Letters to the Editor
Gwool
Published Letters: 366 Editor's Choice: 40
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All Depends on Whose Ox is Being Gored, Right?
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why is it that I imagine if the ripping had been of conservatives worrying about creationism, gay marriage bans and the like and it had been a republican bolting the party, it would have been viewed as hilarious?
There is a huge polarization these days. Not sure the root causes of it, but it sure as hell is there. One theory points to precise redistricting making more and more seats "safe." Safe seats will generally go to the more extreme candidate. It's no secret primary voters are more zealous than general election voters. That, coupled with not having to worry about a strong general election fight, and you wind up with more extreme representation.
Likewise, the lower the voter turnout, generally the more extreme the profile of the voter. It's a vicious cycle. Gerrymander districts into safe seats, one party stays home more, lowering turnout. Get increasingly caustic and polarizing representatives and the turnout lowers. Think toilet bowl.
And the general electorate doesn't sit on the polar ends like some teeter totter. It's more like a swamped rowboat with the muddle middle sloshing back and forth to pitch the side. It therefore stands to reason that zealous national mouthpieces alienate the muddled middle. Republicans took a few pot shots at incumbents, driving Jim Jeffords away and killing off moderates in Gubenatorial primaries in places like NJ and CA for rightwingnuts drinking the biblical Kool-Aid who got ax handled in the general election. (Anyone Bolysheviks by the Bay remember Gray Davis V Simon?)
Now the democrats are taking a page from that book, taking a run at Joe Lieberman in Conn. Real smart move, that.
The old self absorbed Baby Boomer bullshit keeps at it. From those who signed on for Free Love and fighting Vietnam against those who were late to find Dope and birth control and dutifully served, we now have our raging social debate. Argue each is a pain in the ass and you get the old relativism argument about the other side being worse.
The cartoon makes a great point, and it naturally engenders the same, shop-worn rationalizations from the extremists.
As I said, let the cartoon be about a moderate republican fed up with the bible thumping bigots on the right and most posters would simply switch sides.
The Founders must be spinning in their graves.
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Patience, McDuff
[Read the article: I dropped out of psych graduate school and don't know what to do!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you do not know what you want to be when you grow up, then for God's sake don't keep burning cash on academia just so you have something to do. It sounds as though work in the real world is a little disconcerting to the LW and he wants to become a career student.
Take time off and work at subsistence jobs for a while. This does not mean work at subsistence jobs while still sucking on the family teat, but going off and gaining some independence. You're 26, son, put on the long pants already, will you?
Travel the country. Live in different areas. Do some research and find spots of the country where there's a demand for entry level labor. Go hit New Orleans and Mississippi and take on a carpentry job, make some decent money, and then go travel til it runs out. Repeat as necessary.
I worked a summer as a bell hop in a tony seaside community. There's a number of migrant workers of sorts who work southern resorts or ski resorts in the Winter months and then migrate up to New England in the summer. Lousy pay, lots of fun.
New York City has to be one of the most expensive areas one can pick to be navel gazing while trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. Get the hell out of there. Hit a few red states and hit a few blue states. Gain some perspective. Sitting around with Goth Wannabees smoking clove cigarettes and adjusting their berets while waiting for the next check from the parents is not a very broad look at America.
In short, grow up. Get a job and live within your means. If it makes you content, keep at it. If it does not then you'll come up with professions that interest you that will pay. You will then view academia as a means to an end and attack it with a purpose rather as a safe haven from the real world that should be extended at all possible costs to avoid taking responsibility for your own life.
Snap out of it, Junior. Your parents' legal obligation to cover your ass ended years ago. As the preacher in Blazing Saddles said after holding up the bible to try to convince the townspeople not to lynch the black sheriff, "Son, You're Own Your Own."
I've shortened that to simply "YOYO" when pushing back on my teen boys asking for money for something.
I suggest you tattoo it backwards on your forehead so it will stare you in the mirror every day when you brush your teeth.