Incredible speech

[MachineGhost]

I find it incredibly frustrating when someone tries to shut down a debate by suggesting that I'm just some kind of discompassionate monster whose views are obviously so far out of the mainstream that I should just shut up. I encountered it all the time in college and a disappointing amount since graduation.

People are morons.  And social etiquette, unfortunately, requires you not to haggle or confront people, especially authority figures.

[MachineGhost]

Has anyone else noticed that the way white men are depicted in popular media has become very cynical and stupid?  The television commercials especially have increasingly used the "dumb husband" storyline to sell everything from cars to yogurt.

I have noticed this.  It is a clear legacy of the feminist movement, to emasculate men as weak and to empower women as strong.  I tend to think it is intentionally sarcastic, but kids do not get sarcasm.

[AgAuMoney]

People are morons.  And social etiquette, unfortunately, requires you not to haggle or confront people, especially authority figures.

And the true test of that authority figure is in how they handle it.  If they cannot handle polite confrontation, the best they deserve is to be ignored. Of course there is a time and a place to administer the test.  (E.g. NOT when a police officer has pulled you over or is accosting you.)

I figured this out in about 6th or 7th grade.  By 9th grade my test for what was a "good" teacher involved violating exactly that rule of social etiquette by confronting them.  I was typically a good enough student, and generally tactful in my approach, that it was mostly painless.  Except it usually involved me being correct and in agreement with the textbook, and fighting for my score on a test or other assignment.

I usually knew what to expect before I did it.  And I was seldom surprised.  But coach Blakeley surprised me.  I'm not much for sports.  And he was all about sports.  He didn't seem to like me, and I didn't trust him.  But he was stuck teaching an astronomy class, I was stuck in the class, and he obviously didn't know the material.  Normally it didn't matter too much. But this one time there was a major problem (at least 30% of the test), and I figured I wouldn't be the only one in the class who would have the right answers.

We had passed our tests to a neighbor to be graded.  Normally I would have gone up after class to talk, and he would give me my points.  (+1 my respect for him, just for that, otherwise I probably wouldn't have risked this big one unless I was just pissed).  This time the wrong question led to many others based on the same misunderstood section of the book.  I spoke up in class.  And much to my amazement, he asked me to explain, asked me about the section of the book, looked at it, looked at my test, and used my answers to finish grading that section.


So coach Blakeley, I just want to say thank you, wherever you are.  I don't think we ever understood each other, but I greatly respect you as an individual, learned to trust you, and admired your grace in a miserable situation.  Thanks coach!


I usually had 1 or 2 teachers per term that I could really admire as truly seeking knowledge. The rest of them were not worth giving the time of day.  Since school in over 20 years of work I've only sometimes had an immediate supervisor that was capable and wanted to do better, and few more that just wanted to do better. Only twice, maybe three times now, has the next level of management been of that high caliber.  And just once the level about that.  I'm working for him again at a very little company now, but he's the CEO and I'm still a peon.  He did send me a "thank you" email for a recent project.