Terrible Editorials, Opinion Pieces and Letters to the Editor

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Mecca-Benghazi: Mar 31, 2012

Don't tell that person about 4-H then. Good program, by the way.

# ? Apr 23, 2013 23:26

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# ? May 11, 2024 07:29

I AM GRANDO: Aug 20, 2006

Fandyien posted:

I only skimmed that whole thing but the first few paragraphs are really weirdly sexual about the young, muscled, nubile boy in question. That's creepy as all gently caress.

There's a lot of aesthetic celebration of the male form there, child and adult. Especially when they're nude together. Unworthy of celebration or recognition outside of sexual reproduction: the female body.

I think the homoeroticism is largely a function of the outrageous sexism and sexual separatism, rather than the other way around. Maybe these people are so terrified of gays because they really would desire a world with no women. Not because they are sexually attracted to men, but because women are so alien to literally every aspect of life that this fuckhead seems to enjoy and cherish.

Did I just crack the code? Conservatives have to hate gays so that they don't drive themselves to homosexuality as a function of their hatred of women?

# ? Apr 24, 2013 00:08

Bel_Canto: Apr 23, 2007; "Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo."

Jack Gladney posted:

There's a lot of aesthetic celebration of the male form there, child and adult. Especially when they're nude together. Unworthy of celebration or recognition outside of sexual reproduction: the female body.

I think the homoeroticism is largely a function of the outrageous sexism and sexual separatism, rather than the other way around. Maybe these people are so terrified of gays because they really would desire a world with no women. Not because they are sexually attracted to men, but because women are so alien to literally every aspect of life that this fuckhead seems to enjoy and cherish.

Did I just crack the code? Conservatives have to hate gays so that they don't drive themselves to homosexuality as a function of their hatred of women?

Kind of, yes. Patriarchy/male supremacy and homoeroticism are pretty much inseparable, and in any society or social group that institutionalized rigid separation of men and women, you're going to see a whole lot of homoeroticism come creeping to the surface. Any guys who's been in a high school or college locker room is aware of this on a basic level: the constant affirmations of heterosexuality and denials of gayness exist precisely because people are aware, even if unconsciously, that there's a homoerotic vibe in the room. Homoeroticism has to be constantly fought off in a patriarchal setting because it's seen as feminine behavior, even though the gap between admiring masculinity and admiring men is so thin as to be functionally nonexistent.

# ? Apr 24, 2013 00:31

The Vosgian Beast: Aug 13, 2011; Business is slow

So are terrible political blogs of any kind allowed here, or do we stick to stuff that has been published in big magazines?

The Vosgian Beast fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Apr 24, 2013

# ? Apr 24, 2013 01:12

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Matt Yglesias with the contrarianism slam dunk!

quote:

It's very plausible that one reason American workplaces have gotten safer over the decades is that we now tend to outsource a lot of factory-explosion-risk to places like Bangladesh where 87 people just died in a building collapse.* This kind of consideration leads Erik Loomis to the conclusion that we need a unified global standard for safety, by which he does not mean that Bangladeshi levels of workplace safety should be implemented in the United States.

I think that's wrong. Bangladesh may or may not need tougher workplace safety rules, but it's entirely appropriate for Bangladesh to have different�and, indeed, lower�workplace safety standards than the United States.

The reason is that while having a safe job is good, money is also good. Jobs that are unusually dangerous�in the contemporary United States that's primarily fishing, logging, and trucking�pay a premium over other working-class occupations precisely because people are reluctant to risk death or maiming at work. And in a free society it's good that different people are able to make different choices on the risk�reward spectrum. There are also some good reasons to want to avoid a world of unlimited choice and see this as a sphere in which collective action is appropriate (I'll gesture at arguments offered in Robert Frank's The Darwin Economy and Tom Slee's No One Makes You Shop At Walmart if you're interested), but that still leaves us with the question of "which collective" should make the collective choice.

Bangladesh is a lot poorer than the United States, and there are very good reasons for Bangladeshi people to make different choices in this regard than Americans. That's true whether you're talking about an individual calculus or a collective calculus. Safety rules that are appropriate for the United States would be unnecessarily immiserating in much poorer Bangladesh. Rules that are appropriate in Bangladesh would be far too flimsy for the richer and more risk-averse United States. Split the difference and you'll get rules that are appropriate for nobody. The current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine. American jobs have gotten much safer over the past 20 years, and Bangladesh has gotten a lot richer.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/24/international_factory_safety.html

I have no idea if this is satire or not. On one hand, no one could actually think this and be smart enough to produce coherent sentences. On the other hand, Matt Yglesias is an rear end in a top hat.

# ? Apr 24, 2013 23:04

Pththya-lyi: Nov 8, 2009; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2020

Anthony Esolen posted:

creepy poo poo about young boys

Don't worry, dude! There are Boy Scout alternatives, like the Christian Service Brigade, to satisfy your evangelical heteronormative brainwashing needs!

Also, as a childless woman, I'm not preparing any hypothetical sons specifically to please their even more hypothetical wives. I'd teach them respect for women - letting women make their own decisions without judgment will be a big part of that - and to cook and clean for themselves so they don't have to live a squalid "bachelor" lifestyle if they should end up alone (which will be cool if they choose it!) but I will be damned if I ballroom dance with my pubescent son. That's not as creepy and pseudo-pedophilic as father-son skinny dipping, but mainly because the participants' clothes remain on.

# ? Apr 24, 2013 23:31

I AM GRANDO: Aug 20, 2006

Pththya-lyi posted:

Don't worry, dude! There are Boy Scout alternatives, like the Christian Service Brigade, to satisfy your evangelical heteronormative brainwashing needs!

Also, as a childless woman, I'm not preparing any hypothetical sons specifically to please their even more hypothetical wives. I'd teach them respect for women - letting women make their own decisions without judgment will be a big part of that - and to cook and clean for themselves so they don't have to live a squalid "bachelor" lifestyle if they should end up alone (which will be cool if they choose it!) but I will be damned if I ballroom dance with my pubescent son. That's not as creepy and pseudo-pedophilic as father-son skinny dipping, but mainly because the participants' clothes remain on.

Well, it's vital for his successful passage through the state of vir futurus that he never become comfortable with the sight of female genitals, so that they might remain terrifying and unknown. At the same time, he must get constant reinforcement that his own are normal, natural, and a sense of great pride. In a healthy time, he could count on seeing tons of dicks--well-respected dicks like the mayor's, his gym teacher's, perhaps that of the president of the chamber of commerce--without anyone thinking it was weird, but this in not a healthy time. Instead, his father must contrive lots of occasions where he can display his dick to him without making it seem like he's contriving an occasion to display his dick.

God, the thing that gets me most about this passage is that it describes a social world that no longer exists--that never did exist. The world it takes as normal and time-honored comes entirely from old issues of Reader's Digest and 1950's-era school moral hygiene films. It's like he just came out of a 60-year coma and the first thing he did was pick up a newspaper and read an article about the boy scouts and this was his reply.

# ? Apr 24, 2013 23:47

Alec Bald Snatch: Sep 12, 2012; by exmarx

Badger of Basra posted:

Matt Yglesias with the contrarianism slam dunk!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/24/international_factory_safety.html

I have no idea if this is satire or not. On one hand, no one could actually think this and be smart enough to produce coherent sentences. On the other hand, Matt Yglesias is an rear end in a top hat.

Yglesias is an idiot.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 00:09

pig slut lisa: Mar 5, 2012; irl is good

watt par posted:

Yglesias is an idiot.

I think he deserves better than that tossed-off dismissal. Sure, this particular piece of his isn't very well thought out, but he does good work with local land use policy, business licensing policy, and immigration. I have to admit that I can't speak to his posts about things like sovereign debt and other high-level economic issues cause my own understanding is fairly basic.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 01:07

Alec Bald Snatch: Sep 12, 2012; by exmarx

Nice Davis posted:

I think he deserves better than that tossed-off dismissal. Sure, this particular piece of his isn't very well thought out, but he does good work with local land use policy, business licensing policy, and immigration. I have to admit that I can't speak to his posts about things like sovereign debt and other high-level economic issues cause my own understanding is fairly basic.

Rest assured on all other economic topics, he's just as ill-informed.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 01:13

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

watt par posted:

Rest assured on all other economic topics, he's just as ill-informed.

If his idiocy is so pervasive, another example should be easy to find. Maybe then we can all share in the private laugh you're having with yourself.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 01:20

Walter: Jul 3, 2003; We think they're great. In a grand, mystical, neopolitical sense, these guys have a real message in their music. They don't, however, have neat names like me and Bono.

VideoTapir posted:

If his idiocy is so pervasive, another example should be easy to find. Maybe then we can all share in the private laugh you're having with yourself.

Having read several of his other pieces in the last few minutes, I'm left with the view that he's not an idiot, but his pieces are fluff with very little substance. He seems not to support anything he says very well, if at all, and falls back on "I think" or variations on that way too much for my taste.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 01:41

pig slut lisa: Mar 5, 2012; irl is good

Walter posted:

Having read several of his other pieces in the last few minutes, I'm left with the view that he's not an idiot, but his pieces are fluff with very little substance. He seems not to support anything he says very well, if at all, and falls back on "I think" or variations on that way too much for my taste.

This is a more valid criticism, one I can get behind. I wish Slate pushed him to do more longform stuff, but they pretty much just pay him to write a bunch of blogposts. Plus longform isn't really Slate's bag anyway.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 01:51

brakeless: Apr 11, 2011

MaxxBot posted:

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/04/9970/

baby

oh yeah baby

let's get down

do that child-making thing

# ? Apr 25, 2013 13:46

sudo rm -rf: Aug 2, 2011; $ mv fullcommunism.sh /america $ cd /america $ ./fullcommunism.sh

My school paper has your typical college republican on its editorial staff. Figured I'd share with you his most recent piece:

quote:

Georgia Southern needs to broaden their speaker choices

Last semester Georgia Southern hosted a speaker to come give a presentation to the students of the university. His name was Tim Wise, his motive? To teach the impressionable students of Georgia Southern about something he calls �white privilege.� The main gist of his white privilege theory is that no matter what happens in society, we as white people are free from any sort of stereotype that could give some form of negative connotation towards our race as a whole. He has openly stated in almost all of his essays that he writes how much he despises campus conservatives and Republicans alike because of how we �hear no evil.� Yet this kind of extreme leftist is the kind of person that our university seems fit to lecture our student body?

Now I�ve been called just about every name in the book, including a racist by some though I don�t really know why. Here is some food for thought: by outing the white race as privileged, or advantaged does he not further divide them? Mr. Wise continues to �educate� others by condemning Republicans calling them �colorblind pixies who throw peanuts at black people.� Oh but he doesn�t stop there, he continues to preach that when conservatives make arguments against taking advantage of welfare benefits that we as disgusting republicans are obviously implying that these people are those of color. Well just to clear the air, Republicans recognize that people of all races take advantage of welfare benefits. We don�t care what color they are; we care about the fact that people take advantage of a system meant to help those in desperate need. There will always be conservatives, and there will always be liberals. But race is not relevant in such discussion. There are black conservative Republicans just as there are white liberal Democrats.

Tim Wise is not educational; his motives are like those of any other politician. He wants people to agree with a liberal agenda, the only difference is because he doesn�t run for public office and calls himself an essayist, and author or an �educator,� he gets away with these things that those kept under a close watch would not. He alienates the black race as a whole and uses those tactics to push them toward a liberal stance. His key is racial solidarity, grouping African Americans as if they should all think the same way and then calling republicans racists in order for them to agree with the liberal agenda.

Georgia Southern needs to work on who they have coming to �educate� the student body. As much as the left around this campus preaches diversity it appears they only like diversity if it agrees with their own beliefs. Rather than bring a man who claims to teach antiracism with his own racist claims, why not work to host an African-American conservative to come speak as to why they chose the views they have. There are plenty of other ways to educate students rather than extremists such as Tim Wise.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 16:56

Guilty Spork: Feb 26, 2011; Thunder rolled. It rolled a six.

Erkenntnis posted:

My school paper has your typical college republican on its editorial staff. Figured I'd share with you his most recent piece:

At this point if a conservative talks about white privilege you can pretty much assume that they're going to be massively wrong about what it actually means.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 17:00

Acrophyte: Sep 5, 2012; Respect me like Pesci
and if rap was hockey
I be Gretzky

Guilty Spork posted:

At this point if a conservative talks about white privilege you can pretty much assume that they're going to be massively wrong about what it actually means.

I think

quote:

no matter what happens in society, _{we as} white people are free from any sort of stereotype that could give some form of negative connotation towards our race as a whole.

is fairly close to a correct definition. It's certainly closer than I usually read, but his :rolleyes:

tone doesn't help. And his unironic use of the phrase "we as white people" is even more :wtf:

.

I think one of the most interesting things to dissect in American political discourse is how the same terms are understood by the left and right. In this case his definition of privilege isn't really far off from mine, the difference is that I have an explanation for why it's true(structure), while he turns it into an us-versus-them proposition.

He even touches on my favorite verbal grenade: "politics/politicizing," where the fact that people have *gasp* motives and desires somehow becomes a devastating indictment.

quote:

Tim Wise is not educational; his motives are like those of any other politician. He wants people to agree with a liberal agenda, the only difference is because he doesn�t run for public office and calls himself an essayist, and author or an �educator,� he gets away with these things that those kept under a close watch would not.

No poo poo? I thought he just gave lectures and wrote papers for his health. How is this a revelation to anyone not born yesterday?

I am completely serious when I say that I don't understand how people that talk about "freedom" and worry about tyranny don't understand basic power relations. There are plenty of people who haven't studied these things and don't care, that's understandable. But if you bang on about this crap day after day I would think you could take two seconds to educate yourself.

# ? Apr 25, 2013 17:42

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Douche posted:

Now I�ve been called just about every name in the book, including a racist by some though I don�t really know why

Take a guess

# ? Apr 25, 2013 21:04

Eulogistics: Aug 30, 2012

Jack Gladney posted:

Unworthy of celebration or recognition outside of sexual reproduction: the female body.

I tried reading the whole thing, every single word, until I got the part that talks about the role of men in reproduction: it said something like "they are the sowers, not the field", at which point I couldn't handle it anymore and skimmed the bolded parts. This author thinks women are like a field, like "everyone walks on it and some people put something in it"? That competes for worst metaphor I've ever heard; I'm also reiterate the "this is creepy as gently caress" guy.

Edited to avoid double-post

Bel_Canto posted:

Kind of, yes. Patriarchy/male supremacy and homoeroticism are pretty much inseparable, and in any society or social group that institutionalized rigid separation of men and women, you're going to see a whole lot of homoeroticism come creeping to the surface. Any guys who's been in a high school or college locker room is aware of this on a basic level: the constant affirmations of heterosexuality and denials of gayness exist precisely because people are aware, even if unconsciously, that there's a homoerotic vibe in the room. Homoeroticism has to be constantly fought off in a patriarchal setting because it's seen as feminine behavior, even though the gap between admiring masculinity and admiring men is so thin as to be functionally nonexistent.

You also see this in places similar to a college locker room. My old platoon in the army used to have "Gay Tuesdays", where it was entirely acceptable and encouraged (not from the leadership, just the lower enlisted goofing around) for guys to hug, spoon and sexually harass each other by copping feels or making comments. It's just the level of comfort that members of groups like this have with other members of the group that changes how far the "joke" goes. I would not be surprised at all to know similar things happen in police or firemen locker rooms as well.

I was a senior specialist at the time and I was always doing real poo poo, so no spooning on a cot or fake boyfriend for me

Eulogistics fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Apr 25, 2013

# ? Apr 25, 2013 22:30

Alec Bald Snatch: Sep 12, 2012; by exmarx

Erkenntnis posted:

My school paper has your typical college republican on its editorial staff. Figured I'd share with you his most recent piece:

quote:
Georgia Southern needs to work on who they have coming to �educate� the student body. As much as the left around this campus preaches diversity it appears they only like diversity if it agrees with their own beliefs. Rather than bring a man who claims to teach antiracism with his own racist claims, why not work to host an African-American conservative to come speak as to why they chose the views they have.

Dude was so close to accidentally hitting a legit criticism actual PoC activists have with Tim Wise.

# ? Apr 26, 2013 00:33

A Fancy 400 lbs: Jul 24, 2008

Sadly, I've had way better success rates trying to get white people to change their views on racism with Tim Wise articles than anything by a person of color. Articles by PoC normally just get handwaved away with "They're just biased!" accusations without being read at all. :sigh:

# ? Apr 26, 2013 01:41

Alligator Horse: Mar 23, 2013

Badger of Basra posted:

Matt Yglesias with the contrarianism slam dunk!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/24/international_factory_safety.html

I have no idea if this is satire or not. On one hand, no one could actually think this and be smart enough to produce coherent sentences. On the other hand, Matt Yglesias is an rear end in a top hat.

This made my blood boil, not only because this is the exact argument used by people who are crypto- sweatshop supporters (as opposed to merely accepting their existence as a short-term necessary evil), but because Yglesias didn't have the temerity to face the ugliness of his opinion in the face. The original title of this piece is "Foreign Factories Should Be More Dangerous," instead of "Different Places Have Different Safety Rules and That's OK."

Seriously. What the gently caress was he thinking with that original title?

# ? Apr 26, 2013 01:45

Boxman: Sep 27, 2004; Big fan of

watt par posted:

Dude was so close to accidentally hitting a legit criticism actual PoC activists have with Tim Wise.

I don't know a ton about the issue.but I like to learn- what is that criticism?

# ? Apr 26, 2013 02:03

Blue_monday: Jan 9, 2004; mind the teeth while you're going down

A woman disappears and this reporter decides to write an article filled with nothing but negativity about her and her life. I share the same last name with the reporter but I'm blessedly not related to him.

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1124977-missing-woman-battled-addiction#.UXfofO7J--c.twitter

Dan Arsenault posted:

A Tantallon woman who has been missing since March has had a long battle with drug addiction, The Chronicle Herald has learned.

Reita Louise Jordan always loved her family and has a loving personality, but she could not escape drugs and sometimes worked as a prostitute as a result, said a source who did not want to be identified but knows the 34-year-old mother of one.

Jordan was last seen March 19.

The RCMP weren�t called about the matter until about two weeks later and they issued an April 5 news release asking for the public�s help in trying to find her.

It was initially treated as a missing-person file but has since been taken over by the RCMP-Halifax Regional Police major crime unit.

Court records show that Jordan has 28 convictions, including four from 2005 to 2009 for communicating for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. Most of the other convictions are for breaching court orders, but she has also been convicted of theft, assault, resisting arrest and mischief.

The source said Jordan tried to get off drugs and sometimes managed to for periods of time. Jordan would never go this long without communicating with her family and, as a result, they are worried about her, the source said.

Cpl. Scott MacRae, an RCMP spokesman, said the major crime unit has taken over the investigation out of concern for Jordan. They checked bank records and spoke to her family and friends to learn what they could about her activities leading up to her disappearance.

�All these avenues were investigated without that answer,� MacRae said.

Police are aware of Jordan�s history and are checking to see if it is connected to her disappearance, he said.

�They have to look at every-thing � to try to get a timeline or information on her activities up to when she went missing. That type of profile or information is looked at.�

Limited information is coming in, but investigators believe someone knows what happened, MacRae said.

Jordan is white, five-six, has medium-length dark hair and weighs 123 pounds. She usually wears hoop earrings and has tattoos on her left bicep, left chest and ankle.

# ? Apr 26, 2013 02:17

Alec Bald Snatch: Sep 12, 2012; by exmarx

Boxman posted:

I don't know a ton about the issue.but I like to learn- what is that criticism?

Here's a pretty good and often self-critical piece by Ewuare Osayande on not just Wise, but white anti-racist activism in general. To be fair, Wise is pretty good about acknowledging the problems himself, which are in part beyond his control.

# ? Apr 26, 2013 02:31

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

Erkenntnis posted:

My school paper has your typical college republican on its editorial staff. Figured I'd share with you his most recent piece:

His brain shut off the moment Wise started saying Reagan=bad. Every incident he mentions was cited. This is my favorite:

quote:

And when Reagan made up yet another story about some �strapping young buck� buying T-bone steaks with food stamps, he didn�t specify the �buck�s� race, so if you see a black man in your mind�s eye, it�s obviously because you are the one with the problem. Why, for all you know, when Reagan said �buck,� he might have been referring to a large deer. You obviously have race on the brain!

"Buck" doesn't have any racial connota--

http://www.google.com.hk/search?q=%22buck+friend of the family%22&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1

quote:

Buck or buck friend of the family was also used during the enslavement era for a black man, especially a young strong one, and thus may connote sexuality.

quote:

His own account of his first encounter with a black man is very revealing: 'A certain enormous buck friend of the family encountered in Haiti fixed my conception of blind, furious, unreasoning rage, as manifested in the human animal to the end of my days.

quote:

Maybe Tharin wants his daughter "amalgamated," but do you want your own daughters forced into bed with a big black "buck-friend of the family"? What about it, you poor whites? Didn't he say it would be the "rich man's buck-friend of the family and the poor man's daughter?

# ? Apr 26, 2013 03:01

Acrophyte: Sep 5, 2012; Respect me like Pesci
and if rap was hockey
I be Gretzky

VideoTapir posted:

His brain shut off the moment Wise started saying Reagan=bad. Every incident he mentions was cited. This is my favorite:

"Buck" doesn't have any racial connota--

http://www.google.com.hk/search?q=%22buck+friend of the family%22&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1

I will admit I never knew any of that, thank you. There isn't a :aaa:

big enough for the amount of ignorance on display in that letter.

# ? Apr 26, 2013 04:31

hakarl: Jan 18, 2007; upbeat and funky

quote:

How is it to be a young minimum wage worker starting out compared to historical quality of life?

Consider the lifestyle of a minimal-wage under 30 worker in 2012 vs a Billionaire Robber Baron one century ago in 1912:

The worker has access to every single song, book or movie ever published by instant download. The world's best orchestra on command. The Robber baron had to build an opera house and wait for a touring chamber orchestra to arrive by steamship or cutter from around Cape Horn. Books were rare and shared by hand. Movies played only on Saturday night and were silent pictures. Medicine shows, tar and feathering and occasional lynching were town highlights.

The worker has access to the whole world knowledge base. Any single question, journal or novel can be had instantly. The baron needed access to a large city with a large university with a full staff of librarians who would seek the information. It would take days or weeks of research to get the GDP data for Peru for the past decade. On an smart phone you can get the data with voice recognition software in under 30 seconds.

The worker can eat steak every night and a pound of chocolate. Albeit a cheap steak cut. And cheap Hershey's milk chocolate. The baron had to eat seasonal food or salted brined food since there was no refrigeration. Portions were small and frequently rotten requiring heavy sauces. Diarrhea and infectious disease were widespread. Chocolate was a once in a year treat at Christmas or Easter.

The worker could drink an inexpensive bottle of wine, whiskey or vodka per night. Or the best craft beers. The Baron had to fight temperance and dry county laws to even get a sip of whiskey.

A worker could eat a half gallon of quality, high fat, fudge ice cream per night. (And some people do!) A simple dish of ice cream was impossible for Victorians except at special occasions such as wedding feasts.

The worker has indoor plumbing and can take a long shower or soak for an hour long bath. The Baron had to have servants bring water from the well and heat it teapot-by-teapot and poured into the bathtub. The outhouse was a good run from the backporch especially if you had diarrhea.

The worker has automatic heat and air conditioning. The Baron had to deal with a cold creaky uninsulated home with big bay windows. They wore a wool suit indoors and usually a cloak. In the summer, they sweated profusely and retired from the mid-day heat by mid morning. They actually had heat strokes.

The worker has electricity which provides the muscle, power and convienence. IT is worth a whole household of servants: clothes washer, clothes dryer, dish washer, vacuum cleaner, electric lamps and hair dryer. The baron needs a staff of 6 servants and even then his wife complains about short staffing.

The worker has fluoridated water and may live a long life with his teeth intact. The baron was toothless by age 50. He gummed his pickled beef.

The worker has an expected life expectancy of over 80 years if female. The Baron's first two wives died in childbirth. He is fortunate to live beyond 50. And even then at age 50, his health was worse than an 80 year old today.

The worker could take a warm summer vacation to Greece or Italy if from Europe . OR Mexico, Rio or Florida if from the States. Go scuba diving. The Baron never left his state but once to see the World's Fair in Chicago. He would go on one trip abroad to see the European Capitals but that would be a bucket list, once-in-a-lifetime trip taking 3 years.

The worker has a beat-up but serviceable automobile. He can take a 500 mile trip on weekends to go see his college football game. The Baron had to bundle up his horse and carriage. A trip over 20 miles is a an adventure and would likely require an overnight stay.

Today, Minimal Workers have it great! Life has never been easier even for the poorest in society. They are fatter than any Rockefeller or Carnegie.

Cold, poorly fed, and chronically sick, a Turn-of-the-Century Billionaire Baron would swap places in a heartbeat.

We are soft and tend to complain. With a long view, we are quite pampered and privileged. And we are fat, lazy and alcoholic. And we like to protest and bang our bongo drums to anarchic punk at OWS. Drug addictions replaced ambition. And we look forward most and invest our hopes in our next tattoo.

Happiness is all relative. Visit the Third World and live the culture. And you will be pleased to return to your flat like Scrooge on Christmas Day.

Man, being poor sounds awesome!

I don't know what to say other than that I can only hope this is satire, but I don't think it is. I know better than to read internet comments, what's wrong with me?

# ? Apr 29, 2013 18:23

Prism: Dec 22, 2007; yospos

hakarl posted:

Man, being poor sounds awesome!

I don't know what to say other than that I can only hope this is satire, but I don't think it is. I know better than to read internet comments, what's wrong with me?

In some cases, the author's correct, though a lot of it predates 1912 for rich people. Running water existed from the early 1900s, though the copper pipes were expensive so it was usually left for public buildings; still, it wouldn't be surprising to find the rich using the water system. Milk chocolate was on sale from about 1875, and chocolate in general was first sold in the States around 1850 (England confectioners developed a chocolate bar for general consumption in 1847), so it was certainly around (again, for the rich) in 1912.

Of course this is more a statement on how far we've come technologically as a society than anything else. Being poor sucks no matter when you do it! This is just a long-winded take on the '99.6% of 'poor' families have a refrigerator!' picture, which is why it's so aggravating.

# ? Apr 29, 2013 20:32

Acrophyte: Sep 5, 2012; Respect me like Pesci
and if rap was hockey
I be Gretzky

Some loving moron posted:

Cold, poorly fed, and chronically sick, a Turn-of-the-Century Billionaire Baron

Not one of those adjectives is true.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:23

Pththya-lyi: Nov 8, 2009; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2020

Someone send him John Scalzi's blog entry, "Being Poor."

quote:

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they�re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there�s not an $800 car in America that�s worth a drat.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends� houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won�t hear you say �I get free lunch� when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn�t mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can�t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don�t have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn�t have make dinner tonight because you�re not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid�s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don�t give a drat about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger�s trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can�t find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she�ll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you�ll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid�s teacher assuming you don�t have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you�re not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you�re not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn�t bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that�s two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn�t know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you�re being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it�s all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn�t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won�t listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn�t go away.

Being poor is making sure you don�t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn�t leave.

Actually, send it to everyone, everywhere.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:28

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

The author also seems to have forgotten about the existence of railroads. Not hard to do if he's an American, I guess.

Also he's looking at average life expectancy without considering the effect of infant mortality. Once you got to be a robber baron, you were past the highest risk of untimely death. If you didn't die as a small child, you were probably looking at 3 score and ten.

I doubt there's a single sentence in there which isn't at least obliquely wrong if you want to put in the effort to research it.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:30

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

quote:

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

And resigning yourself to regular agony otherwise.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:31

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

VideoTapir posted:

The author also seems to have forgotten about the existence of railroads. Not hard to do if he's an American, I guess.

In what way are you saying he did? Most people in 1912 America rarely used railroads for travel, due to living in rural areas and not having any kind of need to do so. And the fares could be quite pricy even if there was a reason to.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:33

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

Install Gentoo posted:

In what way are you saying he did? Most people in 1912 America rarely used railroads for travel, due to living in rural areas and not having any kind of need to do so. And the fares could be quite pricy even if there was a reason to.

The wealthy didn't tend to live in rural areas. He's comparing the wealthy of 100 years ago to the poor of today.

Pope Guilty posted:

And resigning yourself to regular agony otherwise.

Most of the items on that list are either about fear that something bad might happen, or about something bad with an inevitable consequence that is worse. The impact for anyone with the least bit of empathy or experience with ANY item on that list is diminished if you spell it out. 'Course, I suspect the average Randroid would need it spelled out for them.

I'd love to see some right-wing reactions to that essay.

edit: Oh, why didn't I think of this sooner, freep, you never disappoint me by failing to disappoint me:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2776509/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2718392/replies?c=27

VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Apr 30, 2013

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:37

VideoTapir: Oct 18, 2005; He'll tire eventually.

Dear loving god this response. Every point missed. No understanding of what everything costs.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2718392/replies?c=27

quote:

Not Being Poor
A Rebuttal to a Whiny Screed by John Scalzi

To not be poor...

...know exactly how much everything costs.

...don�t let your kids waste their lives being indoctrinated by watching TV.

...buy $800 cars because they�re cheaper than fixing a newer one.

...know regular dental care and insurance is cheaper than tooth-rotting sweets.

...take care of your home so your kid�s friends will want to come over to yours.

...don�t be ashamed of saving money or accepting handouts.

...move far away from the freeway.

...buy a month�s worth of rice for the price of one short-lived box of Raisin Bran.

...take a well-off sibling at his word when he says he doesn�t mind when you ask for help.

...buy off-brand toys.

...run a heater in only one room of the house.

...don�t have �friends� who would steal $5 off your coffee table.

...plan for your kids to have a growth spurt.

...teach your kids stealing meat from the store is wrong and unacceptable under all conditions.

...buy Goodwill underwear.

...everyone who lives with you earns their keep.

...know the difference between inexpensive shoes and cheap shoes is not price.

...teach your kids to learn despite 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

...know $8 an hour is way more than most people on the planet live on.

...know most people don�t give a drat about you no matter how much you make.

...work an overnight shift under florescent lights if need be.

...don�t give your body to a man who you would have to beg for child support.

...be grateful you have a toilet.

...stop the car to take a lamp from a stranger�s trash.

...keep your kitchen so clean you won�t have to worry whether a cockroach will skitter over the bread.

...know a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

...don�t shop at the mall.

...marry someone whom you trust to watch your kids if you must take a job.

...call the police to bust into the apartment right next to yours if you know they are criminals.

...talk to that girl even if she�ll probably just laugh at your clothes; maybe she won�t.

...invite others for dinner, however humble.

...sweep up a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

...improve your language, knowing others learn about you by the way you talk.

...earn that 35-cent raise.

...make sure library, free and cheap books fill your home.

...go find 120 soda cans to earn that last six dollars for the utility bill.

...pick up and eat that dropped mac and cheese on the floor.

...work as hard as anyone, anywhere - then leverage what you�ve earned.

...don�t be stupid.

...don�t be lazy.

...spend the six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap talking to the cashier about payment options and plans.

...never buy anything someone else hasn�t bought first.

...pick the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that�s two extra packages for every dollar.

...teach your 14 year old to live with choices s/he makes.

...make people tired of you being grateful.

...know you�re being judged.

...buy a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

...check the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

...know you can always find or make shelter.

...don�t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

...don�t hope the register lady will spot you the dime.

...if your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won�t listen to you beg them against doing so, let go.

...don�t ignore a cough that doesn�t go away.

...don�t lease a couch.

...failing any other options, collecting cans included, you can survive a few days without $200 waiting for your paycheck to come in.

...take four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

...sleep on a lumpy futon bed.

...know where the shelter is.

...know that many people who were poor are now not because they chose not to be so.

...quit sniveling over how hard it is to stop being poor.

...use the options you have.

...at minimum, run in place.

...leave.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:47

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

VideoTapir posted:

The wealthy didn't tend to live in rural areas. He's comparing the wealthy of 100 years ago to the poor of today.

By 1912 the wealthy would roll in their private cars with fancy drivers for 'em. To slum it on a regular train would be gauche to say the least, even first class.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 02:48

Unreal_One: Aug 18, 2010; Now you know how I don't like to use the sit-down gun, but this morning we just don't have time for mucking about.

Install Gentoo posted:

By 1912 the wealthy would roll in their private cars with fancy drivers for 'em. To slum it on a regular train would be gauche to say the least, even first class.

Hell, they could have their own plane by 1912!

The Titanic, which would have crossed the Atlantic in a week, was an example of 1912 mobility. It's more of a comparison of a middle class person and someone from 2 centuries ago, and even then, the 1812 baron had a better life than their 1912 one.

# ? Apr 30, 2013 03:08

Pththya-lyi: Nov 8, 2009; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2020

Free Republic posted:

...move far away from the freeway.

How does he imagine a poor person will actually take that?

:shepface:

"Oh, silly me! Of course I can move away from the freeway! After all, costs of living are the same everywhere. I can't imagine what I was even worried about."

E:

Free Republic posted:

...buy a month�s worth of rice for the price of one short-lived box of Raisin Bran.

...suffer from fecal impaction.

Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Apr 30, 2013

# ? Apr 30, 2013 03:32

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# ? May 11, 2024 07:29

Acrophyte: Sep 5, 2012; Respect me like Pesci
and if rap was hockey
I be Gretzky

Pththya-lyi posted:

How does he imagine a poor person will actually take that?

"Oh, silly me! Of course I can move away from the freeway! After all, costs of living are the same everywhere. I can't imagine what I was even worried about."

The key to stop being poor is too... stop being poor. :smugdog:

quote:

...suffer from fecal impaction.

NotgonnaWebMDthatnotgonnaWebMDthatohsweetjesuswhydidIlookthatup :gonk:

# ? Apr 30, 2013 03:46

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