Ten things you despise.

[Evilluke]

1. My stereo giving up the ghost and not being able to afford a new one, and then having to play CDs through my xbox on crappy TV speakers
2. MY PC giving up the ghost as well and losing a load of work / Pictures / Reanimator stuff / my Football Manager save game files

I'd also like to agree with the statement that Scarlett is totally vile. I would so bomb that place if I could get away with it.

[Billy]

1. Returning home/to work from a few days away to find you have 56 new emails, most of which you KNOW will be junk/rubbish/not worth reading.
2. People at train stations (mainly in London) who walk around with their eyes fixed on the destination boards and their heads constantly angled up so that they can't properly see where they're going.

[schadelreich]

1. Nietzsche.
2. People who worship Nietzsche and rant on about herd mentality, yet don't realise that they are part of a herd mentality of sorts.
3. People who recognise Nietzsche as a legitimate philosopher.
4. People who believe that Nietzsche was right on a few/a number of/all things.
5. People who try to apply Nietzsche's philosophies to bands like Profanatica.
6. People who think that they are the ubermensch (more often than not that person would in fact be some reclusive loser who misinterprets some of what Nietzsche says and rephrases it in their mind to try and comfort them in their ocean of loneliness).
7. People who think that the ubermensch ideal is realistic/reachable.
8. People who think Nietzsche was racist or a "racial patriot".
9. People who don't realise that a few things Nietzsche ranted against are things that are hard-wired into the mindset of all living organisms ever since they allow for the survival of the individual and for the species.
10. People who try and connect Nietzsche to nationalism.

[schadelreich]

People who whine about political correctness or who believe that such a thing exists.

Fact: The government does not have any policies of political correctness. The idea of political correctness was created by the right wing media, and thus became an untrue truth in our society as people ranted on about it. The reality is that in many ways the whole issue of political correctness is merely a way in which racism is promoted to some degree (ie. when people talk about minorities being more protected and stand for freedom of speech, thus promoting hostility towards ethnic minorities).

[Billy]

People who whinge about people who whinge about political correctness are equally bad. As with any most ideas, it has some merit, and as an idea is a reasonable tool to attempt to make people understand what they already should, i.e. what is acceptable and what isn't within the realms of how to treat people. There are of course people who go over the top with it, the right wing media then reacts to them, and the far left reacts equally stupidly to the right wing, and the vicious cycle continues.

I hate:
- The feeling when you accidentally pull/rip your headphones from your ears

[schadelreich]

Aug 25, 2009 12:06:24 GMT -5 Billy said:

People who whinge about people who whinge about political correctness are equally bad. As with any most ideas, it has some merit, and as an idea is a reasonable tool to attempt to make people understand what they already should, i.e. what is acceptable and what isn't within the realms of how to treat people. There are of course people who go over the top with it, the right wing media then reacts to them, and the far left reacts equally stupidly to the right wing, and the vicious cycle continues.

The thing though is that political correctness does not actually exist. The government has no policies about political correctness. It is an untrue truth created by the right wing media. The whole "political correctness" ranting is just thinly veiled racism. For example, there was some story in papers like the Daily Mail a while ago (post-2001) about Birmingham City Council considering on changing the name of Christmas to Winterfest or something and not having Christmas lights but something else for reasons of being "politically correct". This, of course, is pure bollocks as it was an idea proposed in the 1980's for marketing reasons by some local companies and was rejected. The thing though is that the whole thing is designed to make it appear as if minority groups get special treatment and it is supposed to get people ranting. It is very similar to the tactics of parties like the BNP and the National Front who rant on about how ethnic minorities supposedly get better treatment than white people.
Summary: political correctness is a social construction and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because we believe it exists, it exists. It is much the same way as if newspapers and news programs started saying that elephants are born from trees. If they do it enough and can get some scientists to say that they are it will be officially true, but not necessarily right.

Aug 25, 2009 12:06:24 GMT -5 Billy said:

I hate:
- The feeling when you accidentally pull/rip your headphones from your ears

Yeah. That is bloody annoying. Also, have to hate it when suddenly one headphone gives up the ghost or starts breaking up.

[Billy]

Political correctness certainly does exist; you'll find this when you get a job and you are told what you can and can't say to people.

[schadelreich]

Aug 25, 2009 16:40:51 GMT -5 Billy said:

Political correctness certainly does exist; you'll find this when you get a job and you are told what you can and can't say to people.

Not government policy. Those are the policies of different companies designed for two reasons.
1. Efficiency. An office with restrictions on speech is far more efficient than one in which people are distracted in debate.
2. Threat of sueing. If there is discrimination against someone in the work place and nothing is done about it, there is a good chance that the victim will sue the company for allowing it. Thus there have to be restrictions on what can and can't be said to avoid discrimination.

No government policy though. For political correctness to exist as political correctness, it requires government involvement, but there is none.

[Charlotte]

Aug 25, 2009 16:40:51 GMT -5 Billy said:

Political correctness certainly does exist; you'll find this when you get a job and you are told what you can and can't say to people.

Or if you don't get a job because the company has a quota of ethnic minorities/women/midgets/quadroplegics/poofters that it needs to meet.

[schadelreich]

Charlotte, there are no government quotas. The government has targets to try and give members of ethnic minorities an equal opportunity in the work place. However, as targets they are not enforced and so are more or less meaningless (some companies may try to meet them, but most probably won't). As well as that, considering that unemployment has fallen disproportionately on minority and disabled workers during this recession, the notion that political correctness exists outside of the collective fantasy of a nation mentally enslaved by right wing, racist media tycoons is again disproved. Simple fact is that ethnic minorities and gays do not receive special treatment from the authorities. Hell, if anything there is still a lot of institutional racism and still institutional homophobia.

[schadelreich]

Meanwhile, quick thing. Another thing I despise is when people use the phrase "borderline Autistic" when trying to suggest that people are boring/mindless drones. Or when Aspie/Asperger's Syndrome is used as an insult. Most of those fucking egits don't know shit about Autism.

[Dan]

1. ZOG

[schadelreich]

Aug 25, 2009 18:53:52 GMT -5 Dan said:

1. ZOG

Hahaha. Joking, right?

[Dan]

Of course not

[Billy]

I work for the government, at least indirectly, and there is policy as to what we can/can't say. Is that not political correctness?

I'll just say it again; when you enter the world of work you'll evidently be surprised at what occurs.