the generic) you think you are, your ability to reproduce should be revoked. Screw your pot and kettle comment, pal.
People who fantasize about other people burning in Hell.
People who are so sure of themselves that they feel that they should be able to tell people what to do and not to do, just because their belief system is right, not because of the impacts of those behaviors on anyone.
People who refuse to vote. “I hate all politicians! They’re all crooks, so the best thing I can do about it is… nothing! If I ignore it maybe it will go away!”
People who don’t think about things and think that being skeptical and using logic are bad, because faith is always better. This is especially nonsensical when it involves things like guardian angels, magnet therapy, and that sort of thing.
People who spend a lot of money on gambling. I just never feel the thrill, so I don’t “get” it.
Similarly, I don’t understand people who have either everything or grew up with everything (namely money & power/influence) who have an equally strong sense of entitlement. They think they should get everything for free or at a discount that the little people don’t get.
People who believe that the only reason others engage in certain behaviors is to impress people or feel important. It never occurs to them that someone might engage in a behavior simply because they enjoy it.
“Oh, you just read a lot because you want people to think you’re smart.”
“The only reason people go to expensive restaurants is to look rich and elitist.”
“The only reason you hang out with those guys is so you can look so much better than them.”
What a stupid and cynical way to go through life.
I forgot about that one. Several of my neighbors have posters, flags, decals and T-shirts of their favorite drivers and go to the races. I tried watching a few races with them and got bored to tears.
- Drive very fast
- Make left turns
- Repeat 500 times
While they are doing that they try not to hit the other cars. Yippee. I do that on the highway every day and I even throw in a few right turns as well. If you like the crashes then watch a demolition derby.
Similar to the NASCAR fanaticism is the general sports fanatic. I don’t just mean liking football/baseball/bocce ball. I don’t even mean loving the sport so much that you get wrapped up in the action and start yelling at your TV like the players can actually hear you. I mean the people who paint their faces and/or bodies, decorate their homes, cars, clothes, children and pets with their team colors and worship the smallest trivialities of their team. My uncle has turned his entire basement into a Bears den. Chicago Bears posters cover every wall plus the ceiling. The carpet is blue and orange. Every Christmas he puts up an orange and blue tree with orange and blue lights and it is filled with Bears ornaments. He has signed photos of players, autographed footballs, helmets and jerseys. On game day he will be in the basement about 2 hours ahead of time to set up his food and drinks and will not talk to anyone during the game. If anyone talks during the game he will kick them out. He wanted to name his son George after George Halas.
We don’t go to their house on Sundays.
I’ve found you can catch most people on this by asking “Would you sacrafice your own life for your pet?”
Once in a while you’ll get the hardballer who will say “yes” but they’re just plain nuts.
That’s me. I took college level courses in high school, and got high enough grades that I got credit for them in college. I was able to graduate in three years because I did that. I think that’s something worth bragging about.
I read this post and said “What cartoon cow?” so I went back to the link again. The cartoon is different every time you load the page.
Sorry if you misinterpreted what I meant. You said:
I read that as saying, “People who threaten to hurt people should be hurt,” hence the whoosh.
It was not meant as a slam on your opinion about people who want to inflict harm on people for disagreeing with them. I agree with you. However, wanting to vaporize them is a little extreme. I’d suggest exiling them to an island with other people of their ilk. Then they can just inflict their own damage and we don’t have to dirty our hands.