Rage Chatter / BS

 Back in August of 1977...I left the farm....the rural aspects of Alabama.  It was one of those adventure things in life.  Throughout the decades....I lived in an odd 'zone'....on the fringe of suburban America, Panama, or Germany.

I never felt threatened in rural America, and up to 2010....I didn't really feel threatened in urban America.  My 3.5 years in Arlington changed that perception. Since coming back to Germany?  I have a no-go list of places in my mind, and I don't feel 100-percent safe....not in Germany, and certainly not in most urban areas of the US.

I sat yesterday and watched a MSNBC piece, where Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller (college professor types) did a talk on their new book...."White Rural Rage".  What I'll say from the talk they gave (I haven't read the book)....is that civilized America....living in the urban areas....just can't argue (win in a debate) with the 'less-than-smart' rural folks, and this is screwing up things in our little democracy.

This other book?  The Unprotected Cass: How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart by Jeremy Carl. He goes at this urban-rural discussion in the opposite direction.  Rural America in his book....is under a threat, and they simply won't stand there patiently...waiting for something to happen.

This rage thing?  Most people walked around the nation....both in small towns, rural areas, and suburban areas....all the way through the 1980s,  and at some point in the 1990s.....tension started to rise up.  I can't really blame TV, media, some movie, or even some  political group.

Up to 2008....it was simply pacing along and not really a big deal.  In the 2008-to-2016 era?  It took off....I'd say that newspapers, news media, and social media carried the bulk of the message.  Rage was 'in'.

People go to work with rage today.  They sip coffee with rage.  They attend church with rage.  They manage their rage to some degree....always careful not to talk certain subjects.

The NFL, NBA, and pro-golf....affect rage.  Just listening to Nancy Pelosi might affect your rage level.   Your kid's school....might affect your rage.  Some pronoun-person might trigger your rage.  

The urban guy?  Oh, he's got rage.  His wife?  She's got rage.

The rural farmer?  He's got rage.  The Piggly Wiggly gal?  She's got rage.

The retired welder?  He's got rage.  The charming dental lady doing your teeth clean-up?  She's got rage.  

The date you got with the artsy 40-year old gal who camps out in a tent occasionally?  She's got rage.  The  co-worker who has watched all the Star Gate episodes and knows dialog of Daniel Jackson?  He's got rage.  The dumbass Fox News morning guy that you hate with a passion?  He's got rage.  

All of this brings me to my chief observation.  Whatever CIA guy who designed this trend and figured you could manage rage....guessed wrong.   All of this can only lead to a 1859 'point' where the bluff no longer works, and you have to find physical way to reset the rage.

The people who think the rural people can be dominated or swayed?  They probably guessed wrong. And here's the odd thing...these suburban folks?  Half of them actually 'closet-rural' folks (meaning they only pretend to be urbanized).  This aspect should worry some folks. 

When Your Degree Is Worthless?

 I read through a Bloomberg business report today....which laid out this odd trend.  Around 50-percent of recent college graduates (I sense they meant from spring 2022  to spring 2023....are working high school-level jobs.

Meaning?  They might be the 'boss' of a car rental shop at some airport (which was always a high-school situation). Or they might be the sales gal of some cellphone shop at the mall.

Why?  Well....after submitting their resume around.....most in this category fell into a 'pit'...where the $40,000 college-grad level had nothing going on.

A Biden, or Bidenomics thing?  On the positive side....they are employed and pulling in something.  On the negative side...they probably still live in dad's house, and dad is feeding them.....with maybe some coverage deal of car insurance going on.

Here's my problem....you might linger in this job for a full-year, and on your resume.....you are basically saying there's something odd about my work situation and I'm doing the work of a high-school guy/gal.

If you are still there at the rental-car shop (as chief) after two years?  Yeah, that labels you a classic 4-star college degree loser.  

Finally, just an odd observation....to be honest, I could hire 10-percent of the sixteen-year old high-school (yet-to-graduate) crowd, as a temp-boss of a car-rental shop....over you.  

Fixing Text

There's some schools talking about pulling To Kill a Mockingbird (the classic) because of racial discrimination text.  

The aim?  Well.....all that sensitive text and dialog.

I sat and pondered over this.

Maybe you just need to change the characters.

This Finch-guy for example....why couldn't he be Bombay-Indian-American?

The daughter?  'Scout'?  She could be half-transgirl, half-transboy,  half-wolf.

This 'Boo' guy who was always so mysterious?  Make him into an escaped lunatic clown-killer.

This Calpurnia-gal....the black-cook in the house?  Make her into a freaked-out Texas gal who seems to be cocaine an doped-up half the time.

This Bob Ewell guy?  The guy who was mostly drunk and never seemed to have a dollar....but accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter?  Make him into a fired CNN executive who has brain-fog from Covid.  

I'm sure that we can fix the text....to make folks happy.

Newcomers?

 I saw this BS yesterday and spent about ten minutes trying to imagine how they sat in some 'bubble' and invented the term 'newcomers' out of the Biden White House.

I suggested to my brother....we, being citizens....would logically be 'oldcomers' or 'old-timers', but that really doesn't fit.

I would imagine some news media folks sat there and conversed with Biden team and told them....'aliens' or 'illegals' conveys negatives. 'Newcomers'?  Well,  it conveys new people (not strangers).

So I pondered upon this.  In rural Alabama, 1970s....there was always some hyped-up positive feelings about new people moving in, or hearing about some family from Ohio....having arrived in the community.  In some ways....the Ohio folks were like French-people....from just so FAR off.

The fact that Biden's team being just awful unconnected to reality or the nation itself?  Well....after a while...you get this impression. In some ways, you get the impression they attended some college, and after four years....left with less intelligence than they had on day one.

The news guys accepting this BS and repeating it?  Yeah, he/she looks pretty stupid.

The one odd thing being different from 1970s Alabama?  Well...we'd usually visit the  newcomers...offering up a cake....maybe giving some advice on local churches, and give the typical warnings about tornados, snakes and NCAA football.  We didn't attempt to hand the newcomer a $10,000 VISA card, or hand them $25,000 in hotel or meal coverage.   

Whoever is running in November as the Democratic contender (it won't be Joe)....has a serious problem in explaining newcomer status to the public.

Subtitles BS?

I sat and read the basic story and put the news down for half-an-hour.  It's been on my mind.

So what the research shows...IF you gather up Generation Z 'kids' and millennials...a majority has sub-text turned on for their TV viewing.  Mixed reasons given....none that logical.

Millennials came along (born in 1981) in the 1990s...wrapping up in 1996.

They aren't say the vast number....just a majority.

To be honest, I don't remember this 'capability' on TVs until you get to around the late 1990s.

Me using sub-text?  When I view Netflix....especially with the South Korean movies/shows....yeah, I use it.  Oddly enough....when the series  'Gotham' came on (in English)....I flipped sub-text on because there were so many accents from the actors.

Or is this just something they turned-on, and never thought much about turning off?

Emotional Crap

I tried to make sense out of this....the guys who write text-books for schools...advocating that math classes should include some kind therapy that covers social/emotional 'stuff'.

 It was somewhere around the ninth-grade for me....where this math 'crap' got into a dizzy and weird spiral....where five hours a week were wasted covering 15 minutes of math-reality.  Yeah, I began to fall asleep and gaze out the windows at the nearby woods.  

It wasn't until the 10th grade that I got 'relief' (just handed the book) and told advance at your own speed.  I wrapped up the math class halfway through the school-year.

What these guys mean by social and emotional learning?  Unknown.  I read the article, and mostly what I got....you need some kind of therapy when engaged in math quizzes, and that some kids are distraught that numbers mean something.

The problem I see brewing here?  Well....if you think math requires therapy....what about science, English Literature (like that Shakespeare guy), and any American history prior to 1980?  Seems like you'd have to run three hours of therapy a week....getting you socially up to some standard. 

What'll happen by 2030?  After the 7th grade, I suspect most all of your time in high school will be therapy-driven.....with kids admitting they are unable to handle reality (or stress).

Five Things

 1.  Just odd....the Biden-team has told Israel in some statement....don't go around and find occasions where Hamas is stealing general aid stuff from the Palestinian public (even if they are stealing stuff).

You would have dragged out in the news media thirty years ago, and dumped upon severely....but today?  No one says a word.

2.  Google has lost $70-billion in value over the past few days....as their AI 'creature' has been found to be incompetent. The longer that 'Gemini' stays up and still incompetent?  Well...they lose tons of more cash value.

3.  Not that I really care....but the Illinois Supreme Court has the Jussie Smollett appeal in their hands.  If they don't invalidate it?  I would imagine Jussie will push onto the Supreme Court.  Personally, I think Judge Thomas of the Supreme Court is just begging for it to arrive there where he can ask Jussie forty-odd questions....like do you normally go out to Subway at 1AM in the winter?

4.   Just a odd news item....various Attorney Generals are saying around 85,000 'kids' disappeared after crossing the border.   How they disappeared or where they went?  Unknown.  

5.   Apple cancelled it's Apple-Car idea.  Sign that the hyped has peaked?  Well....yeah, I'd say they realized it.