Haha I tricked you. I split this into two posts so you would read them both. DUMMY! NOW READ!
I'm very glad Obama won. Did he go back on his signed agreement, opt into public financing, and buy his presidency? You bet. Do I like that? Not one bit. Can he turn everything into rainbows and unicorns. Doubt it. Is the US headed toward "socialism"? Well if whatever he does sucks you better believe it'll be undone faster than you can say "Hussein" by the Republican horde that swarms Washington next election cycle. So everyone lamenting the fact we elected a "Marxist" can suck my sickle and two hammers. The election is over, remember? You can leave your fear tactics and scary word list on the desk, they finally failed you and they are of no use now. Next election you better bring something more to the table or it'll be four more years of your money going straight into the pockets of free-loaders and high school dropouts. The fact that the entire world is totally pumped that he won means a lot to me. And it'll be freaking awesome being proud instead of mortified when people from other countries start talking to me about our president. Which doesn't come up THAT often but still.
Oh which reminds me, I made this post mainly to talk about something that happened today, but I'll tell this short one too. There's this dude at work, who's probably like 65, kind of strange looking and almost always gives me a hard time about not being fluent in Swedish yet. Tuesday we went to the Port of Stockholm to test a new spreader design we've been working on for a few months. On the car ride there everyone was talking about the election, of course, and they were asking me about it. Anders (boss) asks: "Do you think Obama will get elected?" Me: "Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Old dude: "SO HOW LONG TILL YOU THINK HE GETS SHOT?" Everyone else just kind of chuckles, embarrassed, and I'm like "Well, there are a lot of crazy people with guns out there, but the security is good, they know it'll be more dangerous for him, blah blah, I really hope that doesn't happen, blah blah..." The issue fades and we get on with the (pretty awesome) day. Anyway, Wednesday, it's official, he's elected, and at the coffee break I can tell this dude is absolutely CHOMPING at the bit to say something to me so I do everything possible to avoid him. Sure enough right afterward he comes in all pretending to talk to my buddy Bosse for like two seconds and then comes right up to me and: "So how long till he gets shot?" AGAIN. I give the same answer as the day before, undeterred he presses on: "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE KU KLUX KLAN THINKS ABOUT HIM BEING ELECTED?" I'm like dumbfounded now. "Um there's not much of the Ku Klux Klan left..." "WHAT DO YOU THINK ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE WILL DO WHEN HE GETS SHOT?" Me: blank stare. "I BET THEY WON'T LIKE IT, DO YOU THINK THEY WILL RIOT?" Me: mouth agape. "I BET THEY WILL RIOT!" I slowly turned back to my computer to ignore him and he walked away.
Moral of the story: There are assholes in every country who take great pleasure in rubbing you the wrong way for no reason other than they like being a dickhole, I guess. On a nicer note... At the Stockholm Port, I went up in both of the gantry cranes they had. I don't like heights at all, and the walkways on these things are probably at least 200ft in the air. The walkways are basically metal grates that you can see right through straight down to the ground, there's nothing else underneath you, no supports for the grates or anything. It really looks like theres basically nothing holding you up. I was pretty happy I didn't freak out. It was fun being inside the cockpit thingy with the driver though, in the front the floor is glass so you can see straight down, which didn't bother me since I was enclosed. When they drive those things hard it's impossible to stand upright, it knocks you right over, it was like an amusement park ride. Really cool.
5 comments:
racism in America is far less a problem than generally assumed.
probably less than in Europe I think. but i dont know that from any first hand experience, just a guess.
HAHA Andy you got schooled.. *snap*
just sayin since we elected a black president that goes a long ways toward eliminating the race business in America. I think Europe is a lot further behind in that respect...the fact that people make those kind of comments about when we will shoot obama that pat pointed out kinda gives me that impression.
and if pat wants to use "troll" as a way to avoid any response to anything thats fine. though it makes no sense because my comment was completely on topic and relevant and not outrageous at all, certainly not as much as what the people actually said in the first place. and to put "troll" as a response to anything i post on my own blog makes even less sense because the subject matter of my own blog is whatever topic i choose--no one has to read it its just my opinions backed up with facts when necessary. hell, i could care less if my blog has even one viewer because for me its just a written record of my own thoughts and research, something i can use for future reference if needed.
"since we elected a black president that goes a long ways toward eliminating the race business in America."
Wow, just... WOW. Almost speechless. Where to start with that whopper. How about... This didn't strike you as an incredibly smug thing to say for someone who actually VOTED for Obama, let alone someone who not only didn't vote for him but wrote several posts on his own blog ranting about why Obama should NOT be elected? Couldn't you have at the very least left off the "we", or said "since America" or something? YOU were actively against his election. Remember the South Park when everyone brought Priuses and then started farting into wineglasses? That's how you sound, except you didn't even buy the Prius, you just went along for a ride in one, complained non-stop about it and then continued congratulating yourself anyway with more wineglass farts afterwards. If you truly were writing your blog only for yourself and not trying to engage people in dialogue (or more accurately baiting people, usually), then all of your "thoughts and research" are merely wineglass farts of smug. Keep writin' that blog, and keep smellin' those farts.
"what the people actually said"
No, what ONE PERSON said. How much of the story did you read, or did you not comprehend it? The point was no matter what country you are in there are jerks who just like to mess with you for no reason (and actually that particular guy has so far been really nice to me since, and I regret having written negatively about him, I think it was just his idea of a joke that I found very unfunny). I never use the term racist and didn't mean to allude to racism at all. You whipped that one out all by yourself.
"my comment was completely on topic and relevant and not outrageous at all,"
Ummmmmm, possibly, to you and you alone. As usual you are choosing to completely ignore the inconvenience of everyone and everything outside of your tidy little Andyverse that may disagree with you or one of your immutable beliefs.
"if pat wants to use "troll" as a way to avoid any response to anything thats fine."
Exactly. You came here trying for a response. You posted something that could pretty easily be taken (and I do take it) as controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, AND off-topic or at the absolute very least designed to evoke some type of emotional response out of me (congrats, here it is).
THAT
=
TROLL
From now now on, if you attempt to bring what I deem trolling to my blog, you will get a link to the wikipedia article only (if that) and no further response. If I deem it appropriate for my blog then maybe I'll reply.
i'll always refer to we and America. yes i didnt vote for him but we, mine, my, our country did. and while i didn't, i am happy he did ONLY so people (here and abroad) can STFU about racism being a big problem here anymore.
while i appreciate discussion that might ensue from my blog, i won't break down and cry if no one responds. blogs on the whole are smug. it assumes anyone cares about anything anyone has to say. thats why i titled mine like i did cause i don't assume anyone reads it. damn, thats probably more smug. lol.
talking about smug, i think its pretty smug to just assume the world will like you/us/we/our/my country more because we/us/our/my America elected the messiah himself, Barack Obama. thats the liberal media shoving this stupid notion that the world thinks so lowly of old USA because of Bush. most people either probably don't give a shit or are uninformed or jealous they aren't here. frankly, even if it were true, i'd be thrilled. probably means we are doing the right thing.
i thought it was two people saying what you wrote about in your blog. the very long paragraph makes it hard to follow that it was the same guy saying those things. MY BAD. and clearly the guy was alluding to America being racist. cmon now.
"Ummmmmm, possibly, to you and you alone. As usual you are choosing to completely ignore the inconvenience of everyone and everything outside of your tidy little Andyverse that may disagree with you or one of your immutable beliefs."
inconvenience? how? immutable belief? dont think either of those applies here at all. i was simply defending that America is not as racist as that guy assumes (pretty offensive anyone would say what he said) and i think, through some measure, that Europe MAY be more racist overall than America....that possibly ignorant dude's comments aside, i more base it on the proliferation of darwinism in Europe starting with social darwinism on up to national socialists and the lingering effects of that. i think with how heavily darwinism took hold in europe and how its probably still taught today would likely lend itself to some racism even if most of the extreme positions on lower level human races has been conveniently brushed aside thanks to the uglyness it lead to in WW2(which of course shifted darwinists to move to the left and focus less on races and more about social classes). I realize its convenient to lump Hitler/Germany with Europe and racism, but it certainly hasn't been the only facist regime in modern European history so i'm not completely off the wall making that connection. and i'm also sure that anyone who was a part of something that only happened 60 years ago isn't just living in germany these days.
America has had some dumb laws on the books and some rogue elements (KKK) but nowhere else in the world do minorities have the opportunities they have than right here and certainly our government won't be slaughtering them by the thousands anytime soon. maybe Christians though. lol. j/k now THAT would be outrageous/controversial/inflammatory!
hell just for fun and so i can close this out, i'd go ahead and wager that no minority, specifically a black man, will ever be elected to run a European country in my lifetime. that may be controversial and inflammatory, but i dont think its a bad bet either, strictly from a gambling standpoint.
thanks for writing.
LOVE,
Andy
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