Posts
I haven't had a post in a while because until recently nothing has really wound me up enough to draw forth the Stressed Eric style ranting from my cranium. It likely has something to do with a combination of burying myself in my work, drinking red wine and watching Frasier.
Consequently I haven't been able to find a single, large issue that's ground my gears enough to generate a well thought out and (allegedly) well written article. Instead, here are a couple of recent things that have hit my radar.
Pride in conscious incompetence: people who know they aren't any good at something, whether it's driving, their work, cooking, anything. It's not the incompetence that bothers me, it's the pride in not being competent!
Here's an example. Person A sucks at a sport. There are a number of logical and socially acceptable options. The first, is to humbly accept that said sport is not for them, and say nothing more about it other than, "I'm not really good at it, so I don't do it". The second is to seek tuition so that performance may improve.
The one that is not acceptable is to completely disregard something just because Person A can't do it.
Excuse me? "I'm no good at that but <insert excuse here>/<insert slur devaluing the entire sport>.
Now I'm not confining my comments to sports, for sports read job, work, hobby, craft, anything that a person does in a normal life cycle.
Just because you suck at something does not give you the right to demean those who are skilled at it. It does not give you the right to disregard the activity as a whole, just because it's "not your bag".
Here's another example. I hate football. I find it boring, and I can't play it. I'd have more luck trying to solve African hunger with a packet of twig lets than I would have trying to score a hat-trick. The difference is, I recognise the training and skill that goes into playing football. I recognise the social contributions made by the industry; specifically the amount of tax revenue it generates to pay for things like our roads, NHS, defence and other lovely things we take for granted. It gets kids off streets, it brings communities together.
It generate senseless murders and racism, bigotry and sectarianism granted...oh wait, no it doesn't, a mal-educated minority use it as a vehicle for their own sordid affairs, but it in itself does not cause these problems.
Another example, pop music.
I despise Justin Beiber and I'm pretty sure that Lady Gaga, Nicky Minaj and Ke$ha are all the same cyborg sent from the future to cut the throat of real music and drink it's still warm blood.
I do however recognise there are real people making a real wage from these artists' (and I use the term loosely) stage shows; lighting techs; roadies, backing dancers...
I guess in summation I'm saying do not write of something or someone just because you can't do what they do, whether you believe it merits or not.
Most certainly, DO NOT be proud of under achievement or lack of skill. If you can't do something, humbly accept it and move on.
The second thing that's annoyed me this week is this nonsense about the travelling community down south being "evicted". There are plenty of bleeding hearts our there giving a lot of noise about communist/fascist/totalitarian/tory police forces using excessive force. Here's the rundown:
Travelling community don't want to travel?
You don't get to sit down somewhere and build houses. Planning permission wasn't granted, and things like planning permission and building inspectors exist to stop people throwing up shanty towns in the middle of nowhere and then dying when the whole poorly built lot come crashing down in a burning pile of limbs and torsos.
Police brutality?
Ok, here's a notion, if you don't want to be set upon by the authorities, don't throw bricks at them.
Most of the issues have been cause by the bleeding heart protestors. As far as I've read, the travelling community who lived there, bar a few (as is always the case in all things) were happy to move on. It wasn't until these far left activists got involved that the situation turned nasty.
Here's a notion: quit your interfering, your protesting about something that doesn't concern you, got to work, pay tax and contribute to society.
Don't like the way it was handled? There's a democratic process for that.
In Libya, there were protests and a civil way against a dictator with a 42 year record of violence.
In Iraq, a dictator was removed from power, a dictator who used to cut out the tongues of those who spoke against him.
All over the Arab world uprisings against REAL fascism and REAL totalitarianism are having a REAL positive effect on people's lives.
In the UK, we protest about things that don't concern us, just so we can feel good. It makes no difference to anyone other than the residents of that town whether the travellers move on or stay, so why should anyone else get involved.
While I'm on the subject of riots, occupy all the streets? Rally against corporate greed?
Sit down and shut up. Until you can organise your rabble into a coherent movement with a list of demands and an idea of how to get there instead of a bunch of idealistic nonsense with no concrete foundation, stay at home.
I'm done, I can feel a headache coming on so I'm going to do my usual and bury myself in my work and drink some more claret.
