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You should never, ever try this unless you are more than sure of the answer. Poor dude.
A place for the occasional thought of more than 140 characters
You should never, ever try this unless you are more than sure of the answer. Poor dude.
Of all the things you expect could potentially happen to you in a day, I think this one gets left off the list. Seriously though, I can’t imagine how shocked I would be to find something like this. It isn’t like he is in Colorado or something. Would be funny to hear his conversation at dinner with his family though…
Like I tweeted earlier, I am convinced that Black Friday is irrefutable evidence that the Christian doctrine of Total Depravity is correct. If you are unfamiliar with the teaching, the basic gist is that people are, at their core, evil. This is the opposite of what most people believe and teach currently, which is that people are born good and then society screws them up. I think it is the other way around. Babies are born completely self-centered, and society works to curb these desires to create a world where people can live together in some semblance of harmony (If you don’t agree, think about this…has a baby ever been taught that they should get upset when something doesn’t go their way? Probably not, yet they all do naturally. Another kid takes their toy, and little Billy’s instinct is to bite him. Pretty sure they didn’t pick that up from mom and dad. Eventually, they are taught by parents and teachers to share, and they *hopefully* stop the fits and the cannibalism).
Anyway, I think you get a true look at people, and yourself, when you are in a situation where the stress level goes up and all the societal niceties and manners begin to fall by the wayside. It would be when you a hungry, when you are sleep deprived, or when you have just been having a really bad day, but at some point we all get to that place where all our self-control and demeanor are gone, and our inner selfishness is allowed to come out unchecked. Of course we are very quick to excuse our outburst to ourselves as we know it was a fluke because we were hungry or tired or whatever (although we never offer others the same leniency when we see them snap without knowing why they are acting that way. They may be tired or hungry or stressed too, but our default assumption is that the stranger who snapped is a complete jerk) and write it off as an aberration. We are very subjective when we look at our actions (there is always a reason why we fail to live up to how we know we should) but very objectively when looking at the actions of others (they have no excuse for their behavior, nor could any suffice).
All that said, one of the fascinating things about Black Friday is how people absolutely lose their mind for these sales. True, there are some great sales on big ticket items, but most things aren’t really that cheap. Sure, if you buy enough things the savings add up, but the amount of money you save isn’t enough to explain some of the stuff that goes on. I bet average savings are less than $200 (which is great. I’d love an extra $200), but people act like they are fighting for a winning lotto ticket. It reminds me of the movie Rat Race that came out a while back. It is just crazy. One woman used pepper spray to hold people at bay so she could nab an X-Box. I think it was on sale for like $60 off. Some kids were injured. Quick, right now as you are in your right mind answer this question: If I offer you $60 to go spray a group of people (that includes children) with pepper spray, would you do it? Doubt it. And I doubt that this woman would either on most days, but Black Friday just does something to people. Mob mentalities set in and the rules of behavior that society has taught us don’t seem to apply, so you get to see what (unfortunately) lies in the depths of the hearts of many people.
Of course, that is not to say that everyone goes absolutely crazy for $5 off a tube of toothpaste. Most people remain somewhat sane. Andrea and I went to Target last night to get a couple of things (but mostly to experience the craziness), and neither one of us got pepper sprayed, even though we did walk by some X-Boxes on sale. The line to get in stretched over a quarter mile, and we saw a guy get arrested for arguing with a cop who thought he was trying to cut in line. Actually, he was trying to protest a group of teenage girls who cut into the line (he was right, we saw it happen), but he did so by calling the police officer several vulgar names, which did not end well for him. We enjoyed our time in line pretty well. Struck up a couple conversations with people nearby during the wait, they asked us what we came for. I told them I just wanted a gallon of milk, and they laughed. I thought it was a pretty good line.
I also saw this blog post on Black Friday and how the desire for “stuff” is crushing our humanity. Well worth a read. Thanks for my brother-in-law Jason Rodgers (Twitter: @jarodger) for tweeting it earlier tonight
I apologize for any typos or weirdly worded sentences in this post. It is kinda late and I don’t really feel like proofing or making any edits at the moment.
It is a big day in football for the state of Texas tomorrow as the University of Texas and Texas A&M University meet on the field for what is expected to be the last time “for the foreseeable future.” This will be the 118th game the two schools have played against each other, dating back to 1894. Although the series is a lopsided 75-37-5 in favor of UT, I read somewhere that over the last 24 years the series is tied 12-12. That means this game will decide who has the edge over the last quarter century, as well as give the winning fan base all important bragging rights of having won the last matchup between the schools.
As a passionate fan and alumnus of Texas Tech University, it is always very difficult for me to pick which of these schools I should favor to win the game. Over the past decade, I have witnessed enough acts of arrogance and hubris displayed by both schools to develop a strong dislike for both institutions, their football teams, and their fan bases (I should note, however, that this differs from my feelings towards the individuals I know who are alumni or current students at these institutions. For the most part, I like these people). However, since it is impossible for both teams to somehow lose, and in college football ties are no longer possible (to the best of my knowledge), I suppose I must try to form some opinion of who I would rather win the game.
Honestly, in my opinion this whole discussion is rather like trying to decide whether you’d rather suffer from constipation or diarrhea. When those are your only two options, you may be able to compare the two side by side and come up with some advantages and disadvantages of each, but at the end of the day you are still trying to decide between differing forms of fecal matter.
Regardless, the question still stands. UT is suffering through a second straight disappointing season and is currently 6-4. Although that is improved from their 5-7 season last year, given their resources and recruiting advantages anything less than a 10-2 regular season should be seen as a colossal failure. I could probably coach them to at least 8-4 given the ability to handpick the best players out of Texas year in and year out. Any competent coaching staff should average 11-1, and Mack’s bunch usually gets to 10 wins in the regular season. Beating A&M will give them a shot at 8 or 9 wins (after a bowl), and while it would be a big win for them at the end of the year it is really just another W or L for their fans and program.
A&M, on the other hand, is a little different. Their school lives for the matchup against UT, and many of their fans would sell their first born child to win against UT in a given year. Their team, which was ranked in the Top 10 coming into the season and had national title dreams, sits at 6-5. A loss to UT in their final matchup to drop what was supposed to be their best team in over a decade to .500 might be enough to drive some of their passionate (and often delusional) fans insane. As much as I hate UT winning, I think I may enjoy A&M losing even more.
So, as much as it pains me to do so, I think tomorrow I will prefer a UT win (though to say “rooting”, “cheering”, or “hoping” for one is too strong a word).
How about you guys, who are you pulling for? I’m especially interested to hear what other Tech fans think about this game.
In an effort to raise awareness for meat alternatives, PETA has asked the mayor of Turkey, Texas to change the small town’s name to Tofurky for Thanksgiving. Apparently, no member of PETA has ever stepped foot in a small town of Texas. For one, the economy is largely based on agriculture, of which the cattle industry is a large component. Secondly…well, the culture of these towns is not especially predisposed towards sympathy for PETA’s cause. One of the news channels out of Lubbock went to Turkey to get some responses from people that lived there, which can be seen here.
