This past one, well Sunday and today at least, was kind of spent consuming two things mentioned in this column.
So I watched Road House, and listened to Toxic Empathy.
The movie, I’m pretty sure I’d seen in parts, maybe in whole, at points in the past.
It shows a point in history that many have no idea ever existed. One of the plot points is the character who was a mattress salesman. Buying something like a mattress used to be a really big deal. Or a car. Or shoes. Or a PC. None of that kind of thing is included in CPI anymore. You can see things like this, and think inflation isn’t a big deal.
I do admit that I was kind of lost at points. Com^H^H^HXfinity’s on-demand offerings are strange. You’ll get strange parts of a commercial break at completely random Three thirds of ads, then back to the content.
But the debate was over being nice until it’s time to stop being nice.
Thinking about things before i started watching, and having paid attention to the hours of annual training telling me, a disabled person that I’m privileged because I’m nominally white and male, had me thinking about things from a DEI lense.
Bar bouncers are kind of the antithesis of DEI.
As a bouncer, you’re not trying to foster a diverse clientele. You’re trying to gather a crowd who’ll have fun together, be peaceful, buy a bunch of booze (how bars and restaurants tend to make money), and maybe leave together at the end of the night.
By the very nature of what bouncers are hired to do, promoting inclusion is not at all a priority. Again, it’s to foster a crowd who’ll have a good time, and spend a lot of money.
On Equity, if you’re not buying anything, you can leave (Unless you’re really hot, and others are trying to get you to….)
Why, pray tell, is that wrong? This is the kind of things that humans do naturally.
Fight or Flight (or Flee) is something most people probably remember from very basic courses surrounding human interactions. (Then there’s the two other Fs often omitted — Feed and Fuck.)
I go to Waffle House, I can be pretty certain that I’m not going to be completely disappointed Feed is absolutely taken care of; they’re likely not going to screw that up too badly. Fight? Haven’t done that there. And, like so many other places, I’d probably lose. Flee? It’s there, generally, on where I’m trying to go. Fuck? Um, well, there was one of those scientific dating websites who determined that a waitress at on would be a good match…. (I’d basically given up on finding anyone when almost twenty years ago, I met the woman I’d end up marrying…)
So, there’s lessons there, I suppose, but I think you have to consider more-deeply than the base-level. The powers-that-be in the town are corrupt. The main character wins by fighting. Even if I was physically able, I’d just leave. It’s what I do.
The book, I don’t know. She states very well what the average Protestant thinks.
As a severely-lapsed member of the the Papist Conspiracy, there’s things I really disagree with her on. At the same time, I understand her arguments. The Church, on the other hand, makes some arguments I find more compelling.
Capital Punishment. I understand her argument, but I subscribe to The Church’s position against it. Though I’m really skeptical about the long-running efforts to find someone who’s been improperly-executed by the state, I admit that it’s a possibility. You don’t have to steal that much money to house someone until death.
Though I have temptation for vengeance, that’s where faith comes in. Though it’s really difficult to not kill someone I absolutely know is guilty, i do believe there’ll be justice done.
The method might not be proscribed, but…
Would I absolutely be comfortable in a society filled with people like her? Yep. Even if I disagree with her on some things.
If I don’t harm another person to invoke her wrath, she’s going to leave me alone.
Allie’s writing is also very nice to hear; easily-understandable
Still trying to figure out what the hell is going on with my benefits election. I understand that they’re going to shell out a good deal of money, but it’s part of the reason I put myself through this.