My Resumé of Hate.

It's time to come clean with you people: I'm a terrible person.  It has been made clear to me that not only am I a racist, but also a sexist.  I never intended to become one, but unfortunately for me I ended up having an opinion.



The racism part is easy to explain: I think Barack Obama is a terrible president.  I just don't think he's done a good job.  He seems more interested in being cool and campaigning than he does in actually leading the country.  In think he's more interested in catering to special interest groups when issues that affect the country as a whole are not being tended to.  I also don't think he has any ideas as to how to truly fix any of these problems as he just wants to keep raising taxes instead to doing some sensible measures.  Obviously, all of this is because he's a black guy.

There's still this weird undertone of "If you don't like Obama then you're a racist" that pops up here and there.  Sure there's some people out there who don't like him simply because he's black, but there's also many of us who don't like him because of his choices and policies.  But we're back to the old fighting like a six year old tactic of lying to change reality, and claiming something is "hate speech" simply because you don't agree with it.

But this is old news.  Let's talk about me being a sexist.  I discovered this because I've been informed that Seth MacFarlane's little song and dance number at the Oscar's is all about hate.



DAMMIT!  I thought I was being all open to diversity because it had a gay men's chorus in it and I'm still trying to make up for hating all them there gays by eating at Chik-Fil-A.  But no, I'm a terrible sexist because I laughed my ass off.  I don't know what's wrong with me in that I lack the empathy to feel bad for these poor women who were sitting there in gowns that cost more than my annual income and were being systematically called out for choosing to get a bit naked in front of the camera.  Maybe if they hadn't made so much money from it I'd be a better person and feel bad.



Now, the person who let me know this is about "hate" is a woman whom I like a lot.  She's a smart, funny filmmaker.  Tons of talent.  We just disagree about this, so I'm not going to throw out a link to her blog because I don't want anyone going over there and leaving snarky comments.  However, she's truly offended by this so what she should do is make video entitled "We Saw Your Junk", make a nice little song and dance number about it, post it up on YouTube and watch the hits come on in.  Living well is the best revenge and making some coin off of a clever retort is nice.

So let's see.  I don't like Obama, so I'm a racist.  I laughed at that Seth MacFarlane bit, so I'm a sexist.  I still eat at Chik-Fil-A, so I'm still hating those gays.  Oh wait, I nearly forgot, those parents who are being pissy with a school for refusing to let their son use the girls bathroom because of a label they slapped on their kid are morons so obviously I must hate transgender people too.

(Sindenote: STOP LABELING KIDS.)



So that's me.  Big ball o' hate.  I wouldn't blame you all for blocking me from whatever social media I may or may not be one and leaving me all alone with my hate.

Or you could understand that having different point of view isn't hate.  Laughing at satire isn't hate.  Eating Chicken sammiches isn't hate.  And finally the diversity that the people who hurl about allegations of "hate speech" and the like are trying so hard to defend needs to still include white, straight guys too.  Otherwise I'm going to have to find some sort of minority status to claim to fit in.  Which likely wouldn't be too difficult as sane people are getting scarce.

Racism, or just needing to try harder?

Its Wednesday, May 18, 2011, all's fair in love and way, and if its not you can always get a lawyer, and this is The Side. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just really, really naive. I understand that life is not fair. There's people out there stronger, smarter, faster, and more skilled than me. But I do try to give myself what advantages I can. I try to pay attention. I try to implement tactics that play to my strengths. I identify my strengths so I know what tactics will work best for me. I identify my weaknesses so I can try to fix them, or at least have a back up plan in case those weaknesses get preyed upon.

So it does kinda tick me off to hear people whine about something not being fair. Of course there is injustice in the world, but it gets hard to spot sometimes amidst all the claims of injustice. If you want fair, play "Chutes and Ladders". That's about as fair as the world is gonna get.

But you can't tell some people that.

THE CHICAGO WAY

So let me get this straight, Chicago has to hire 111 black firefighters and pay out buckets of money because of racist hiring practices? A bunch of people take a test. 64% is considered passing. They have a limited number of positions to fill. They randomly select the number of people they need from those scoring 89% on the test or higher. Now because most of the people that scored 89% or higher weren't black the hiring process must be racist and the city has to stroke out checks?

Just when you think society had a prayer.

Screw this. Screw this on every level. This is the most idiotic, patronizing thing I've seen in a long time. People keep saying its what's on the inside that counts, and we're all the same under our skin, but when there's a check to cashed from accusations of racism folks still line right up. Was there a question on that test anywhere asking "Hey, are you a black guy?" that if answered "yes" knocked their score down a few points? I kinda doubt it. But this isn't the first story of "test bias" that I'm heard. There was a case in Florida back in 04 where the police department was accused of having their hiring practices being biased. It was the swimming test of all things. They said the black candidates were having trouble with the swimming test, so they dropped that test as a requirement. So, for those of you in North Miami, ya better be wearing your floaties.

Now, this differs significantly from the Chicago case. The Miami case happened because they were understaffed and couldn't get people through the test. That's kinda scary that the lack of qualified people was to the point where they had to lower the qualifications. The Chicago case is really different in that the Chicago Fire Department had plenty of qualified applicants. More than enough people passed the test. More than enough people did so well on the test that they were able to hire strictly from high scorers. And that's what they did. They hired the amount of the people that they needed randomly from the pool of high scorers. They didn't factor in skin color.

Which is why they're getting sued.

I'm a white guy. If I was told that standards didn't apply to me because of my skin color I'd a be pretty damn insulted. If I come up short on a level playing field, that's how it goes. I shouldn't get special considerations over people who perform better than me based solely on race. How does that work? "Oh, you're white. You don't have to do as good on this test. We understand you're not as good as other people who aren't white. Have a cookie."

Even worse, imagine being a citizen of Chicago! If there's a fire or emergency, you aren't getting the best qualified people coming to your aid! But you better not have a problem with that or someone might call you a racist.

I thought we were past this. I thought it was supposed to be all about doing your best and trying to better yourself. You didn't get a good enough score on the test? Study harder and try again. My cousin didn't whine about his SAT scores when he knew what college he wanted to go to. He didn't demand that the college lower their expectations. He kept retaking the test until the score was good enough. That college was Harvard, so it wasn't a walk in the park.

But the case in Chicago is going forward. I guess there's a lesson here. You don't have to man up when you can lawyer up. Hope no cows get near any lanterns any time soon.

MUSIC!!!

Ironically, these guys seem a lot more realistic than Lady Gaga.



That's my bit for today. See y'all Friday. Hope you don't have to take any racist tests.