Random Opinions and Observations About Stuff

I don’t think language should be regulated by the state. Let languages grow and evolve and compete without central planning. What’s more, I don’t think the state has any business regulating “profanity”. I bet most of us cuss just about every day, so why should broadcasters and publishers eschew cussing? Sometimes a good cuss word is wanted to get your point across. Forget regulating “hate speech”, too. Everybody needs to give or receive some scathing verbal abuse now and then.

I’m going to go out on a limb and take the courageous position that the Holocaust was a bad thing. The Nazis killed and tortured millions of Jews, no doubt about it. That was the Nazis. In Europe. Sixty years ago. The Palestinians had nothing to do with it. Most of the Palestinians weren’t even alive then. So, the Holocaust provides no justification whatsoever for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

To my friends who still adhere to the GOP, I want to say that I forgive you. Didn’t Jesus Himself eat with Republicans and sinners? May God have mercy on you. And on me.

That Fox Noise douchebag Bill O was apparently pleasantly surprised that black people know how to behave in a restaurant, and he had the cluelessness to say so and think that he was being complimentary. Hey, Bill O, I went to an Irish neighborhood and was amazed that less than half of the people I encountered were drunk or engaged in a fist fight! And in Little Italy, there weren’t nearly as many organ grinders and mobsters as I had expected. What’s up with that?

I hate whiny country ballads sung by men. Country music is best when it’s subversive, when it celebrates working class issues or rebellion. Nobody wants to hear you whine about how much you love your wife and children or how much you miss your girlfriend. Lately, women singers seem to do the best work, and a lot of it has feminist undertones. It’s subversive. A lot of what I hear on the country stations is just crappy pop with some resonator guitar riffs thrown in to give it a country flavor. I think a lot of reggae would make good country songs in the right hands. The other day, I heard a recording of Johnny Cash singing Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”, and it was fantastic.

I don’t have an appreciation for Hip Hop. Rap makes no sense to me unless the artist is busting a rhyme extemporaneously, in which case it is impressive. But if he gets to write his poem out ahead of time, I’m not so impressed. I admire the subversive, rebellious aspects of Hip Hop/Rap (are they the same thing?) but don’t care for the silly love songs. Rap that contains social commentary is better than Rap that is just party music. Of course, that’s also true of Calypso and Reggae.

There is almost nothing funnier than a suburban white teenager decked out in big pants with a spanking new baseball cap worn askew and some bling. Funnier yet is a grown man so regaled.

What’s with the really long pants that women are wearing? Don’t the hems get all bedraggled?