Smoke ‘Em if Ya Got ‘Em
So, I have a friend who follows me on Lifezilla. I mean, why wouldn’t you, right? I was talking to him and he mentioned that often in the comment sections, I, your humble narrator, gets “burned every time.” He said, “It is like they smell blood in the water and they just attack you. I always look forward to your reply, but you never do. Why do you take it?” If you go back and look I have only replied to a comment once or twice. There are times I want to do this:
Oh, that was harsh…
I have a clever response…
Type Type Typety Type Type
Backspace…backspace
Type Type Typety Type Type Type
Backspace…backspace…backspace
Type Type Typety Type Type Ty…
[Highlight – Delete]
[Close]
This may sound harsh. But the truth of the matter is I really don’t care that much. I’m a big boy. I have my opinions on stuff. I figure the commenters (is that a word) are big people too, so I let them have a voice. I’m a Conservative: as such, I don’t care about other adults. I expect other adults to care about themselves. Capisce?
And besides, let’s be honest. Life is too short to worry about how other people feel. I have a decent job, my kids fill my day with laughter and my wife has a killer rack. Why stress?
ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that being said I want to tell you a story about what happened today.
I have a drinking problem. I drink Diet Coke like it is my JOB. I love it. I have six reasons why I love it:
1) Because
2) Because
3) Because
4) Because
5) Because
6) Because, of the wonderful things it does.
So, I’m in line at the convenience store I frequent daily and in front of me is an older gentleman. He is EASILY in his mid- to late- eighties. He points behind the counter and asked for his brand of cigarettes. The cashier puts them on the counter and asked for the gentleman’s I.D. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of cash, but had (apparently) forgotten his I.D. The cashier kindly apologized, but said he wouldn’t be able to finish the transaction. The older gentleman was agitated. I spoke up and said he could use my I.D. Because I’m not a smoker, I was unaware that there is a bar code on the back of our driver’s licenses that needs to be scanned before you can purchase things like cigarettes (this tidbit of information ticked me off on a whole bunch of new levels). I was informed by the cashier that because he knew I wouldn’t be purchasing them for myself that is considered a “third party sale” and is illegal.
Now, I’m not a smoker. But because I’m conservative, I’m consistent. That whole situation was wrong, Wrong, WRONG. Should you check identification to ensure you are not selling cigarettes or alcohol to minors? YES. If someone is found buying these things for minors should they be fined or put in jail? YES. Should we practice common sense and allow a man who is clearly of age to finish an adult purchase instead of making him walk home to retrieve his identification? HELL YES.
The problem with these types of laws is it turns everyday citizens into the police. It shouldn’t be the cashier’s job to police the old man’s or my purchases.
Now I understand they are considering legislation to make it illegal to smoke in your car if you have kids with you. Again, I don’t smoke so this wouldn’t affect me at all. Smoking in the car with a kid makes you a dumbass. Being a dumbass isn’t illegal. What’s next, you can’t smoke in your house?
When did it become illegal to be an adult?
Should there be laws? Absolutely. Do I appreciate the “no smoking in public places” laws? Absolutely. Smoking laws don’t affect me. I’m not a smoker. But they’re symbolic. We have to be careful. It is a slippery slope.
In an article I read last year there were 40,000 new laws put on the books at the state level in 2012. Forty Thousand!!! An average of 800 laws per state. Are there really that many problems that we need that many laws? Is society really that outta control?
Ayn Rand once said, “There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
Let’s bring back common sense.
LIFEZILLA: It’s exciting President George W. Bush began his fourth term on Sunday, January 20, 2013 as the official source of all economic problems in the country.
Ouch! I am certain most of those comments are written by yours truly. I understand your point. I can’t lie, I feel pretty stupid right now for having ever commented. That said, you are fantastic. Your posts are great. You have a gift. Happy blogging!
Love this! Great article! One of your best! Keep it up.
Loved your description of how you (don’t) respond to comments. I’ve done that so many times myself. And I agree with you about 99 percent of the time, except the smoking with kids in the car. I do think that it should be illegal and I’m surprised it isn’t already. All those studies on second-hand smoke and how it affects growing children… I’m all for protecting the kids. It’s about more than just being an idiot… it is infringing on the rights of others (in this case, children), so I’m all for THAT new law. Adults have the right to kill themselves with cigarettes, but should not have the right to harm others on their way.
I’m usually so happy that someone read a blog post of mine and then took the time to leave a comment that, if they happen to say something rude, I hardly notice! 🙂
Did you know that there is a law now that limits how many online transfers you can make out of your savings account? True! You can only transfer six times a month out of your savings account online or over the phone. If you want to do seven, you have to go into the bank. The governmental reason for this is that people should be saving their money, not transfering it elsewhere to spend it. Good goal, of course, but the individual vagaries of personal banking are now stymied.
Orwell becomes more and more prophetic, doesn’t he.
Well put!, I appreciate the fact that you are sharing your point of view and am enjoying reading your articles. I agree especially with your idea of sliding down a slippery slope, so many laws can be justified but are absolutely unnessisary! There cant be enough laws made to prevent people from being idiots. But those of us with a little common sense loose our freedoms quickly because of these attempts at idiot prevention.
Thanks for writing, keep up the good work!
Great piece Danny I agree one of your best. My grandma once said: (at least that is where I always thought I got this) “we should not care what others think of us because it is none of our business it is theirs.” I love that and not that respoding to a comment is anything like that but I often times find myself wanting to respond and typing a response only , like yourself, to delete it. Keep em’ coming! And I do agree your wife does have an incredible…………….knowledge of nutrition.
Nice dodge on who in [your state] could possibly pass such laws against personal freedom. I assume the very same state legislators from the very same party, with the very same claims to political purity as your dear self.
Editors Note: I changed this comment by removing the state in which I live. James is correct: I do live in a very “red” state. My state legislators SHOULD know better.
About protecting the children…..
Oh if only we could!
Should we try? Absolutely…but where does it stop? (“Slippery Slope”)
No joke, my friend’s obstetrician told her about an un-wed young woman (yes, those two facts are significant) who put gummy bears up her vajay-jay all throughout her pregnancy because “her baby needed to eat”.
Where do I start…..
First of all, DERRRRRS!
And what is this woman going to feed her baby when it comes out of her vajay-jay??? Do we make laws about what parents can and cannot feed their children? We want to protect our children, don’t we?
It’s about education (prevention). What‘s better… PREVENTING cancer or SURVIVING it? (Think in terms of our culture).
You create a society of criminals by not educating them, and then making their dumb-assery a crime! Put more eloquently in one of my favorite movies, Ever After: “what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves (criminals) and then punish them? “
So how about this… instead of spending millions of tax dollars deliberating on new laws to create, how about we run ads and post billboards (I mean, how many Victoria Secret commercials do we need anyway) that TEACH about the dangers of smoking in the car with your babies… that they’d be better off wrapping their wee little mouths around the tail pipe and inhaling deeply rather than breathing the toxic air inside – that for the rest of their lives they will have BREATHING PROBLEMS (including asthma, sinusitis, rhinitis, cystic fibrosis, chronic cough and postnasal drip), and the tie to CHRONIC EAR INFECTIONS, SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME, and of course there’s that pesky CANCER.
Remember those seat belt ads? “Hold onto dear life…..”
You can’t legislate common sense.
Instead of the left-wing agenda in academia, what if schools were teaching kids that, for starters, it’s not necessary to feed your unborn baby through your….
And you James, you actually proved his point about snarky comments. We lose narrative when people are disagreeable, folks often keep their comments to themselves because of people like YOU attacking their point of view – and then those people find themselves under the blanket of your oppression, is that your intent? Comment on the content of the post, don’t attack the writer.
And for those of you keeping your opinions to yourself because of guys like this….DON’T!!! Stand up, make yourself heard! Common sense is common sense, even if it’s not packaged up in fancy words. (You know who you are)
Disagreeable? For the love. Now, we can’t even disagree? You want a Conservative forum where nobody will call you out on anything or offer another perspective? Be my guest. Close the blog. It’s really easy.
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