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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looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else.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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December 4th, 2006 MERRY CHRISTMAS... AS LONG AS YOU CELEBRATE MY WAY One of the more pervasive, annoying and destructive trends in our society is the need to insist that people do things YOUR way or no way. It wasn't supposed to be like this, but it has devolved into this. The original design of the country was simple; Freedom. People would be free to live their lives as they saw fit (as long as they weren't restricting other peoples' rights), and others would be free to comment on whether or not they agreed. That was supposed to be the end of it, and in the case of a lack of consensus, people would agree to disagree and thus, live and let live. Now however, when someone doesn't like how another person lives that someone begins by speaking out about it and then, when the subject of their disdain fails to conform, it progresses to insistence that the behavior changes, ultimately leading to intimidation and/or suppression of behaviors and rights. Welcome to America, circa 2006. Examples of this idiocy are everywhere. The anti-smoking crowd won't be satisfied until smoking is illegal, the anti-gun crowd wants to repeal the second amendment, MADD wants to outlaw alcohol (again), and everyone thinks that you should raise your children the way they would raise your children. This means you have to know when to spank them, when to time-out them and when to reward them, lest the wrong crowd reports you to CPS. Christmas brings out the worst of the worst. It may not be as monumental as child rearing, but it certainly is as passionate and pervasive. On one side, you have the hard-line, right wing religious Nazi-esque whackos; they claim they have history and semantics on their side, thus allowing them to hide behind their true belief that everyone everywhere should worship their God or burn a fiery death, take your pick. They will point out that the first 6 letters of the holiday spell out the name of their lord and savior, who, according to folklore (and NOT fact), was born on December 25th and since there is a preponderance of evidence supporting at least the fact that some guy who's name was Jesus Christ did actually walk the Earth 2006 years ago, the day is and only should be a religious birthday celebration of the almighty. These nuts even believe that if you aren't celebrating Christ, then you shouldn't celebrate at all, you heathens. There are of course, a variety of versions of these nut-jobs, but this is the general premise. On the other side of this inane and insane argument are the secular, left-wing, multicultural, politically correct, bug eating weirdoes who want Christ, and all references to him removed from the holiday. These screwballs use weak constitutional arguments about the separation of church and state (which is no where in the Constitution, mind you, it was a Supreme Court decision that created that phrase), to hide behind their true belief; no one should be religious ever, any where at all. These are the basket cases that intimidated Santa out of schools and "Merry Christmas" out of department stores. Since this groundwork was laid 2 decades ago, it has only gotten worse. Now, people boycott stores that sell ornaments that they find offensive for God's sake! (check out the articles below to see what I'm talking about) Imagine that… people are going to buy ornaments to take home to put in their homes to enjoy on their private trees and others are so outraged and offended that they will organize boycotts. This proves my theory… you either celebrate MY way or NO way. Meanwhile, the rest of us… about 80% as I can tell… wish these whack-jobs on both sides would just duke this whole thing out gladiator style and find themselves all dying for their beliefs and causes. Most of us have neither the time nor inclination to be offended by a "Merry Christmas," and/or "Happy Hanukah." Most of us are smart and private enough to celebrate and worship the way we choose to or not too and don't need the fringe kooks of our pathetic society having input in those decisions. At least, that's what I like to tell myself. As I write the last few sentences I realize that I don't really believe it any more. Too many of us are so obsessed with image, appearance and acceptance that we will simply follow the heard and do what's popular, not what we believe is right. The trend this year is towards a more "Christ" Christmas, so expect to see your neighbors dusting off nativity sets you haven't seen up in a decade. No worries, though, within five years the snowman wearing a "Happy Holidays" shirt will be back on the lawn in place of the baby Jesus. It's a grand, stupid country we live in, isn't it? Merry Hanukah to all and to all, a good schmekel.
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