“Never go fishing with strangers who call you ‘Chum'”
(16 November 2016) Some people are way too friendly way too fast. It puts me right off. You’ve probably had one at some time or another — classmate, coworker, neighbor, who knows…? Somehow or other you instantly became this guy’s best friend. He always seems to be standing a little too close and acts a little too interested. This sets off important alarms. Why is this guy so desperate for friends? What does he really want? Why is he still bothering me?
Okeh, I seriously don’t think most fishermen are out to chop you up and use you for bait. Most people are generally decent, kind, compassionate, even generous. Even fishermen. One on one, that is. Get them into large anonymous groups though, like lynch mobs or plebiscites, and they can get downright vicious.
So… go ahead. Go fishing, as long as it looks to be a manageable crowd.
“It’s Easy, You Just…” (14 January 2018)
Please.
Stop. Right. There.
I asked for help. I asked for directions. “It’s easy,” is a declarative statement, and a subjective one at that. I was hoping for imperative statements, along the lines of “Connect the blue wire to the red post,” or “Hold down the CTRL key and the ALT key, and press the DEL key.”
“It’s easy” doesn’t tell me what to do, it tells me how you feel about it. If it were “easy,” I’d already be doing it. “It’s easy” tells me you feel smug, superior, and maybe a little bit sad to realize how stupid I am. I already feel awkward, that’s why I’m asking for help. Telling me that it’s easy doesn’t tell me which wire to cut or which key to press.
And “just?” I’ve never been able to “just” do anything in my life.
Who does? No preparation? No thought, no study, no planning?
No consideration of consequences or exploration of alternatives?
Phil Knight has a lot to answer for.
“Ya Wanna Rethink That?” 2 April 2018
All that glitters is not gold.” That’s an equation, and “is” sits right in the center where the equals sign belongs. The set “all that glitters” is the same as the set “not gold.” Gold glitters. Therefore gold is not gold.
“Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.” Be real careful with this one. My Aspy friends might think you’re giving them permission to hammer your nose flat, just so long as no punch passes the point at which your nose BEGINS, somewhere inside your face.
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!” As the great and wise Tom Woods once asked, “But what if it’s a DEMON baby?” Sometimes, the bathwater is the best part of the mix. Not everything should be saved. As the greater and wiser Ron Paul once remarked, if people are so concerned with replacing Obamacare, how come they never ask their cancer surgeon, “Sure, you want to remove that tumor, but what are you going to replace it with?”
“It’s all good!” This is perfect rubbish! If it were all good there would never be any need for toilet paper, tampons, or tourniquets.
16 September, 2018 — Are you concerned about drugs and alcohol?
Are you courteous to people and strangers?
Do you enjoy sports and football?
Do you like food and biscuits?
“The Beginning of Wisdom” 6 April, 2019 Insofar as it has been said that to call things by their proper names is the beginning of wisdom, I find it laudatory (and not just as a reformed terrorist myself — Strategic Air Command, 1977-1979) that our State Department has seen fit to designate Iran’s “Revolutionary Guard” as a terror organization. It is fitting. Just like SAC‘s, the IRGC’s mission is to bolster the allies and destabilize the adversaries of its sponsor government. Though I never got in on any of the actual killing myself, I am well aware that the presence of US jets in foreign skies evoked memories among many of the bombings and strafings that my cadre inflicted on the people and jungles of Southeast Asia. In light of this new candor in government, can we look forward to more honesty? May we now refer to the deep state as The Occupation, the legislature as interfering buttinskies, the President as Puppet-in-Chief, and the IRS as a band of thieves?
