You Got F'd in the A!

Hello everyone!

Oh, it's on!

Hill-Dawg: Yo, let's tear this hizz-ouse down! Drop it like it's hot:



Hill-Dawg: You just got served!

B-Bama: What-evah! I'll do what I want:



Hill-Dawg: Oh no you di-int! You trippin'!

B-Bama: Sit yo' ass down. You just mad 'cause you got yo' ass whooped tonight.

Dee-Dodd: Yo Hill-Dawg, you just got f'd in the a, be-yotch!!

B-Bama: Yo, Dee-Dodd, I don't roll like that.

Dee-Dodd: Sorry dawg, but you do, man. You did with Dawn, you did it with Shondrella, and you did it with the triplets LaTeesha, LaTasha, LaToya...

Rally Nizzader: These two crews right here is what I call bad. I'm talking bad as in utter bad, yo. As in not good. What I mean is the liberal intelligentsia has allowed its party to become a captive of corporate interests. Peace out, yo.

B-Bama: Oh no you di-int!

Rob "I've Got Something in My Front Pocket For You" D-to-the-O-to-the-Dubya

Wow. Just wow.

Hello everyone!



Wow. Just wow.

The sad thing is that he's not joking.

Rob

More School Stuff

Hello everyone!

I got a response from the student who sent out an email I responded to. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go here first. If you do know the story, read on:

Rob,

Thank you for your response. The real question now is, if you feel this way, why have or havent you acted on these beliefs? And what type of environment must be created for us to legitimize these claims in an active way that can create tangible results?

Here's my response to his response to my response:

Hello Ryan

I thought long and hard about your questions, but I'm not quite sure what you're asking. I don't think what I talked about were "beliefs" per se, but observations. They're simply how I see things. I suppose I "act" on them by choosing to live my life accordingly and by sharing my observations when appropriate, or even sometimes when not appropriate. That's about it.

I'm not interested in going around telling everyone they're living their lives all wrong, even if that's what I believe. To do so would make me no better than the people in the commercials who insist I run out and buy whatever they're selling.

I don't understand the second question at all. It seems like it would all depend on what kind of "tangible results" a person is looking for. There's a fine line between showing people your viewpoint is better and manipulating them into believing so. Some of the worst scum of society makes their living doing the latter, and I want no part in it.

Rob

We'll see if he responds to my response to his response to my response to his email.

In the meantime, I promise there will be cheese talk coming soon.

Rob

School Stuff

Hello everyone!

School has been keeping me pretty busy lately, so I haven't been able to do much blogging. I realize it probably doesn't take long to read my posts, but in case you weren't aware, it takes much longer to write one of these than it does to read them. Unless you're a really, really, really slow reader.

The other day, one of my professors asked the class if we remembered the fall of the Berlin Wall. I raised my hand, and then looked around and saw there were about four total hands up in the air--out of a class of 125. Granted, not everyone was there, but still. I quickly did some math in my head and realized it was almost 19 years ago. that means that most of the people in my class were in diapers. Some weren't even born yet!

I'm old. How did this happen?

Today, I received an interesting email in my school email account. It was from another student, and it was sent to all Political Science majors, as far as I can tell. Here it is:

UO Student Body,

Do you think the current student body is apathetic? Why or Why not?

If you could please respond to the question your comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Ryan XXXXX
UO Undergraduate...
and interested student

I was intrigued. I meant to respond with a quick message, but I got a bit excited and wrote a big response. Here it is:

The student body is most definitely apathetic.

But it's not their (our) fault. We've been programmed this way for all our lives. Through public schools, mass media, and even our parents we've been conditioned to accept and do whatever we're told and not question it. The media, especially, tells us what is important, how to dress, what to buy, and of course, what to think. Above all, we're told our ideas are silly and inconsequential unless someone can make money out of it, and that it's important to not be original and instead conform, unless you count buying an ipod in pink instead of white as being original.

Our capitalistic society perpetuates this apathy because it's completely built around consumerism, not on what people actually want or need. We're supposed to devote our energy to buying a bunch of pretty much useless things, all under the promise that it will make us happier, more rounded people. Of course, it doesn't work that way, but that doesn't stop us from trying. And once we buy all this crap, we still have an empty feeling inside--but don't worry, we can just buy something else to make us as happy as the people on the commercials.

But consuming can never make us as happy as the people on TV because they're not real people, not even the ones on reality shows. Speaking of reality shows, could their popularity make it any more obvious that we're screaming for something tangible and real in our lives? But our lives are for the most part not real, and we know it even if we don't want to admit it. And who cares about something that isn't real?

Also, why should people care about anything when their worth as a human is defined in economic terms? People are no longer people--they're consumers, they no longer live in communities--they live in market areas.

As for us students, we certainly haven't been given much to look forward to. We've got a decimated environment, a huge debt, a real threat of nuclear annihilation, and a health-care system that puts its energy into patenting chemical drug treatments for ailments instead of finding cures. And if we're lucky, we can spend 40+ hours staring at a computer screen in a cubicle to get our two weeks paid vacation maxing out our credit cards at Disney-hell while aggressively and desperately trying to cram as much so-called fun as possible into 14 days before we have to go back to our lives for another year.

Look at the companies that are going to be at the UO job fair: Frito Lay? Target? Geico insurance? Fred Meyer? Hell, Enterprise car rental was named one of the 50 best places to launch a career! How depressing is that? Don't you think it's hard to care if you know what's in store for you is to be an assistant manager at Fred Meyer and have to deal with some pissed-off old lady yelling at you on a Thursday night because your store doesn't have some piece of crap in her size or in a different color?

Our political leaders aren't much better. The state legislature just approved using $200 million of taxpayers' funds to build a new building so men can play a ball game, never mind that the old building worked fine. This is going to enrich our lives how? Try getting them to give $200 million for a new art museum or state park, or even for an after-school childcare program or homeless shelter. You'd be lucky to get $200. With priorities like that, can you blame people for being apathetic?

Oh yeah, if you question any of this, you'll be labeled as disruptive, a troublemaker, or a terrorist. You can even be tased or tortured for no reason--and most people won't care. Some will even cheer it on.

The worst thing about it is that people sometimes take apathy to the extreme, and then they start entertaining notions about going on a shooting rage or flying an airplane into a building. If you don't care about yourself or anything else, what's the big deal if you destroy it?

Anyway, good luck with whatever you're working on. I hope you get lots of responses--but I somehow doubt it. Apathy, you know.

Sincerely,
Rob

PS: If this sounds cynical, it's important to realize that not only is apathy a product of society, but that society is also the way it is specifically because of apathy. It's a vicious cycle. If you figure out how to break it, let me know.

I know this sounds depressing, but I do have good news, too. I got my first shipment of the Gourmet Cheese of the Month club last week! I promise I'll give a full report right here on Rob Dow's World once I've tasted it all. Stay tuned!

Rob

Warm and Fuzzy

Hello everyone!

Some people aren't good at subtleties. Luckily, someone who works for the Obama campaign realized this and consequently ordered a podium placard so that there would be no doubt, not even to the dumbest of the dumb, what the Obama campaign is all about:



Now, Barack Obama is a fairly tall man. He's not exactly big, but he's not skinny, either. Yet that placard makes him look like the real Steve Novick. Except half black. And without a left hook. BTW, if you live in Oregon, please register as a member of the Democratic Party and vote for Steve Novick in the primary in May. He even kicked butt with some idiot host on Fox News (but in a good way), for crying out loud.

Anyway, the Obama P.R. people are really good at what they do. Hell, even my cynical self is beginning to come around. If you haven't seen it already, here's a video that's been making the rounds on "the Internets" featuring some musician who turned snippets of Obama's speeches into a song:



Isn't that inspiring? I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe it's just the alcohol.

Still, I haven't been inspired by a president since, er, well, ever. There have been a few inspiring presidential candidates, but none that even came close to winning. I wonder what it's like to vote for someone who wins? On second thought, I did vote for Peter DeFazio. But nobody outside of my district knows who he is, so he doesn't count.

Anyway, not to be outdone, a John McCain supporter made a similar video:



This one was not quite warm nor fuzzy.

Oh yeah, some preacher and a former president's wife are apparently running, too. They must be third party candidates or something.

Rob

Manamana!

Hello everyone!

Manamana!



Rob