Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[James Dasher <jdasher AT ibiblio.org>]

On Sep 27, 2004, at 11:52 PM, Tom Boucher wrote:

> On Sep 27, 2004, at 9:49 PM, James Dasher wrote:
>
> > On Sep 27, 2004, at 11:50 AM, Tom Boucher wrote:
> >
> > > On Sep 27, 2004, at 10:41 AM, Michael Czeiszperger wrote:
> > >
> > > > Here's a nice editorial by Ted Rall:
> > > >
> > > > "Kerry doesn't know what the working-class people do; he hasn't  
> > > > done any physical labor all his life," Sharon Alfman, a 51-year-old  
> > > > cook in New Lexington, Ohio, told a New York Times reporter. It's  
> > > > true. Kerry is a rich boy. But then she added: "Bush's values are  
> > > > middle-class family values."
> > > >
> > > > http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&e=18&u=/ucru/ 
> > > > triumphofthestultocracy
> > >
> > > And yet, if it weren't for people like them the IT department would  
> > > be run by one person, an intern.
> > >
> > > It's stuff like this pointing out the collective stupidity of the  
> > > nation some days that makes me think we get what we deserve for in a  
> > > President.   The last two elections now seem like the lesser of two  
> > > evils with no clear cut leader, both of them will muddle through and  
> > > make a mess of things.
> >
> > People aren't dumb just because they disagree with us.  Many people  
> > have jobs where they have to work all day, and don't have time to  
> > browse the Web during the work-day.
> >
> > "Idiot Americans"?  What do you call the people who obsessively  
> > deride their fellow citizens for holding honest differences of  
> > opinion?
>
> I'm sorry, where in my post did I say something about idiot americans?  
>   Where did I say I was surfing the web from work?  I wasn't.

Was I a little fast and loose with my interpretation of "collective  
stupidity of the nation"?

> Where did I deride someone who had a difference of opinion?

I was responding more to Ted Rall and his Hallelujah chorus here at INW  
than to you specifically, but you can think of the "collective  
stupidity of the nation" comment as the last straw that deserved a  
counter-argument.  (Er, pardon the massacred metaphor.)

> I didn't even deride someone who thought that George Bush was a middle  
> class family value person.
>
> All I said was both candidates are idiots with no clear leadership  
> skills and how the last election had the same options and we deserve  
> what we get.
>
> I work 50 to 60 hours a week.  It may not be behind a grill flipping  
> burgers and it can be just as physically draining, but I still manage  
> to watch the news or read the newspaper to see what goes on every day.  
>   I can name several (but not all probably) executive level cabinets  
> in the government, I know who my governor is (only lived in this state  
> for a year) and who the governor, senator, and representative are of  
> my previous state.    I don't have the flag memorized yet here but  
> Kansas has a latin phrase meaning 'to the stars through difficulty' on  
> it. (ad astra something, I could google it but oh well).

I wasn't deriding you for knowing more than other people, and I wasn't  
belittling your profession.  Other than the "collective stupidity of  
the nation" bit, I wasn't really talking about you specifically.  The  
point is that you think those things are worth knowing.  I happen to  
agree with you.  But I've met people who could give two sh#ts, and I've  
gotta tell you, they have pretty convincing arguments for why it  
doesn't matter.  (And to be honest, your vote and your knowledge matter  
less and less every day.  Capping the number of U.S. Representatives  
ensures that your vote will count for less each and every election than  
it did the previous election.)

Btw, I think the Kansas thing is "Ad astra per aspera" - and I didn't  
know that was Kansas' state motto.  I thought it was just NASA.