Pride of Place
For the first time since, gasp, the week before Thanksgiving I did a thorough cleaning of my apartment. I mean, I did a quick wipe through after taking down the Christmas tree on December 24th – but other than that I’ve not dusted, swept or scrubbed once.
In my defense, I’d not been home very much. Between Thanksgiving on the Cape, then vacation in Japan, then Christmas on the Cape, then vacation in Montreal…plus spending 4 or 5 nights per week at Randy’s place…I’ve simply not been home to make any messes.
That said, dust still settles and my little Swiffer was surely put to the test yesterday. And now I’m no longer ashamed to have company.
And has anybody seen on the news that proposal in New York City about banning cell phones and iPods in crosswalks? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in ages. The whole point of cell phones (also known as MOBILE phones) and iPods (also known as PORTABLE mp3 players) is that they’re designed for MOBILITY and PORTABILITY. They’re designed to be used on the go.
If you were just going to sit around the house all day you’d use a stereo and a land-line phone and there’d be no need for iPods and cell phones. If the goal of this proposal is to protect people from distraction at intersections, then they’d have to ban newspapers, books, magazines, billboards, signs, guide books, iPods, cell phones…and other people. Because you can be just as easily distracted by any of those things.
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Dirty, dirty boy.
I think all these pseudo-laws to “protect” people need to go away. These people who are so in danger and in need of protection? Do we really WANT these people surviving and spreading their brainlessness to further generations? Let the morons die out, already.
I agree! This reminds me of that old AbFab episode where Edina proposes a Stupidity Tax. Tax all of the stupid people who are incapable of functioning like a rational adult. Of course, this coming from a woman (on the show) arrested for drunk driving, shoplifting, possession of drugs, and assault makes it all the funnier.
Some people get distracted by their giant dust bunnies too.
Well that’s what I hear, anyway. (You know. Since my ears aren’t full of ipoddy goodness.)
As a friend of mine quotes on his blog:
“It’s not that I think stupidity should be punishable by death. I just think we should take the warning labels off of everything and let the problem take care of itself.”
I don’t think it has much to do with protecting the people, as protecting drivers from lawsuits when they hit people who don’t look (or hear) where they are going.
That’s kinda like seat-belt laws. I don’t want the government trying to protect me from myself. New York should just be done with and ban everything – people included.
Hmm…these kinds of busybody laws (brought to us, little doubt, by the Trial Lawyers of America…) suggest two things to me: anybody ever read “Harrison Bergeron” – great Vonnegut short story in which, in a dystopian future, amendments have been passed to the Constitution such that everyone MUST be equal to everyone else in all respects…so the smart people all have a device in their ears which emits a piercing shriek every few seconds, interrupting any train of thought; one can tell who the most graceful ballerina is, because she’s wearing the most weights; one can tell who the most beautiful people are, as they’re wearing the most hideous masks, etc… Slightly off-axis from the world being turned into a rubber-padded cell to protect us all from ourselves, but a symptom of similar motives and ‘thought.’ Also, my favorite bumpersticker: “Save the Planet: Kill Yourself!”
Speaking of ridiculous busybody-PC stuff – anyone hear that the (I thought, as a gay man, really funny) Snickers commercial with the two mechanics ‘kissing’ has, apparently, been pulled from the airwaves thanks to the efforts of ‘our’ advocacy groups like (surprise, surprise) NGLTF and HRC who were just APPALLED at its ‘homophobia.’ Oy. This is REALLY gonna make us look good to MittelAmerika….watch out – humor police on the march! If we can’t laugh at and make jokes about this kinda stuff (i.e.- these boobish straight guys who are so utterly insecure in the commercial…), it’s a REALLY sad day. I’m trying to figure out who I can call at HRC to yell at them….
I was thinking of Harrison Bergeron earlier today when I first read that story on CNN I just couldn’t remember the name of the story (good memory Fred, one piercing shriek for you). One could argue that our society is moving in that direction.
I’m a big fan of Darwinism. If someone is on the cell phone and can’t look both ways before crossing the street they need to deal with the consiquences. We don’t need legislation to protect stupidity.
Oh, god! I LOVED that episode. When she’s just totally off her rocker (more than usual) in the court room, all foaming at the mouth about the Stupidity tax!