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February 06, 2004

I protest

In my book the phrase pretentious should be directed at people who think words have numbers in them. I mean a few of them like i18n (internationalisation) sort of make sense (it is a really long word and there are 18 letters between the i and the n) but you would not use it in a post where you call other pretentious and accuse them of abusing the English language. Let's face it, someone who uses numbers in their words might be able to understand American but has less hope of understanding ENGLISH than we Aussies do.

Anyway, that aside, I protest. A latte is not my preferred method of drinking coffee (try cappuccino if you can spell it with letters). I also do not live in the US, nor do I blog about the presidential race (we don't have one yet). I do have tertiary qualifications and I worked d*mn hard for them and they enable me to work in the tertiary industry. As for being pretentious - maybe. I really got into blogging as a way of expressing myself and found it a great way to let of steam. So far this calendar year over 8000 visitors seem to have enjoyed it or found it useful. One did not. On those numbers I figure I may as well continue to enjoy myself.

I have intentionally not linked to the source of the article - why provide him any direct publicity. I figure he needs a school education (to learn to spell) before expending any effort on dealing directly with his site.

The first mention of the article in question (at least the first that I saw) appeared yesterday (Jivha) but the one that encouraged a response was from the most excellent Politburo Diktat (the image above links to his post as well). I have edited the image slightly so that I will not be competing with Zoe's boyfriend.

Initially I started to write a rant complete with references and vitriol but then I discovered that lots of other bloggers (infinitely more able) had already done so. Instead I suggest you visit one of the following enjoyable applications of the LART (L-user Attitude Readjustment Tool):
- The Cheese Stands Alone
- Who Tends the Fires
- Wizbang
- Arrgghhh!!!
- e-Claire
- Democrats Give Conservatives Indigestion (*)
- I Speak of Dreams (**)
- Ambient Irony
- Drowning at 2 Feet Sea Level
- Serenities Journal
- Technicalities

(*) In Australia, the Democrats are the latte-sipping, pseudo-intellectual, absolutely-irrelevant minor political party (I used to vote democrat until the leader jumped ship and turned Labor). Now the Greens have more political clout. The major parties are Liberal (right), Labor (also right), National (far right). The minors are Democrat (all over the place), Green (far left), One Nation (lunatic right). The problem is that I don't think our left/right runs on the same axis as American left/right - must be something to do with driving on the wrong side of the road.

(**) This is strangely relevant to the 8K visitor who was looking for this valentines joke (about dreams).

Posted by Ozguru at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Comments

It's NOT the "wrong" side of the road, it's merely the other side...there is no inherenent wrongness involved.

Posted by: MommaBear at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Thanks MB. In the past my American friends have always said there are two sides when it comes to driving. You can drive on the right side or the wrong side. Guess that means we are on the wrong side? A former boss (FB) was in SF for a conference and hired a car. As they turned right from a one-way street he instinctively went to the left side of the road. A cop sitting behind him did the same (as one does - just follow the boot of the car in front). The FB corrected suddenly when he realised what had happened but the cop had a head-on with the next car coming towards him. Would have loved to see the accident report.

Posted by: ozguru at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Indeed 's true. I like your logo. Mind if I steal ...er, use it?

Posted by: Claire at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

*grin* Well... after reading yours, I'm not certain I qualify as "infinitely more able", but I'm indebted to you for the compliment. ;]

Posted by: Ironbear at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Political axis are never easy to figure out. In South Africa I was considered by the mainstream politicos to be to the extreme left of the Soviet Politburo, her in the UK I'm considered to be somewhere to the right of Ghengiz Khan. As I haven't changed my views or my stance on anything, what's the difference? Or is it perhaps that politics is a circle? Either way, I see myself as being straight down the centre. Perhaps Robbie Burns' prayer "Wud tha' he'd the giftie gie us, ta see oorsilves as others see us!"

Posted by: The Gray Monk at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

The semi-random assemblies of opinions that make up the political Left and Right in the U.S. do look rather odd when viewed from here in Australia. It would appear that a growing number of Americans find them odd too - see Glenn Reynolds or Roger L Simon or Michael Totten or Virginia Postrel, all of whom have a much more consistent and reasonable political outlook (I think) than either the Reps or the Dems.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Hrmmm. I'm not sure where I fit, really, Pixy. I just like poking fun at the Lefties. It's so much fun watching them splutter. ;]

Posted by: Ironbear at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

well, i would have used 'twat' instead of 'twit' - but i'm mean that way :)

Posted by: zed at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

I think actually you can get fun by poking both ends of the spectrum. The more extreme the view the easier to laugh at. I tend to be more pro-environmental than pro-development on some issues but I still get a laugh out of the extremist tree huggers as well as what we call the "white shoe brigade". It would be interesting to try and find some comparative (unbiased scale) for looking at different political systems. Sort of along the lines of "if I was in America I would vote ....., if I was in Australia I would vote ...."

Posted by: ozguru at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Gray Monk: I think it is a circle. After all if you look at a communist state and a fascist state - they power at the top becomes the same. One is a dictator and the other a chairman but in either case it is absolute rule by control of power and the only policy is to retain power by whatever means possible.

Posted by: ozguru at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Attention-Getting Behavior I read the "Why your Movable Type blog must die" rant the other day. For those of you who haven't seen or read this attack of MT users, Oz of GDay Mate points to a number of links in...

Posted by: Dusting My Brain at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Saturday ramble Visiting Cynical Cyn's web page (as I try to catch up my reading!) and having just posted my last item on the floods around this neck of the woods, I found a hilarious post about a dog, entitled Duck Hunting....

Posted by: The Gray Monk at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Saturday ramble Visiting Cynical Cyn's web page (as I try to catch up my reading!) and having just posted my last item on the floods around this neck of the woods, I found a hilarious post about a dog, entitled Duck Hunting....

Posted by: The Gray Monk at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Upgrade a Mac? I have been asked to get involved in a discussion over at Dusting My Brain. You see the author at that site uses a Mac (a fact that the regular readers of her site would know because of the failure of her laptop before Christmas). What some of you may ...

Posted by: GDay Mate at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM

Pre10tious Twits Unite!! It all started with this screed, "Why your Movable Type blog must die", at Kuro5hin by one James A C Joyce, which may well have been plagiarized from this essay in the opinion of Jack at Random Fate: Mr. Joyce

Posted by: brainstorming at February 6, 2004 08:02 AM