August 06, 2006
Clearing The Air (No, I Didn't Fart This Time)
Hi.
It's me again.
Just wanted to clear up a little confusion about the site.
I saw some feedback that sort of perturbed me. Most of it came off as an idle portrayal of me being an angry, spiteful, impotent little man with a complete inability to control his emotions, and that kinda hurt my fragile little feelings.
Okay, I'm lying. It kinda pissed me off, so there might have been a grain of truth in all that self-deprecating psychobabble a few sentences ago. But I'm not impotent, and I'm not little, so there's that.
All jackassery aside, I want to make one thing clear, and I want it to be crystal-clear.
I'm not doing this because I have issues. I'm not penning inflammatory rants due to some inconsistency in my life that makes me feel like I have to patch it with an endless amount of sound and fury, signifying nothing (thanks Shakespeare).
I do this because there's stuff out there that gets my goat and rapes it. I do this because I see people putting up with endless amounts of bullshit from others who would throw them to the wolves if they had the opportunity. So I figure, fuck it.
Why not up the ante, and not even bother matching them at their own game?
They can't throw you to the wolves if you're a wolf yourself.
Someone getting mouthy to an elderly man stacking his groceries in line? Don't just sit back. Ask them, politely, if they'd behave the same way if that was their grandmother/grandfather. See how quickly the false indignation turns off, and smile. You don't have to blow your top, you don't have to lose your shit, just subvert the entitlement mindset. Someone completely wigging out in the lane next to you because a school bus overturned and there's dead kids on the highway? Smile at them and wave, and then cut them off. These are just small examples of scenarios that all form a bigger pastiche of reality. It's about taking your rightful spot on the pecking order of assholes while maintaining a sense of justice and honesty.
What I'm getting at is that we have to stop letting people walk all over everybody else at some point or another. Everyone needs a dose of reality every once in a while, and if you have to be that dose of reality, so be it. Someone might get their feelings hurt, but that's too bad. It's life. You're going to get a skinned knee. The stove might be hot. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
This isn't self-aggrandizing bullshit, and it's not egotism. It's being compassionate. It's standing up to oppression, no matter what form it may take. From the idiot neighbor letting his dog shit on your front stoop, to the politicians in the White House gang-fucking your civil rights, it's all oppression. But it's not about making yourself out to be the victim, because that means that you've relinquished your right to your balls/vagina and given up. It's about flipping the script and making the victimizer the victim. It's about treating those who tried to step on you like a disobedient dog, grabbing them by the scruff of the neck and rubbing their face in their own shit. (No, I don't abuse animals, but if you fucks who want to make me sound like a weiner want to take that route, go ahead)
My rantings aren't the product of a whiny rage-a-holic. I do my best to provide something above the garden-variety "I went to Bob's and got soooo drunk and then we played gamecube and threw up on the carpet", and for the most part, the place is rightfully acknowledged as something slightly more than the average Joe Blogger.
But when I see someone try and discredit my efforts as something that's reproachable and ultimately bullshit, that bothers me. It gets that "Fuck me? No, fuck YOU" side of my personality stewing.
And I appreciate it.
We should all appreciate our discontent. It means we're still alive. It means we've still got standards.
And it means that we haven't become complacent, which is what matters the most.
Posted by Jake at August 6, 2006 10:26 PM
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