Attacked by a rebuttal in defense of Wal-Mart

So I posted something the other day bashing Wal-Mart. Some people agreed with me, some didn’t. Actually, MOST did, one didn’t. Not that I’m keeping track. And then there was a response, in the form of a post on a different blog, in which the writer was so blatantly obviously referring to my post (while, oddly enough, taking part of it out of context- go figure), and then apparently doesn’t allow comments on their site, so I couldn’t defend myself. Therefore, allow me to do that here. And since that blogger made a half-hearted attempt at “protecting my anonymity” (although it was quite obvious as to whom they were referring), I shall do the same. If people figure out who said other blogger is, that ain’t my fault. There are intelligent readers out there, even those that read my ramblings.

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“Bashing Walmart is fashionable these days … and I supposes it’s amusing to make fun of people and make yourself feel superior in the process. You know what? I’m sick of hearing it.”

Tough titties. Nobody forced you to read the post, yet you did anyway. Secondly, let’s get something straight- I never once proclaimed myself superior to anyone in that post. If you want to infer that, then that’s on you. And don’t sit there and make yourself superior to me by trying to imply that you don’t make fun of and never have made fun of people. It’s human nature. Sometimes it happens without the fun-maker-of-er even realizing they’re making fun of someone. It’s not necessarily proper, or “politically corrupt correct”, but it is human nature. Comedians and actors make millions making fun of other people. Including themselves. And if you were a regular reader, you’d know that I am quite self-defamatory here. I’m not trying to justify it in the least, but even so, drop the “how dare you make fun of people” shtick and lighten up.

Guess I have to come clean now

On this blog, I have taken shots at Scientology, Hillary Clinton, Britney Spears, Barry Bonds, “integrity” in sports in general, and Amy Winehouse, just to name a few. My last post was about snobs- beer snobs, coffee snobs, car snobs- and it apparently struck a nerve. I guess it’s acceptable to ridicule celebrities, but make fun of someone’s choice of beverage, and holy shit, there’s a fight on your hands.

I do get rather uppity in some of my comments. Going back and reading some of my older posts, I think, “damn, that was kinda pissy”. But I hate stupidity. I feel stupidity needs to be pointed out and ridiculed at any and all costs. I freely admit I have gotten some of my rants turned back on me to the point I’ve eaten more than my fair share of humble crow pies, and rightfully so (sometimes). But even so, when someone points out my stupidity, I’m man enough to own up to it.

But here’s the big key, folks- some of you need to lighten up a little. You believe what you want to believe, but I purposely paint with a ridiculously broad brush here. Sometimes I do go to an extreme on things, and sometimes I do actually go too far. In society nowadays, everything is “either-or” any more. There is no multiple choice. It is or it isn’t. Some things, you can be either-or with. However, most things just aren’t that neat and tidy. You actually don’t have to choose Pepsi OR Coke. You actually don’t have to be a dope-smoking treehugger liberal OR a Nazi war monger conservative. Heaven forbid your ideologies fall somewhere in between, like mine actually do. If you’re “somewhere in the middle” or “a little of both” or “can’t decide”, then you’re accused of being unable to make a choice, or called a waffler, or just plain weak because you’re not “this” or “that”. THAT in and of itself is stupidity that must be exploited. I love pointing out hypocrisy.

And here’s the other thing- I do have strong opinions on some things, and I admit I get a little snippy sometimes. Yes, I really DO think Amy Winehouse is a no-talent crack whore. Yes, I really DO think Hillary Clinton is a whack job that, were she to be elected President, would fuck the entire country up in a heartbeat- not that Obama will be that much better, but he certainly can’t be worse (I hope). Yes, I really DO think Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and all their compadres that ever took HGH and/or steroids have ruined the game and it’s too bad they can’t be kept out of the Hall of Fame, especially when Pete Rose can. And yes, I DO despise uppity people that feel they are better than me because they drink faggotty Euro-trash coffee or a beer that nobody’s ever heard of that is brewed in a porta-potty in Montana. I don’t despise them for drinking it, I despise them for being uppity about drinking it. But here’s the kicker- A, I know that realistically, I’m neither right nor wrong in thinking any of those things, and B, regarding the grand majority of most things, especially anyone’s choice in beer, I really don’t care THAT much.

Look, people, it’s a role I play here. I try to provoke thought in people; I try to provoke commentary. Admittedly, I’m not very good at it… but I do purposely try to incite people. I am being 100% genuine in that I do NOT purposely set out to offend anyone- sometimes what sounds good or funny in my head comes out completely wrong. But, by the same token, people nowadays are WAY too fucking touchy. Lighten up. My views don’t correspond with most people’s views in this politically corrupt correct world that has been created, so I purposely go overboard with it most of the time. But again, I really don’t care THAT much on most things.

Were it not for my brother, our folks, a very select few that drop by now and again, and the thousands that find it by mistake, this blog would have absolutely no traffic, let alone any commentary. Nobody bothers commenting on a middle-of-the-road post, but by God, you call someone out, and they sure have something to say back. But holy crap, people- lighten up. I honestly DON’T give two shits what kind of beer you drink.

Bottom line, you’ll never fully know whether I’m telling you the truth, or whether I’m completely and accurately giving you my views on things. But that’s part of the blog experience. You as commenters are as anonymous as you choose to make yourselves- you can present yourselves in any way you wish without fear of retribution. Yet, so are we as bloggers. If you want to believe I’m some hyper-uptight self-righteous twit, knock yourself out. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.

But it did get you to read my blog, didn’t it…

Lighten up, people. I can freely admit to all of this. Can you?

Not that anyone missed me…

…but I’m back.

My ISP has changed from Insight to Comcast, which means I have to change my freakin’ connection information, send emails to everyone I know with my new address (once they finally decide they’re actually going to change it: “look for information coming soon”), change all my mailing lists, blah blah blah blah. Any of you unfortunate souls with the same ISP, you get to do that too. Be prepared.

Well, it turns out that for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but Comcast, they just up and deactivated my modem Wednesday. Mrs. Johann called them this morning to see if they could tell us anything (this was obviously before I found out they deactivated the modem), and the friggin’ Mensa president she spoke to told her they “shut off the internet to the entire Springfield area”.

As before, any of you other unfortunate souls that have Comcast know that would be incorrect.

So this evening, I decided for shits and giggles to call Comcast and find out when they might be “turning the internet back on to the entire Springfield area”, at which time I was told they didn’t (”nor would they”) shut off the internet to an entire area (unless there was some major technical problem) but that they deactivated my modem. I told the surprisingly helpful girl on the phone (thank you, Lisa) that it would sure be “Comcastic” of them to RE-activate my modem. She did, and said she will even give us credit for the two days we were without service. We’ll see if THAT comes true or not.

Anyway, I’m back, ready to once again piss people off with my completely irrelevant tirades about completely irrelevant things. I just hope this isn’t the start of some big ongoing catastrophuck that will result from being unwillingly switched to Comcast.

10K

Holy crap.  10,000 hits and counting.  Who’d have thunk.  Certainly not me.

Thanks to my regular reader(s?), to the people that check in on occasion, and even to the people that come here by accident.

You guys rock!!!

Blog reading level requirements (?!)

I’ve seen this on a couple different local blogs I check out fairly regularly. Apparently some web site “scans your blog and determines the minimum reading level one must possess to understand your blog”.

You type in your blog address and it “scans” (note the quotes) and provides the results with a code you can proudly post on your blog. Only thing is, there’s only one “level”. I used JDAB four times and got the same result. The blogs I saw that also had this posted also had the same “result”. I obviously don’t put any credibility in the idea in the first place, but it would seem to me that if you’re going to have a little jokey random generator website for people to use, you might put in more than one possible result.

But I’ll play along. Here goes (ahem):
The minimum reading level one must possess to understand my blog is as follows:

Actually, now that I think about it, that’s fairly accurate. I think farts are funny, I like looking at boobies, and I am predominantly a fan of loud rock and roll.

YES!!!!

Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh, uh-huh-huh.  That was cool.

#100

This post has absolutely no worth other than it is the 100th post here at JDAB.

I recognize that most of the other 99 have no worth either, but this one is has less no worth than the others.

Or is it more?

Well, whichever, it’s significant to me.   I figured I’d have long given up by now.  I guess I can babble a lot more than I thought I could.

5K and counting

Holy crapski, Batman- JDAB has gone over the 5000-hit plateau!  I know, that’s not all that much, especially since roughly 1500 thus far have been spamments, but considering that was in less than a year’s time. I think that’s still pretty amazing for someone who has no clue what they’re doing, and who writes about insignificant things!

Thanks to all that have visited, and double-thanks to all that have left their comments.  I hope you keep coming back–and bring your friends! 

If less IS more, I don’t want to know

I don’t really post all that regularly to JDAB- mainly because my SofIL work schedule sucks ass with a loud slurping noise. I don’t get to post nearly as often as I’d like, but with the posts I do make, I usually try to make some sort of “noise”, if only in my own head.

Alas, to the chagrin of some (I hope), and to the delight of most everyone else, I will likely be posting even more infrequently than I do now. All right, stop your damn cheering and clapping.

Smart asses.

Anyway, first reason is the aforementioned schedule. I just had to pick one of the few state jobs that isn’t 8:30-5 M-F. Secondly, my next semester of Spanish started yesterday, so that is going to take up a lot of my time so I can hopefully learn to “comment allez-vous” better.

Hmmm? It is? Really? Aw, crap… that explains a lot. Well, whatever.

Also requiring some time this fall is the RALFF Fantasy Football League 2007! (cue MNF intro… deh deh deh DEHHHHHHHH…) Our draft is this Sunday at We Be Wings n’ Shit, and I’m looking forward to another season of really serious ass-whoopin’s. That’s taking, not giving. I made the fantasy playoffs last year, but my teams, historically, have both sucked and blown. We’ve got a couple guys in the league that take the whole thing WAY too seriously- and we’ve had some really major issues the last 2-3 seasons that caused some big-time hurt feelings, questioned integrity, and such- but it’s still just for fun and I will keep doing it until it is no longer fun for me.

But I digress. At any rate, don’t be surprised (or too gleeful…) if I don’t make very many posts for a while. Just please don’t give up on me- I’ll still be around every once in a while to inform, enlighten, and, more than likely, offend.

JDAB turns 2000!

In less than two months since its 1000th hit, JDAB racked up its 2000th hit a day or two ago.

Everyone that has ever visited here rocks! Even all the spammers from Greece that JDAB seems to attract. I realize spammers skew the numbers of actual “legitimate” hits I’ve received, but as long as Akismet does its job, I’ll take it.

All you living, breathing blog surfers out there, keep coming by, and feel free to check in!

JDAB turns 1000!!

Congratulations to Phillip Mondor of Wettfahrten, N.J., for being the 1,000th hit here at Johann Drops a Blog! Phillip wins a coveted JDAB.com t-shirt in his choice of three colors- red, blue, or red.

Actually, a JDAB.com t-shirt does not exist. But then, neither does Phillip Mondor. Nor does Wettfahrten, N.J., for that matter. At least I don’t think it does… one never knows about Jersey.

I never thought I’d even get 100 hits, let alone 1,000, so I do appreciate everyone that has taken the time to read my ramblings. Whether there were hundreds of individual hits, or my 5 regular readers visiting 200 times each, I appreciate it.

Maybe soon I can start making it worth people’s while to visit JDAB… and perhaps I’ll see about creating some JDAB.com t-shirts too.

Pardon the absence

I apologize to my four regular readers for not having posted in over a week. I’ve been very busy trying to study for my Spanish final.

Not as well as I feel I should have done, but pretty well overall, thank you for asking.

I am taking Spanish for one- no, three- reasons. First of all, I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish because I think it’s the prettiest language I’ve ever heard (I put it neck and neck with Italian, and just ahead of Russian). Secondly, where I work, we get a lot of Spanish-speaking callers, so it would be helpful to have someone actually in the office that speaks Spanish to be able to help them. (Oh, and it could mean more money for Johann if I am able to “officially” be considered Spanish-speaking.)

Third reason I’m taking Spanish is because I’m trying to get a head-start on things, since the way things are going, Spanish may very well become the official national language, thanks to our idiotic lawmakers and bleeding hearts doing everything they can to turn this country into the United States of Amexico. There are McDonalds in California (and possibly elsewhere) that have signs posted in the window that read “English Spoken Here”. As though that is a selling point to entice someone into a Big Mac. Pitiful. “The Star Spangled Banner”- the national anthem of the ENGLISH-SPEAKING United States of America- is now being sung in Spanish. I don’t recall that it was meant to be.

Learn Spanish, folks. Before long, it will be required.

Tenga mucho cuidado para que pida.

A new direction

I realize that there may very well be nobody out there reading my ramblings, and that’s fine, but after getting reamed by someone close to me for calling them out for their comments in a debate, I decided I’m going to take my little random thoughts blog here in a new direction, and attempt to be a bit more polarizing.

I have never had a problem accepting other people’s opinions, even when they’re different than mine, but I get tired of being told, either outwardly or implied, that my opinions are wrong or that I am responsible for and/or representative of all that is wrong with the world because I believe what I believe, which may not be the “politically correct” belief to have, heaven forbid. So instead of just rambling with no direction about completely inane subjects, I will attempt to make a bit more of a stand on things. I figure the bandwagon-du-jour jumpers can do that; why can’t I?

Now allow me to lay some ground rules. I know everyone that may read my ramblings will not agree with what I have to say. That’s super-de-duper. Everyone has their opinions. I welcome any and all comments- WITHIN certain guidelines.

1. Please feel free to debate any posts you want. Opposing viewpoints will not be just unceremoniously deleted, as long as they have some semblance of content to them, instead of something like “you’re a fucking idiot, you don’t know what you’re talking about”. (And yes, I curse, so if you have a problem with that, you may as well move on now.) Your opinion, by definition, is neither right nor wrong- just remember that my opinion, by definition, is neither right nor wrong as well. People can play the “yes it is, no it isn’t” game all they want, but if there is no substance behind their argument, then it’s nothing more than schoolyard chatter. Even if you do want to tell me that you feel I am wrong, that’s fine- just do it intelligently and coherently. Hell, if your argument is compelling enough, you may even convince me.

2. Present your thoughts at least somewhat intelligently. What I mean by that is, while typos will happen (I usually have at least 3 or 4 per post!), at least make an attempt to spell words correctly. Follow basic grammar and punctuation rules. If I can’t understand what you’re trying to say, I can’t very well respond. Some examples:
- “Your” is a possessive pronoun representing something that belongs to the person you are addressing. “You’re” is a contraction meaning “you are”. That’s 3rd grade grammar.
- There is no such word as “supposably”. The word is “supposEDly”.

3. Absolutely no “IM speak” will be posted. If you’re too lazy, stupid, or whatever, to type out “you” instead of “U”, then U won’t get UR post published. Also, anything posted in all caps will immediately be shit-canned. My blog, my rules. Deal with them.

4. As I stated before, I curse sometimes. Not something I am proud of, but it is something I do. I am also no stranger to getting cursed at. If you curse in your post, that’s not a problem, within reason. Also, everyone has their prejudices, myself included. That’s a sad fact of life. However, anything blatantly or purposefully offensive (and I am the final authority on that) will be deleted with the fury of a thousand demons.

These rules are subject to additions and/or changes at any time. Again- my blog, my rules. I welcome a good spirited debate, but I don’t waste my time on idiots with no grasp of language, grammar, spelling, or reasonable etiquette.

Game on.

About me

I’m just an average Joe- okay, an average Johann- who tries to be on an even keel, but I do also have some pretty strong feelings and beliefs regarding some things. Some people may not agree or particularly like my views, but that’s part of what makes this country what it is- we have the right to disagree without one of us being killed for it. God Bless America. I’m not “right” nor “wrong”, and neither are you. That’s why they’re called “opinions”.

For example, I believe abortion is wrong, but I believe in the death penalty. It’s like fishing- throw ‘em back, and kill ‘em when they’re bigger. Come on, folks, that fetus has absolutely no say in the matter, and it did nothing wrong to warrant being stabbed in the head and ripped into several pieces.
However, if you violate someone else’s civil rights, especially the most important, fundamental right to be alive, then I think you should lose your rights. Don’t like the time, don’t do the crime. Prisoners live better than I did in my first apartment after my divorce.

I have no intent of mindlessly offending people at every turn. However, I do not believe in “political correctness” as it stands today. We as a society have gotten so hell-bent on completely removing from our comments any verbiage that can possibly outwardly or inwardly offend someone that now nobody can say anything without somebody somewhere deeming our comments offensive. Things like racism exist in the world. That is a sad fact of life. But it does not exist in EVERY single situation that a non-white male is wronged. To say it does is no less racist. You can’t play the race card and then follow it up with a racist comment of your own. Picking and choosing when race matters and when it doesn’t, depending on what’s “in it” for the person involved, is plain and simply racist in and of itself. Don’t get me wrong- there are countless examples of racism out there, but simply to scream racism just because a black person is passed over for a job or promotion, for example, without sufficient evidence beyond “the guy that got the job is white and the guy that didn’t is black”, is racist. Like it or not, it is.

I believe in being honest, no matter how much it may hurt. It’s just that there is a way to do it without being blatantly offensive. I believe in fairness. I believe in playing by the rules. I believe the new guy that works his ass off deserves more than the lazy apathetic schmo that has been there for 20 years. Seniority should only take you so far- performance needs to matter again. Unfortunately, in many workplaces (mine included), if you’ve been there the longest, you write the rules. I think that’s ridiculous, yet I am also able to accept it, no matter how much I don’t agree with it. Some call me idealistic or say I wear rose-colored glasses, and maybe I am and I do. But since I am able to acknowledge- let alone accept- beliefs or realities other than my own, that puts me a step ahead of those that live in their own little “it’s all about me” vacuum. Sure, nowadays, people have to look out for number one, but I don’t find it necessary to number two all over everyone else in the process.

Oh, I’ve got more… it’ll get jotted down as it comes.

Welcome

Hello, all. I’m not real sure what I’m doing here, so this’ll probably be a little bit slow for a while until I get the hang of this “blogging” thing. So bear with me. Hell, I may wind up the only one reading this blog, but I thought I’d try one out, so as hopefully to get some of my thoughts out of my head to make room for other more important information. Like my passwords at work that I can never seem to remember. My brain’s limited on space, and it’s pretty full.

Just remember, I never said it’d be exciting… if you get bored, I won’t be offended in the least if you leave. But you’re still welcome to post your comments, rebuttals, random thoughts, or just “sign in” and tell me you read it.