Terrible Editorials, Opinion Pieces and Letters to the Editor

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MisterBadIdea: Oct 9, 2012; Anything?

Point 1) True enough. *nods sagely*

Point 2) Uh, also true, although there's a whiff of racism there I don't really like...

Point 3) Wow... that kinda negated everything else...

# ? Dec 13, 2013 01:21

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:56

blackmet: Aug 5, 2006; I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Point 1 was fine.

Point 2 -- I wonder what her address is and what companies she's using hiring illegal labor. We should be cracking down in those companies keeping teenagers from working. In any case, she's part of the problem, not hiring teenagers or even legal adults rather than illegal labor. Most likely, though, she's a Douglas County Colorado bitch who thinks anybody with brown skin is an illegal.

Point 3 - What was the teenage unemployment rate in 1968, when the min wage was 10.68 in today's dollars? How about most of the 1970's? How about at any point where it was higher in todays dollars than today?

# ? Dec 13, 2013 04:18

MaxxBot: Oct 6, 2003; you could have clapped

you should have clapped!!

I always read this guy's articles because he is absolutely off his loving rocker but also because like freepers he is sometimes brutally honest about to extent to which his insane beliefs have drove him apart from all of his friends and family. Of course the conclusion he comes to is that they're all indoctrinated by the evil homosexual agenda :downs:

.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/12/what_christmas_means_for_traditional_family_advocates.html

quote:

What Christmas Means for Traditional Family Advocates
By Robert Oscar Lopez

Every Christmas, I am reminded of how insufficient our Christ-centered holidays are. On Bill O'Reilly's show we get consternation about a "war on Christmas." Many FOX News viewers worry about the tireless push by secularists to turn the day into a December recess between World AIDS Day and Anderson Cooper watching the ball drop in Times Square.
But what if public venues acknowledged that the holiday was about the birth of Jesus? Would we be closer to His truth?

Did Jesus do anything other than be born and die?
Long before atheists strived to eliminate Christ from Christmas decorations, the two Christ-centered holidays, Christmas and Easter, had already taken on a consumerist and shallow countenance. Unfortunately, the narratives surrounding Christ on both days make Him passive, even to Christians; He is a cooing babe or a stoic martyr on a cross.
How can either the newborn or dying Christ hope to compete with the vitality and jolliness of Santa Claus or the empathetic dynamism of a gigantic fuzzy bunny? Obviously this crucial figure's life and birth are important, but I wish we had more days to think about the many events that filled Jesus's life between His beginning and end.
My pick for a Christmas line we don't often associate with Christmas
Perhaps this year, more than in most years, the oft-overlooked passage I find important is John 15:13. While I've often seen this passage translated from the Greek as "there is no greater love than this, to lay down one's life for a friend," I like to translate as closely as possible to the original:
Greater love than such a man, has nobody; when he places his psyche down for the people who are dear to him.

Psych� means soul and "butterfly." It is different from other words for "life" and distinct from pneuma, or "breath," which is sometimes used as the soul.
To lay down your soul in this sense means a great deal -- not merely the obvious sacrifice of risking harm to oneself to save others, like a fireman or warrior, but also the less celebrated sacrifice of giving up one's comfortable way of living.
Following this quote is the important follow-up clarification: "Those dear to me are those who do as I command them." One must put God and His mandates first.
Does John 15:13 mean anything to me in 2013?

These words meant a lot to me when I went to basic combat training for the U.S. Army. While my military career never took off, I still wrestled the way many soldiers do with the problem of killing. Would God forgive me if I had to kill? John 15:13 eased my conscience.
John 15:13 has come to be much more valuable to me this year, since 2013 was a stormy time for advocates of traditional family values. While I am not, as many in the gay press have alleged, an "ex-gay," I am a lifelong bisexual and the son of a lesbian. I spent my teen years and twenties immersed in the promiscuous world of gay sex.

While I still include myself in the LGBT acronym, I am in a faithful marriage to a woman, which is crucial because I love my wife and also because we have a daughter together. On most days, deep down, I want to enjoy the privileges and comforts that this fortunate life has provided to me, and stay out of the culture wars.

But I can't hide and be quiet, because John 15:13-14 reminds me that God has ordered me to stand up for what is right on behalf of others less fortunate than myself. To know and see what is wrong, what is cruel, what is harmful, especially to the innocent, is to be subject to God's mandate. We must do as God commands and bear witness so that others can be led out of darkness, as I was, and as others have.
Bearing witness does not mean always confronting the LGBT lobby. Certainly there are plentiful abusers who are heterosexual to be taken to task.

But my burden is unique: it is the gay world whose crimes I saw, and that world that I must face with a sense of compassion for the vulnerable among us who might be crushed by its callousness.
Why does it have to be so hard?

This year, Justice Anthony Kennedy drank the ligbitist Kool-Aid and decided that the only reason people have for opposing homosexual marriage is "animus," while a steady flow of conservatives genuflected to the monolithic gay lobby and cashed in with their metrosexual friends (not to mention a sweet little pick-me-up from Paul Singer): John Bolton, Jon Huntsman, Rob Portman, etc.

Then, of course, came the string of mangled quotations from Pope Francis, which involved the pope asking people to stop talking about homosexuality -- either to condemn it or uphold it -- and instead talk about bringing love to the needy, with the predictable result that that the pro-gay media (I repeat myself) talked about nothing else for months in a chorus of "The pope loves the gays! The pope loves the gays!"

At Christmastime, those of us who can see the truth about these gay issues face multiple conflicts. The world believes that we are full of what Anthony Kennedy calls "animus." We are increasingly pathologized as haters or else criminalized as the purveyors of discrimination. Our politicians surrendered us for thirty pieces of silver from the Human Rights Campaign and Paul Singer long ago, while religious leaders either cave, as did most Methodists and reform Jews, or else cut ties to us to save themselves the bother, as have many Catholic and Anglican leaders.
The LGBT lobby has been ruthless about intruding into all our relationships both personal and professional to indoctrinate people in its sexual ideology. It doesn't matter that this ideology of biological determinism and sexual abandon destroys gays themselves, as well as the people around them who feel the fallout from their depression, sexually transmitted diseases, eating disorders, anxiety, exploitation, sexual assault, domestic violence, and suicide -- all the trademarks of a gay world that has been decaying from within while its self-appointed lobbyist overseers bicker with the outside world about same-sex marriage.

The more resources the LGBT lobby has shifted from reforming gay culture to erecting a fa�ade of suburban marital normalcy that precious few gays can ever really obtain, the gloomier and unhappier gay people have become as individuals.

Yet to bear witness on this topic is relentlessly painful. The LGBT lobby has warped my relationship with students, my relationship with gay friends, my relationship with the press, my relationship with bosses at the university, my relationship with readers, and saddest of all, my relationship with my own family. My relatives, all well-intended liberal devotees of the New York Times, will believe what Frank Rich or Maureen Dowd writes about gays before they believe me, their own brother. Of the large brood fostered by our sprawling family tree, only I knew of my mother's sexuality from early on and viewed her partner as a second mother; not coincidentally, only I ended up coming out as queer and living a queer life.

"Let's agree to disagree," they say, when the topic of Governor Brown's signing a ban on ex-gay therapy comes up. "That's how you see it, but not necessarily how it is," they say, when I tell them about the epidemic of homosexual rape in the military, something I witnessed firsthand because I was the only one who served in the armed forces. "My gay friends tell a different story," they say, when I try to open up about what really happened between 1984, when I was first introduced to gay sex at the age of thirteen, and 1999, when I fell in love with the woman who would become my wife. "You've always been one to exaggerate." And at last, on the issue of our own mother, "I don't feel comfortable talking about this."

To bear witness and speak honestly means, sometimes, having to feel pain at the hands of people you love. In a time of chocolate cookies, fireplace stockings, and wrapping paper, I wish that John 5:13 didn't remind me that these are among the things that God expects us to surrender if it means we must speak a truth that others do not want to hear.

It is written in Exodus, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Family advocates must hold these lines close, and soldier on. Love can keep us going, but we must eventually reconcile ourselves to an existence where even love can be part of the psych� we have to give up in order to do as Christ commands us. Tactics matter, I suppose. Share some eggnog and change the topic; drive home to Los Angeles and see the deep blue sea stretching calmly out to the horizon. Remember that all the fellowships and courtesies in this life are borrowed from God and nothing that He has promised never to take away.
Christmas does not mean only presents, candy canes, and pageants. It also means laying down what is most precious to us, to do as we're commanded.

It just makes me sick that this rear end in a top hat's poor dead mothers have become a political football for his anti-gay advocacy. Almost every article he writes mentions his mothers, who he claims to "love" so much, as failed parents who turned him gay. Especially the fact that he is somehow surprised that his family members don't want to eagerly join in on bashing his own dead mother, I just can't comprehend how someone can be so consumed by their anti-gay political views to go to that length.

MaxxBot fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Dec 17, 2013

# ? Dec 17, 2013 17:51

Mr. Funny Pants: Apr 9, 2001

MaxxBot posted:

I always read this guy's articles because he is absolutely off his loving rocker but also because like freepers he is sometimes brutally honest about to extent to which his insane beliefs have drove him apart from all of his friends and family. Of course the conclusion he comes to is that they're all indoctrinated by the evil homosexual agenda .

Jesus, that was amazing. I was going to do a Fire Joe Morgan treatment on the whole thing, but I'll just stick with this:

quote:

Many FOX News viewers worry about the tireless push by secularists to turn the day into a December recess between World AIDS Day and Anderson Cooper watching the ball drop in Times Square.

Why didn't he just say what he meant? You can feel him straining to hold back. What he meant was:

quote:

Many FOX News viewers worry about the tireless push by secularists to turn the day into a December recess between World Fags Day and faggoty fag fag Anderson Cooper watching the ball drop in Times Square.

# ? Dec 17, 2013 18:43

MisterBadIdea: Oct 9, 2012; Anything?

That was too depressing for words.

# ? Dec 17, 2013 19:04

My Q-Face: Jul 8, 2002; A dumb racist who need to kill themselves

VitalSigns posted:

There are plenty of countries with military juntas if he loves the idea of being ruled by veterans so much.

It's one thing when you have a major war where ~10% of the country's population (More than 30% of all adult males) is drafted into the uniformed services with little regard to class, status, race or wealth, and then you select your leaders from those veterans. It's another thing entirely when you select from All-Vol veterans. Aside from the fact that it's pandering to patriotism at its finest, veteran status is the absolute last thing I look at when choosing to vote and people who run on it should be shamed out of public life. (Alan West, I'm looking at you)

Strudel Man posted:

I'd say two out of three. Grown adults are filling up jobs that teenagers would once have taken, and recent immigrants (both legal and illegal) are generally willing to accept much less pay for much harder work than our home-grown citizens are, keeping the labor price low.

I wouldn't say willing to accept less than the minimum wage, considering their dodgy legal status.

quote:

Here, I'm going to translate this well known quote into more modern English:
quote:
Greater love than such a man, has nobody

My Q-Face fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Dec 18, 2013

# ? Dec 18, 2013 01:33

Borneo Jimmy: Feb 27, 2007; by Smythe

The Washington Post is usually terrible and full of poo poo when it comes to Latin America but this one is truly shameless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mexicos-oil-breakthrough-opens-the-door/2013/12/15/7f0393e6-6414-11e3-91b3-f2bb96304e34_story.html

quote:

WHILE CONGRESS was congratulating itself on reaching a minimalist bipartisan deal on the budget, Mexico demonstrated how a more functional democracy can tackle a nation�s biggest and most sensitive problems. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the opposition National Action Party (PAN) joined last week to pass a constitutional amendment dismantling what, for Mexico, is the mother of all political third rails: the state�s monopoly on oil production. While the fight�s not entirely over and its benefits won�t be seen for several years, the action is a triumph for President Enrique Pe�a Nieto, and it opens the door for a Mexican economic takeoff.

Using terms like functional or democracy to describe Mexico would have been far-fetched not so long ago. Not until the 1990s did the country have genuinely free and competitive elections, and when the PRI was finally ousted from power by the PAN, the result was gridlock that left long-festering problems unaddressed. Chief among them was the state oil monopoly Pemex, which lacked the capital or expertise to develop new fields offshore but which was prevented from partnering with multinationals by a constitutional commitment to nationalization considered sacrosanct by two generations of Mexicans. With reform blocked, Mexico�s oil production declined by a quarter in the last decade, and exports to the United States declined by a third.

Mr. Pe�a Nieto, who took office a year ago, managed to break the impasse by fashioning Mexico�s version of a grand bargain with the PAN and left-wing legislators. The parties agreed on and passed a series of groundbreaking reforms in education, taxation, banking and telecommunications. Among the key results was to break the stifling power of Mexico�s corrupt teachers unions and expose private telephone and television conglomerates to competition.

While some of those reforms were watered down as they moved through Mexico�s congress, the oil reform was made more ambitious, thanks to pressure from the PAN and the counterproductive decision of leftists to adopt a strategy of intransigence. Foreign firms will be able to partner with Pemex, to explore and drill for oil, and to book expected revenues from production for accounting purposes, a key to obtaining financing. The notoriously inefficient Mexican firm will have a revamped governance that eliminates union members from its board. Private companies also will compete to supply electricity to the national grid, which should lower energy costs for consumers and industry.

The courage of the reform program can be seen in Mr. Pe�a Nieto�s lackluster opinion polls: The payoff will mostly be in the longer term, so most Mexicans have yet to see tangible improvements. Economic growth has been lackluster in the past year and the drug war � the focus of Mexico�s most recent previous president � drags on. It�s still possible that the oil reform could be stopped � it must be ratified by Mexican states and implemented in legislation � and it�s possible opponents will succeed in winning approval for a referendum.

For now, however, Mr. Pe�a Nieto and his coalition can savor a historic breakthrough that positions Mexico to restore its place as a major oil producer, attract billions in investment and modernize its economy. As Venezuela�s economy implodes and Brazil�s growth stalls, Mexico is becoming the Latin oil producer to watch � and a model of how democracy can serve a developing country.

Calling a corrupt gangster state privitizing public services as "democracy in action" is a bit of a stretch.

# ? Dec 18, 2013 05:48

DStecks: Feb 6, 2012

Borneo Jimmy posted:

The Washington Post is usually terrible and full of poo poo when it comes to Latin America but this one is truly shameless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mexicos-oil-breakthrough-opens-the-door/2013/12/15/7f0393e6-6414-11e3-91b3-f2bb96304e34_story.html

Calling a corrupt gangster state privitizing public services as "democracy in action" is a bit of a stretch.

Mexico is apparently a "more functional democracy" than the USA. You know, even back in the 1930's, Al Capone never had defacto control over large areas of the country. :v:

# ? Dec 18, 2013 07:06

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

quote:

Greater love than such a man, has nobody; when he places his psyche down for the people who are dear to him.

That's not how New Testament Greek works you wretched, self-hating, homophobic poo poo.

# ? Dec 18, 2013 18:35

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

Reminder that the concept of a person being homosexual or heterosexual was completely foreign to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

# ? Dec 19, 2013 02:25

VitalSigns: Sep 3, 2011

quote:

The LGBT lobby has warped my relationship with students, my relationship with gay friends, my relationship with the press, my relationship with bosses at the university, my relationship with readers, and saddest of all, my relationship with my own family. My relatives, all well-intended liberal devotees of the New York Times, will believe what Frank Rich or Maureen Dowd writes about gays before they believe me, their own brother.

He's an English professor, isn't he? I love that because he can't rant about how evil and terrible and promiscuous any gay students he might have are without facing professional repercussions, he considers the relationship horribly warped.

"I just want to tell a gay student what degenerate worthless scum he is, but the :bahgawd:

LBGT lobby :bahgawd:

won't let me have a normal relationship consisting of despising them for something irrelevant to their performance. GOD!"

# ? Dec 19, 2013 05:14

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

MaxxBot posted:

I always read this guy's articles because he is absolutely off his loving rocker

And he forgot Easter. His religion still has two holidays.

# ? Dec 19, 2013 05:55

rkajdi: Sep 11, 2001; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

mllaneza posted:

And he forgot Easter. His religion still has two holidays.

And shockingly, Easter is also pagan as gently caress. When it comes down to it, the only Christian holiday that's not papered-over paganism is Pentecost.

# ? Dec 19, 2013 06:07

trucutru: Jul 9, 2003; by Fluffdaddy

Borneo Jimmy posted:

The Washington Post is usually terrible and full of poo poo when it comes to Latin America but this one is truly shameless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mexicos-oil-breakthrough-opens-the-door/2013/12/15/7f0393e6-6414-11e3-91b3-f2bb96304e34_story.html

Calling a corrupt gangster state privitizing public services as "democracy in action" is a bit of a stretch.

Ahahaha, yeah, forcefully pushing a reform that most Mexicans hate is a good example of democracy in action.

# ? Dec 19, 2013 06:15

DStecks: Feb 6, 2012

rkajdi posted:

And shockingly, Easter is also pagan as gently caress. When it comes down to it, the only Christian holiday that's not papered-over paganism is Pentecost.

Good Friday is also a commonly observed Christian holiday. :v:

# ? Dec 19, 2013 07:20

Lee Harvey Oswald: Mar 17, 2007; by exmarx

Right-wing hypocrisy distilled nicely in a short letter.

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/dec/21/letters-to-the-editors/?opinionletters#comments

quote:

Liberal Democrats have lost their way

In response to Mike Luckovich's opinion, Sunday, 12/08/13: I am a proud conservative Republican woman. Guess what! I am for repealing Obamacare because I know the goal is that of a single payer system that will control every American's health care and personal freedom. You are a blockhead to believe all the manipulations, impudence, and outright lies associated with Obamacare. Minimum wage? It is raised periodically and should be $15 an hour? Get real, liberal democrats! Gay marriage? As to what is wrong with homosexuality I will direct you to Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). To me that says it all. As for denying women's reproductive rights, if a woman has an unwanted pregnancy for whatever reason, she has already lost control of her body. I think everybody on this planet knows deep down no woman has a "right" to hire someone to kill her baby in the womb and certainly not after it is born alive. Unfortunately, liberal democrats have lost their way and no longer have a moral compass.

HELEN FUSSELL, Rossville

# ? Dec 21, 2013 15:20

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

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

# ? Dec 22, 2013 18:03

VitalSigns: Sep 3, 2011

Guilty Spork posted:

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

You should suggest people take a shot every time they encounter "WASP" twice in the same sentence*.

*Don't do this, I don't want alcohol poisoning deaths on my conscience

# ? Dec 22, 2013 18:16

woke wedding drone: Jun 1, 2003; by exmarx; Fun Shoe

"I miss the old days. Kids these days think that they're...special just because of who they are. And that the world owes them a living and that people should listen to them by default. And WASPs are totally not like that!"

# ? Dec 22, 2013 19:49

Zeroisanumber: Oct 23, 2010; Nap Ghost

Guilty Spork posted:

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

About a third of the way through the article I found myself humming L'Internationale and had a strong desire to guillotine the author.

# ? Dec 23, 2013 08:52

J.A.B.C.: Jul 2, 2007; There's no need to rush to be an adult.

Guilty Spork posted:

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

This article is literally "The only moral privilege is my privilege :qq:

# ? Dec 23, 2013 10:13

icantfindaname: Jul 1, 2008

trucutru posted:

Ahahaha, yeah, forcefully pushing a reform that most Mexicans hate is a good example of democracy in action.

Libertarians don't want democracy remember. The filthy masses can't be trusted not to enact socialism, so we'll just have benevolent overlords run things for them.

# ? Dec 23, 2013 14:02

Caros: May 14, 2008

icantfindaname posted:

Libertarians don't want democracy remember. The filthy masses can't be trusted not to enact socialism, so we'll just have benevolent overlords run things for them.

Hey now, they aren't necessarily benevolent. They are simply the 'Natural Social Elite' as Herman Hans Hoppe calls them.

# ? Dec 23, 2013 21:44

Silver2195: Apr 4, 2012

Guilty Spork posted:

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

That's some pretty impressive bigotry. I'm surprised it was published even in WSJ. :catstare:

Even on its own terms, there's plenty of bullshit to sift through here. For example, he states that "The last unashamed WASP to live in the White House was Franklin Delano Roosevelt," and declares that "true WASPs were too upstanding to go in for the unscrupulous business dealings of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. or the feckless philanderings of him and some of his sons." But FDR was also a philanderer.

# ? Dec 23, 2013 22:18

Josef bugman: Nov 17, 2011; Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

I, unfortunately, saw this article for a second time on Cracked (oh sush I only read it on occasion) and once again it is not exactly a very good argument for the current state of things, despite what it thinks about itself:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

It really is just terribly written and poorly thought out.

# ? Jan 2, 2014 23:17

bobservo: Jul 24, 2003

Josef bugman posted:

I, unfortunately, saw this article for a second time on Cracked (oh sush I only read it on occasion) and once again it is not exactly a very good argument for the current state of things, despite what it thinks about itself:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

It really is just terribly written and poorly thought out.

I've seen this article pop up a lot on social networks, and while if offers some good -- if not completely obvious -- advice, the author views human worth primarily by the terms of Capitalism, which is completely loving vile in my opinion. Basically, it says "you are of no use until you provide valuable and unique goods/services for other people, and until you can, you deserve your misery." But I guess if you walk away from Glengarry Glen Ross thinking Alec Baldwin is the genius hero, that's the kind of person you are. Wonder what this guy thinks of Ned Beatty's speech in Network?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 22:42

MaxxBot: Oct 6, 2003; you could have clapped

you should have clapped!!

This Jason Pargin rear end in a top hat seems like the sort of person who would watch the movie Wall Street and immediately conclude that Gordon Gekko is their hero and role model, like my old college roommate did.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 23:03

Ogmius815: Aug 25, 2005; centrism is a hell of a drug

bobservo posted:

I've seen this article pop up a lot on social networks, and while if offers some good -- if not completely obvious -- advice, the author views human worth primarily by the terms of Capitalism, which is completely loving vile in my opinion. Basically, it says "you are of no use until you provide valuable and unique goods/services for other people, and until you can, you deserve your misery." But I guess if you walk away from Glengarry Glen Ross thinking Alec Baldwin is the genius hero, that's the kind of person you are. Wonder what this guy thinks of Ned Beatty's speech in Network?

That's David Wong. He wrote John Dies at the End and he sucks.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 23:04

bobservo: Jul 24, 2003

Ogmius815 posted:

That's David Wong. He wrote John Dies at the End and he sucks.

Does he suck for any reasons outside of his lovely attitude about humanity? I guess as should expect as much from a successful writer who still uses a pseudonym because he's afraid of damaging his brand or whatever.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 23:12

Zohar: Jul 14, 2013; Good kitty

Well a lot of his articles are like that and he has weird political opinions -- when I still visited that place a couple years ago I remember him vituperating on the Cracked forums about how San Francisco should be politically quarantined because it's become a far-left hive of Marxists or something.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 23:18

Ohthehugemanatee: Oct 18, 2005

Josef bugman posted:

I, unfortunately, saw this article for a second time on Cracked (oh sush I only read it on occasion) and once again it is not exactly a very good argument for the current state of things, despite what it thinks about itself:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

It really is just terribly written and poorly thought out.

I get the impression we're reading the expanded version of the pep talk this dude gave himself in the mirror every morning for years. The really sad part is that the self loathing part of his philosophy is completely unnecessary to success but having inflicted it on himself for years he seems to view it as integral.

The entire thing could be reduced to "do something you like, get better at it and feel good about it" but he's decided to package it with so much bile that it can only speak to broken people who are convinced of their own worthlessness.

# ? Jan 5, 2014 15:02

Mmann: Dec 1, 2007; Kyoon Was Right
12/21/12

Ohthehugemanatee posted:

The entire thing could be reduced to "do something you like, get better at it and feel good about it" but he's decided to package it with so much bile that it can only speak to broken people who are convinced of their own worthlessness.

So he's writing for exactly the sort of people who read lists on Cracked.

# ? Jan 5, 2014 21:07

Blarghalt: May 19, 2010

Mmann posted:

So he's writing for exactly the sort of people who read lists on Cracked.

It's a good idea to not get life advice from the same place you get your dick jokes.

# ? Jan 5, 2014 21:24

A Fancy 400 lbs: Jul 24, 2008

Blarghalt posted:

It's a good idea to not get life advice from the same place you get your dick jokes.

Then why are we all here on SA?

# ? Jan 6, 2014 01:04

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

bobservo posted:

I've seen this article pop up a lot on social networks, and while if offers some good -- if not completely obvious -- advice, the author views human worth primarily by the terms of Capitalism, which is completely loving vile in my opinion. Basically, it says "you are of no use until you provide valuable and unique goods/services for other people, and until you can, you deserve your misery." But I guess if you walk away from Glengarry Glen Ross thinking Alec Baldwin is the genius hero, that's the kind of person you are. Wonder what this guy thinks of Ned Beatty's speech in Network?

Are you sure you're not committing the is/ought fallacy? It seems to me that Wong's trying to describe how you can thrive in the society we now live in - and let's face it, capitalist society does tend to treat you like you're worthless unless you participate in it. (How many of us have had their opinions dismissed out of hand by friends or loved ones because we don't have the right kind of job?) I'd argue that that's definitely not how things should be, but it's how things are, and it will take more than one person's effort to change things. If anything, his failure is in not suggesting a different way to structure society and substantive steps we can take to restructure.

# ? Jan 6, 2014 02:00

Zeroisanumber: Oct 23, 2010; Nap Ghost

A Fancy 400 lbs posted:

Then why are we all here on SA?

You take life advice from SA? :psyduck:

# ? Jan 6, 2014 03:03

VitalSigns: Sep 3, 2011

Zeroisanumber posted:

You take life advice from SA?

May I direct you to the E/N forum, sir.

# ? Jan 6, 2014 03:44

baw: Nov 5, 2008; RESIDENT: LAISSEZ FAIR-SNEZHNEVSKY INSTITUTE FOR FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY

This year I'm having the guy from the tax thread do my taxes for me.

Kinda weird that I found my tax preparer on the same place where I regularly see goatse, but there you go.

# ? Jan 6, 2014 08:39

J.A.B.C.: Jul 2, 2007; There's no need to rush to be an adult.

Zeroisanumber posted:

You take life advice from SA?

Can I count YLLS and GWS as life advice? Then yes.

# ? Jan 6, 2014 09:12

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 05:56

TLM3101: Sep 8, 2010

Guilty Spork posted:

I wouldn't even know where to begin picking pieces to quote from this WSJ piece about how the elite WASP overlords were honorable and everything was way better before the meritocracy that we supposedhahahaha WTF

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268301043949952

Zeroisanumber posted:

About a third of the way through the article I found myself humming L'Internationale and had a strong desire to guillotine the author.

You're not kidding. :stare:

Jesus Christ, I never thought I'd see an actual out-and-out defense of aristocracy, even if it is the WSJ, but here we are.

# ? Jan 9, 2014 14:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Terrible Editorials, Opinion Pieces and Letters to the Editor

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