friday fives – telemarketer version?

-How do you react to people begging at intersections?

Generally, I do not give them money.  While I understand people struggle, I can’t help but think “you can work at McDonalds, you can deliver newspapers… just like I did to make my money.  And… get off my damn lawn

-How do you react to people stranded in cars along the road?

i help them.  That is why I have a big ass truck.  Well, I have a big ass truck for the horses and horse trailer… but I also use it for good.

-How do you react to telemarketers?

a polite but firm ‘no thank you’.  Here is a trick, though, for you.  Here is how you know.  If someone calls you and says “may I speak with Mister Bator?”… say he is not home.  Why?  Because anyone calling for you is not going to say ‘Mister’ anything.  not your mom or your boss or your friend.  Anyone calling for you will ask for you by first name, every time, always.  I found this works at work, too.  Sometimes, I know customers are hiding from me… or I am getting cockblocked by their secretaries.  So, if I feel that is the case, I can call and ask for “Dan” instead of “Mr Dumas” and I will always get through.  So, you can use this info either way.  That is 15 years in telecom summed up for you… free.

-How do you react to anonymous  comments in your blog?

as long as they are reasoned and decently articulate… I embrace them.  See my post on Civil War, where I intimate they are all racists and sore losers.  Well, the 2 that can read found it, and teed off on me.  Just take the jump here.

-How do you react to online quizzes?

There is nothing worse than self appointed banal questionnaires.  It’s sad, really.  Who do these people write to?  I think the good people at despair said it best

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seriously, what is the deal with Civil War re-enactment?

* update > this discussion really takes off down in the comments.  Comments are now closed

So, I was thinking.  December 7th is coming up, the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii.  I think we should build a full scale replica of the USS Arizona.  Then, the morning of Dec 7th, we should dress up as Japanese pilots and blow it up.  Right smack dab in the middle of the Harbor.  Sound like a good idea?  Let’s dress up as grizzly bears and surprise Timothy Treadwell’s parents in the middle of the night.

On April 20th, we will gather at Columbine High School in South Denver and re-enact the killings that took place.  We’ll wear trench coats, and someone with a beard can play Dave Sanders.  He is the teacher who bled out and died while authorities waited three hours to enter the school.  We can eat food like people did back then, and stay in suburban tract houses.

I know, awesome, right?

On Sept 11th, we will make 1/3rd scale remote control airplanes.  We will set them on fire and fly them over the ground zero site into stuff.

Do you see the problem with all of this?  Do any of these look like a good idea to you?  Insenstive?  Cruel?  Sick?  You would be correct.   How is this any different from these folks who re-enact the Civil War? It’s no different, and nothing to celebrate in my eyes.  Our own country took up arms against itself.  Brothers had to fight each other to death.   This isn’t something to celebrate, nor is it something to re-enact.  How come nobody is re-enacting WW2?  Now that was an enemy worth fighting, and we won that one.  There are still people alive who lived through and fought through that.  You don’t see them hanging out in tent petting their muskets.  They fought so that they wouldn’t have to do that ever again.  It’s why you fight a war, to make shit better.

Also, why is it only the South seems to do the re-enacting?  Didn’t they lose?  Aren’t we glad they lost? Weren’t they proven wrong?  Did they not take up arms against the United States of America?  Doesn’t that make them terrorists?  Yes, it does and yes they are.

So, why are we romanticizing the civil war?  Were things so much better back then?  Nope.  Everything sucked back then.  The coffee was shit, the outfits were tacky, we spent all our resources killing off our own country, and torching anything left.  They (re-enactors… or ‘racists’ for short) seem to think that things were great back then.  It’s not just dumb, it’s offensive.  To celebrate the Civil War on the side of the South is to say that Blacks are property and the United States is the enemy.  If you are still of that mind set, I am thinking maybe you should gtfo.  Instead of re-enacting the Civil War, just buy a shirt that says “I hate black people” and save yourself the time and money of running around in a field pretending to be martyrs.

I will tell you what, confederate fans.  If you want to secede, this time we will let you.  Shit, I will help you pack.  Your values are not welcome here, nor will they be tolerated.

* comments are now closed