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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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HEAT WAVE 2006, THE ON-GOING PUSSIFICATION OF AMERICA Arnie and I have had a lot of fun the last few weeks chiding America for its "shock" at the "surprising" heat wave griping the states in, of all times, the middle of summer! There is more to it than the obvious sarcasm surrounding people being surprised at the completely predictable and totally precedented heat wave gripping the nation. Yet again, we are watching the pussification of America in action. Just as with Hurricane Katrina months earlier, we have a front row seat to the arrogance, complacency and complete disintegration of the American population as it reacts to something as seemingly simple as the weather. The arrogance, of course, is tied into the bogus belief that global warming is real and that we, as tiny little peons on this big, beautiful planet have any say whatever over the Earth's survival. As I have documented time and time again, we are nothing when compared to the planet and we are no more a threat to this globe than the house fly. Unfortunately, admitting that would acknowledge our insignificance as a people and we are so devoid of self esteem we are completely incapable of that. Additionally, we arrogantly believe that since we are causing the problems in our climate (which we aren't) we should be able to change, stop or control them rather than allow people to die. One of Rob's truths of life is on display here; Mother Nature always wins. We can't stop, control or mitigate hurricanes anymore than we can the heat… all we can do is prepare and react… we are at the mercy of powers greater than we can understand, explain or even define. Deal with it. The complacency is tied directly to the pussification of America. We live in a time when convenience, not necessity, is the mother of invention. The only things we embrace as a culture are those that are quick and easy. We work for very little and want for everything. We expect it all, but also believe it will and should be handed to us. There has never been an easier time to be a citizen of the Unites States than right here, right now. Yet, we report higher levels of stress than ever before. Hell, even our kids say they are stressed! Our laziness, complacency, and entitlement mentality is at an all time high and it takes a power the size of Mother Nature to remind us just how insignificant we are. Here we are, America 2006; 75% of us own our homes. We make more money than 90% of the world can even dream of making. Poverty in America is literally defined as having ONLY one television set (I am not making this up!). We live longer than ever, we have nicer, bigger and more cars than all of the other nations in the world combined. We have spent the last 4 years at war in Iraq and have tragically lost 2,500 soldiers. In World War II, we lost 10,000 soldiers in one day when we landed at Normandy. Welcome to America, 2006, where we own more air conditioners per capita than any nation on Earth, have more choices as to where to go to cool off than anyone, yet we bitch, moan, whine, complain and demand that something be done about the oppressive heat. Imagine the arrogance of demanding something be done about the weather! People try to use the "problems are relative" argument, which is of course, complete horseshit. For the purpose of this article, however I'll play along. You're damn right problems are relative, and when we consider a heat wave in the summer to be a problem we are demonstrating the disintegration of our society as we become the soft, lazy Americans the rest of the World has been seeing for decades. The truth is that when life gets too easy, we have no idea what hardship is. When we are handed everything, we have no idea how to work for anything. You want to claim problems are relative and I say look at Africa. Those people live deprived lives from the word go in the hottest place on Earth and guess what? They're a hell of a lot tougher than we are. God forbid if they ever become an industrialized nation… with all that they've been through and all of their appreciation for hard work and sacrifice they'd be the new Super Power. Try to explain to the World War II generation why it is that we have problems in America today. I'm sure they'd be riveted by the challenges you face of having to drive 3 miles for a hamburger and being forced to decide which Coach purse will match with your CBGB shoes you lazy fuck. Please spare me the tripe that "they died so that we could have it this easy," because that's malarkey too. All of the great Americans that came before us died so that we wouldn't do what we're doing now; take our lives, our lifestyle and our freedoms for granted. Not only are we not honoring all of those who suffered before us, we're actually spitting in their face. America as a whole needs some boot camp. The next time some wiener whines about the 100 degree heat in August, rather than parade him in front of news cameras and make him a victim, someone needs to get in his face and tell him to suck it up, quit complaining and get back to work. The next time some loser bitches about $3 gas, rather than uttering "I feel your pain," someone should remind that person that driving is a privilege and they can always walk. These were the types of things we said to each other in this country 50 years ago… back when this was still America.
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