Let’s compile a list of each and every event in my life of the past two days that has been completely and utterly absurd:
- Following the release of iTunes 7, my iPod decided that it didn’t want to mount as an iPod anymore, but rather as a data device. Nor would it interact with iTunes at all, preventing me from formatting or updating it. After a trip to the Apple store today for them to format it, my iPod is minorly less depressed, but the stability of the arrangement is pretty dubious.
- A freshman debate novice is convinced that his place in life is the position of that one annoying person who contradicts every word out of your mouth, including but not limited to: economic theory that isn’t my own, research skills, and the proper operation of a Treo 650.
- The rest of the debate novices are 100% clueless.
StabbedInnocence: lol, makes sense, now about proper attire, evry1′s gonna b like wearing suits and stuff right?
effing penguins: Right.
StabbedInnocence: i went shopping with my mom 2day and my dad’s pissed @ me cuz i didn’t buy a suit, instead i bought a dress shirt which is pretty sophisticated and high heels that look pretty proffessional, and i’d b wearing that with a black skirt, would that b okay or would i absolutly haf 2 get a suit?
effing penguins: That sounds perfectly okay.
StabbedInnocence: okay, good, now where do u get a note book?
effing penguins: OfficeMax, or something.
StabbedInnocence: ok, any specific brand u think would b like best 2 use? (stupid question, but im desperate and still freaked)
StabbedInnocence: ok, on the medical consent it’s got a line and then says NOTARY PUBLIC State of Florida at Large and then My commision expires:_____
StabbedInnocence: no clue wat any of those means
effing penguins: You have to go to a notary to sign it. They have them at the bank.
StabbedInnocence: wat’d u mean a notary? (wat’s a notary?)
effing penguins: It’s just.. a person, who’s a notary. That’s just what they are. - My Young Judaea community service hours are being rejected for a variety of reasons that are both invalid and too excruciating to even consider typing. Suffice it to say that unless my parents get involved, my IB diploma is in serious jeopardy.
- Did I mention how excruciating debate meetings are this year?
Speaking of maddening debate novices, here’s a conversation between me and the one who enjoys contradicting me, dating back about twenty minutes:
confirno: Hey, about your bill-can we discuss it?
effing penguins: What’re you stuck on?
confirno: Well, first me and my friend misinterpreted and just added a 10,000 dollar reimbursment instead of deductions, whch (sort of) worked with the median American income (as of 2002)
confirno: but then we worked in the deductions for a single child-two partnet family, and we dont really see where the government would get profit, as millionaires, however many, could not make up for most of the American populat
confirno: 42,000 (2 parents and a child) is nearly equal to american median income
effing penguins: What is the goal of a government?
confirno: To help its citizens
confirno: but how can help its citizens without money
confirno: 42,000 is merely bread and circuses, what about health-care and other issues, such as education
effing penguins: While I, and a whole bunch of philosophers, would argue that you’re wrong… we can work with that. What the goal of a government is not, however, is to “make a profit,” as you called it. The government is constantly leaking money; we operate on deficit spending. That’s just how things work. The big idea here is that while we are reducing tax income, we’re paying less out in the form of welfare block grants and direct payments. The bill reduces the relevance of massive welfare.
confirno: Well, I know its far to late to revise this bill, but giving 42,000 handouts (on average) and receiving less, would increase the deficit to a breaking point, possibly strengthening our reliance on China (to owe our government owes the most debt), and altering the geopolitical sphere-irrevocably
effing penguins: Who’s giving $42000 handouts again? Because as far as I know, that’s not in the bill. And by the way — I’ve done debate for long enough to not be impressed by babble that you picked up by hearing commentary on TV; “geopolitical sphere” sounds impressive, but is meaningless.
confirno: First of all, I am far more intelligent then you-lets get that out of the way-also, a deduction amounts to a handout in this situation, as the governement would be “giving away” its taxes.
confirno: Don’t try the grammar card either, in my opinion language is how you speak it
effing penguins: I’m sorry, kid, but this is the point where I leave you on your own. Best of luck tomorrow.
confirno: Gut nacht, faggot
Will anyone really object if I quit debate in anguish?
I already heard the story, but actually reading the IM conversation… well… that was incredibly hilarious. Then again, just your name “effing penguins” gives me the giggles.
wat’s a notary, tho?
If you’re in the mood for stupid high school drama, there’s another conversation posted for your enjoyment.
let’s just get that out of the way
YES YES YES
You can’t leave me.
The end.
That conversation is so funny. What an asshole, though. Looks like you’ll be having tons of fun tomorrow with those novices tomorrow, eh?
hahaha, confirno. What an idiot =P
At least he can spell faggot correctly. I also wonder if his use of German was in anyway anti-Semtic?
Ummm…. The second conversation was not very amusing at all. Several reasons: (1) This pretentious little freshman is insulting MY little brother. Not okay. (2) I don’t understand economics, so much of the conversation reads like mumbo jumbo to me. HOWEVER, I do understand just enough economics (that or I just watch too much “West Wing”) to think that this jerk’s belief that any single domestic economic bill could “irrevocably alter blah blah blah” is stupid. Right? I mean, isn’t Martin Sheen always saying how economics is complex and you can’t force the tide to come in and so on?
Oh, and by the way, you should NOT quit debate in anguish (or in any other way for that matter). But if this guy continues to cause problems, and particularly if he ever again uses offensive and prejudiced language you SHOULD report it to the debate coach and get this guy’s ass thrown out of debate club. You’re president and you do your best to help out the novices; regardless, there have to be some limitations and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for you to expect courteous or at least non-abusive language from everyone that participates. “Faggot” may be cute and colloquial among friends and when spoken between gay men, but it is NOT appropriate as used in his (clearly insulting) context. Just my two cents…
It hurts my soul when people insist they are intelligent and then cannot properly place (or remove) a comma. It is not rocket science. :O
If this kid is more intelligent that you, he fails to show it anywhere in that conversation. I am trying to decide whether he came to you for help or just to start a fight. Besides, you are one the most intelligent people I know but you already knew that.
As for the faggot remark – hell no. Using in a derogatory manner is not on and you should make a point of saying something when you next get together. A simple ‘Such remarks and insults are not acceptable and will not be tolerated’ would probably work. Unless the guy is a total hole and requires a more direct approach (e.g. sending an Email, with the conversation, to whatever staff member has some level of power over your group and asking him/her to intervene).
Might not do anything but I wouldn’t stand for that. The other day at work, I overheard the word ‘poof’ being used by some random employee in the canteen. He was making a comment about a rather, um, colourful individual but said it loudly enough that the individual, as well as many other people, heard as well. Before the laughter from this idiot’s friends could die down, I walked over and asked him where he was. He looked rather confused so I clarified with something like ‘Well are you in a place of work or a primary school playground?’ By this point, he was visibly embarrassed so I took it further by asking if he thought that sort of language and behaviour was suitable for a workplace, especially one as diverse as Sky. He said no and started fiddling with his ID card which I noticed was one of the temporary IDs which was issue to new entrants. I asked him from his name and the name of his trainer but he refused to give me them information. I didn’t intend to do anything with the information but he didn’t know that. I recognised one of his friends as being a full time employee and told the him that I worked for Service Excellence* and to advise his friend to impart the information as I only have so much patience. Like that, I got the information and made the guy show me his drivers license to confirm his ID. Yes, I may have taken it too far but I wanted to make a point. Hopefully he’ll think twice before doing something like that again.
* Service Excellence is considered to be the ‘Secret Police’ of the business. Traditionally, our role has been to check that people are following procedures and providing sound customer service. However, we somehow acquired a reputation for having power over every aspect of operations, including the power to fire people. I, for one, am doing nothing to discourage this.
It’s funny — right after the conversation ended, I copied and pasted it not only onto LiveJournal, but into an e-mail to all the debate officers and my coach. I plan on printing a copy and bringing it to the next meeting, putting it under the document camera, and while not identifying him by name, explaining rather sternly that that sort of behavior is not acceptable when directed towards me, any other officers, our coach, or any other members of the team.
It was all I could do to not respond to the comment about language being “how you speak it.” But by that point, I was already a little sick of the whole affair.
See the above comment I left to my sister for more details, but your advice doesn’t hit far from the mark of what I was going to do anyway. I sent e-mail to the rest of the debate officers and my coach with a transcript of the conversation and plan on rather forcefully iterating in the next meeting (Monday) that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Ever.
The last couple of days in which all of these redonkulous conversations have been happening have left me in a state of disbelief. Is this really what the next generation is all about? Hah. Wow. dude, wat’s a notary? i’m not 2 sure ill find 1 @ the bank cuz i dunno wat they look like. do they have 2 wear a skirt and look sophisticated 2?
Barf.
Secondly. Anyone who has to declare themselves as “more intelligent” then the next person, is clearly NOT. People who have to toot their own horn to be recognized….well, I’ll be thrilled when he gets a taste of humble pie. What a twirp.
And yeah, I like how you’re handling the situation with confirno. I’m sure he’ll turn 10 shades of red when you handle him on Monday. Sucks to be him.
Stick with it though. Hopefully after you weed out some of these noobs and it’s a bit more enjoyable. Give confirno hell, wipe the floor with him, & then u mite feel better. Haha.
Keep in mind, though, that you may take a little heat for the following comment:
“And by the way — I’ve done debate for long enough to not be impressed by babble that you picked up by hearing commentary on TV; ‘geopolitical sphere’ sounds impressive, but is meaningless.”
As debate president, you’re probably expected to phrase criticism more constructively. I don’t really blame you, of course, since this guy is clearly a gigantic asshol. However, you may be more effective if you preemptively admit that you were tired and your comment may have inadvertently come across as insulting rather than helpful… but that this is still absolutely no excuse for blatantly offensive and unacceptable language like this guy used. I dunno… just an approach to consider. Maybe I’m wrong.
Be sure to remove the guy’s IM name too — other people in debate probably know his handle.
I’m glad you’re going to take action: I think the newbies will get the picture that you are NOT there as their personal hand-holders (or at least, you’ll only do it to the extent that you have time and desire to do) and that courteousness and diplomacy is important *outside* a debate as well as in it.
To clarify, the fact that he thinks he’s smarter than you is what I find funny, not what he said. I was thinking about what I wrote and realized that I should have worded it more properly.
Are we allowed to kick him out of the club? ‘Cause no one should be allowed to treat you like that so I’m all for it.
I’m quite disappointed I won’t be there to see Mr. Know-it-all’s face when his ego gets beheaded, drawn, and quartered.
I almost feel sorry for the poor sod. He had no idea who he was dealing with!
confirno: First of all, I am far more intelligent then you-lets get that out of the way-also, a deduction amounts to a handout in this situation, as the governement would be “giving away” its taxes.
Oh dear.
Oh dear, dear, dear.
Governement.
Perhaps you should screen people for your debate club.
No, it’s not.
It translates to “good night.”
Totally patronizing though.
Keep in mind that I meant that in the best possible way; you’re one of the most intelligent people I know.
Wow, a complete idiot devoid of any sort of autonomy, and a pseudo-intellectual assbag. Being a member of the metal community primarily, I’ve dealt with heaps and heaps of both of these types of people.
While the former type has the appearance of breeding like rats, extirmination is fairly easy, but it’s not that hard to find yourself in a situation where they’re swarming, and one person, no matter how powerful, can’t get the job done alone. Also: they have the psychological black plague so to speak.
The others are harder to come by, but are so narrow-minded and deluded of their perspective being absolute, that it’s a real pain. I can’t give any advice (and I can tell that’s not all that necessary anyways), but you can probably figure out very easily some detailed reasons of exactly why he’s just as sociologically inferior to, if not moreso, than the human race as a whole. He’ll really get asshurt with that. When it comes to this type, it’s important to have a little fun with it, especially when you know that the other person is completely deluded by an unjustified and extremely bloated/distorted superiority complex. People like this make me giggle sometimes.
What about “then”? Than, perhaps? Yes, the wonderful hypocrisy of a pseudo-intellectual essentially butchering language. How wonderful.
Ooh, beheaded instead of hung (hanged). Of my years as a dyed-in-the-wool metalhead and a generally violent person, I don’t recall coming across this one. Sexy!
Generally yes, but why? It’s the people that bring this up with absolutely nothing rational behind it that this moreso applies to. The people who would do this are too busy displaying it that too make note of it would essentially be redundant. To simplify it: the poseurs are too busy parading as to hide the fact that they’re inept at critical thinking, and the legitimate ones are too busy critically thinking and openly displaying it that labelling themselves as intellectually superior is moot.
I love critical thinking if you couldn’t tell!
Eh, people that have a blatant superiority complex (like in this case) generally don’t have the tools to actually argue in accordance with their self-proclaimed brightness. And they have to be minimally smart enough to develop a superiority complex. But they are generally very good at one thing: being intentionally inflammatory, or “trolling” as I’ve come to more readily know it as. So I’d say that unless the guy told you himself, I think it’s very safe to say that the German probably had that underhanded intention.
how did the team do?
who is this kid? i went to the meeting today for a little bit, u didnt miss much