Random Rants OA - I Have 71 Problems, But This Thread Ain't One

[Valka D'Ur]

On the radio there's an ad using the Alert Ready emergency sound (sounds like this) just to say that you can now get emergency notifications on your phone. It startles me every time. Do they really need to use that noise?

They wanted to make sure you'd notice it.

Problem is, everyone's first move is to shut off the noise.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I just hope they don't overuse it on Amber Alerts or something and end up desensitizing everyone to the noise. As it is, the damn radio ad woke me up and I thought North Korea had suddenly figured out how to launch a nuke.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Too late for that. I've already been desensitized, since every time I've heard it, it's been a test, with a recorded announcement saying so.

Kinda like a couple of tenants in this building who have car alarms. They go off with so many false alarms, I couldn't care less if someone really is stealing their car. I just want the noise to stop.

I do pay attention to the Weather Network alerts on my computer, though. It's useful to have warnings of wind storms, possible tornadoes, or extreme wind chills.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I don't know of anyone that takes car alarms seriously anymore. Some of them go off if you so much as look at them funny.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I don't know of anyone that takes car alarms seriously anymore. Some of them go off if you so much as look at them funny.

Your post just set off 3 car alarms in my neighborhood!

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Mom is really depressed today. She did not get much sleep last night. The doctors say she is recovering well and that she can go home tomorrow, but she is upset that she had to spend the weekend in the hospital.

 

[Commodore]

Do the Parkland students not understand how politics and social movements work? I ask because I just read an article on CNN that stated the Parkland students are disappointed that their legislative goals have not been met one week after their little march.

Now, my disagreement with their cause aside, it seems to me these kids don't understand just how long it takes for a political movement to see any kind of results. You can't just go out and march once and expect everything to fall into place afterwards immediately. I mean, look at the Civil Rights Movement. It took them 15 years of constant marches, protests and legal battles to finally achieve their goals. These kids do one march though and expect to get everything they want in a week. Which is why this little movement will ultimately fail. Those driving the movement simply aren't committed enough to fight the long battle. Sure, these kids are all gung-ho about it now, but are they still going to be this passionate about the issue a year from now? 5 years? 10 years? My guess is probably not.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Do the Parkland students not understand how politics and social movements work? I ask because I just read an article on CNN that stated the Parkland students are disappointed that their legislative goals have not been met one week after their little march.

Now, my disagreement with their cause aside, it seems to me these kids don't understand just how long it takes for a political movement to see any kind of results. You can't just go out and march once and expect everything to fall into place afterwards immediately. I mean, look at the Civil Rights Movement. It took them 15 years of constant marches, protests and legal battles to finally achieve their goals. These kids do one march though and expect to get everything they want in a week. Which is why this little movement will ultimately fail. Those driving the movement simply aren't committed enough to fight the long battle. Sure, these kids are all gung-ho about it now, but are they still going to be this passionate about the issue a year from now? 5 years? 10 years? My guess is probably not.

Some of the kids are probably having their very first experience with this sort of thing, and didn't seriously think about politics and legislation, etc. before.

 

[Synobun]

Fret not, Commodore. There'll be another school shooting in a couple months and you'll have a whole new crop of victims to mock.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Do the Parkland students not understand how politics and social movements work? I ask because I just read an article on CNN that stated the Parkland students are disappointed that their legislative goals have not been met one week after their little march.

Now, my disagreement with their cause aside, it seems to me these kids don't understand just how long it takes for a political movement to see any kind of results. You can't just go out and march once and expect everything to fall into place afterwards immediately. I mean, look at the Civil Rights Movement. It took them 15 years of constant marches, protests and legal battles to finally achieve their goals. These kids do one march though and expect to get everything they want in a week. Which is why this little movement will ultimately fail. Those driving the movement simply aren't committed enough to fight the long battle. Sure, these kids are all gung-ho about it now, but are they still going to be this passionate about the issue a year from now? 5 years? 10 years? My guess is probably not.

Question is whether they will join the parents of Sandy Hook and all the others who showed up for them, and show up for the next victims. Because there are plenty of people who have sustained the passion of their painful losses...people who your ilk wants to ignore, or denigrate for having "manipulated" the Parkland survivors and "created" a false protest. But every time one of your barrel strokers gets his jollies he leaves hundreds of first hand victims in his wake and they connect with thousands of people directly and indirectly. The backlash is building every time, and eventually the wave will break high enough to crush you. If Parkland is any indication it is going to be sooner than later.

 

[Zkribbler]

Sure, these kids are all gung-ho about it now, but are they still going to be this passionate about the issue a year from now? 5 years? 10 years? My guess is probably not.

This is the time they are forming their values. So this will be their lifelong bedrock.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I mean, look at the Civil Rights Movement. It took them 15 years of constant marches, protests and legal battles to finally achieve their goals..

Isnt that because a certain party kept blocking it and vainly swimming against the tide of progress ?

As for the gun issue I suspect it will take something major to get changes through, perhaps another charasmatic democratic President has to be assasinated again amist a time of great strife. Women sufferage came at the end of a world war, Slavery at the end of a Civil war.

 

[Commodore]

This is the time they are forming their values. So this will be their lifelong bedrock.

Maybe, maybe not. People change over time and what was once important to them may seem like a trivial thing in the future. I know I'm certainly not the same person I was when I was 17. You can even see it if you are willing to go that far back in my posting history.

Question is whether they will join the parents of Sandy Hook and all the others who showed up for them, and show up for the next victims. Because there are plenty of people who have sustained the passion of their painful losses...people who your ilk wants to ignore, or denigrate for having "manipulated" the Parkland survivors and "created" a false protest. But every time one of your barrel strokers gets his jollies he leaves hundreds of first hand victims in his wake and they connect with thousands of people directly and indirectly. The backlash is building every time, and eventually the wave will break high enough to crush you. If Parkland is any indication it is going to be sooner than later.

Nah. I've been looking into the history of the anti-gun movement in the US and it really doesn't seem any bigger now than when it first really got started as an organized movement about 100 years ago. I give it another month or so before this "March for our Lives" madness dies down and these teens go back to eating laundry detergent and laughing at "dank memes".

And let's look at your numbers. You say they are connecting with thousands. Okay. The pro-gun crowd numbers in the millions. You still have quite a ways to go before your numbers start to matter.

The problem the anti-gun crowd has, is that it isn't just Republicans that are pro-gun. There are a lot of pro-gun Democrats out there too. That's why you always see these Democrat representatives and senators ultimately backing down on the issue of gun control. Their constituents make the same threats to vote them out that Republicans make to their politicians if they vote in favor of stricter gun control. That means there is a lot of bipartisan support for maintaining the status quo on gun laws in the US.

Isnt that because a certain party kept blocking it and vainly swimming against the tide of progress ?

The point is that the movement maintained the perseverance and commitment to keep pressing until they got what they wanted.

If all the "movements" we've seen in the past decade or so are any indication, people today just don't have the commitment to see a movement through to the end. They all die out within a few months as people move on to the next "cause of the moment" that shows up in their social media feed.

 

[JohannaK]

Oh, dont worry, there has always been a caise of the moment but, every once in a while, one picks up steam and lasts long enough to make lasting change.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I hurt my foot months ago and finally got it x-rayed. No fractures. They suggested I see a sports-medicine doctor which means I'll probably wait for it to heal for 3 more months before going to see one. It has gotten better, mind you (I'm no longer limping) but it still hurts.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And let's look at your numbers. You say they are connecting with thousands. Okay. The pro-gun crowd numbers in the millions. You still have quite a ways to go before your numbers start to matter.

I didn't say "connecting." That word, generally, would refer to someone like me. I have empathy, agree with their concerns. We connect. That can be said for millions of people. People like me will support them, but aren't going to passionately embrace it as a 'cause of a lifetime.'

I said they "are connected." As in, families that are directly feeling the loss of a loved one, or dealing with a traumatized survivor in their own family. Those people aren't going to just let it go. And that 'conversion method' can and does reach right into the heart of "Ammu-nation." Even the most devoted barrel-strokers can and do change sides on a dime when their kid gets shot at the high school.

 

[Commodore]

Oh, dont worry, there has always been a caise of the moment but, every once in a while, one picks up steam and lasts long enough to make lasting change.

They've been trying gun control for at least 100 years now. Look back at newspapers from the 1920s and you'll see the exact same arguments and the exact same "we're gonna be the ones to change it!" rhetoric that we see now.

I said they "are connected." As in, families that are directly feeling the loss of a loved one, or dealing with a traumatized survivor in their own family. Those people aren't going to just let it go. And that 'conversion method' can and does reach right into the heart of "Ammu-nation." Even the most devoted barrel-strokers can and do change sides on a dime when their kid gets shot at the high school.

See above for why I'm skeptical of these claims.

 

[Arakhor]

I don't understand why this is in the Rants thread.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I don't understand why this is in the Rants thread.

Any mention of guns produces a "but muh rights" rant from Commodore, followed by endless dispute since his rant is always too inane to not draw fire.

 

[Synobun]

I ordered some items last week. The tracker told me it would come no sooner than the 3rd because of the Easter weekend.

I was not home and there was a delivery attempt made today. They left a slip telling me to pick up the order at a post office. I cannot do that. I called to ask them to redeliver, but apparently it's their policy here to only do one delivery attempt and after that it's solely up to the recipient to find a way to get it themselves after that.

So I guess I'm not getting this order. Pretty neat.