This weekend’s question comes from Hank, who wants to know:
What subjects turn you into a ranter?
This site has been a 15-year-plus demonstration of what turns me into a ranter, so I don’t think I need respond to this. But you go right ahead and indulge your rage…
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD/QOTW, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTW sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
Well, yesterday it was the fact that both of my roommate’s girlfriends are habitually Too Freaking Loud, and when they are together they are having what is surely a normal conversation to themselves, but they both ramp up excessively, so I could hear them in a theatre that seats 1000, but they were doing it outside my door, which I cannot close because I have a cat, and I had a migraine.
I can actually get pretty ranty at the drop of a hat.
I recently discovered that talking about gun laws turns me into a ranter.
Also, any positive-thinking/universal secret/egocentric ‘what I think to me happens and reality doesn’t exist’ wishy washy hippy thinking tends to get my goat up.
On the positive note, the eighteenth century gets me ranting in favour, as does many types of study.
I agree about guns. I get chain emails from relatives and friends criticizing gun control, and though I rarely bother to respond to arguments I think that are invalid, Second Amendment bloviating sets me off.
alternative medicine. the first bullshit use of the word “energy” is the rant starting gun.
Logical or rhetorical fallacies bug the hell out of me, no matter who makes them. Conspiracy theories, “Intelligent Design,” misuse of statistics, people who don’t bother to check Snopes before posting/emailing panicky messages about some easily debunked cause for alarm . . . well, you get the idea. Even if I agree with someone, if s/he makes a weak or faulty argument, I immediately turn into the Devil’s advocate and get the urge to dismantle it. My particular pet peeve is the misunderstanding, distortion, or oversimplification of economics, since I happen to have a degree in that subject . . . and since it happens so damned often.
You must really enjoy Facebook. ;-)
I had a semi-rant at a facebook-only ‘friend’ about antibiotics (I think doctors over-prescribe them.)
I was unfriended on facebook by an actual acquaintance for instigating a discussion against genetically-modified foods and organics (the native Americans genetically modified their foods, though they didn’t know that’s what they were doing, and GMO’s feed more people using less resources, and organics actually have a higher chance of getting you sick-from the cow manure they use instead of fertilizer.
De-clawing cats-I have one (she came to us like that) and she has many issues related to it, and de-clawed cats are taken to the shelter more often than non-declawed cats. Funnily enough, I have no problems with dewclaw-ing, tail docking, and I’m only kind of iffy on ear-cropping. These don’t really deal with bones your animal has to walk on, and are to sustain the look of the breed, rather than you “protecting” you precious furniture. Give then something they CAN scratch, and they’ll leave your stuff alone!
When people give milk to cats. Cats are lactose intolerant, like most animals (even humans).
Grammar. Mostly just commonly misused words like ‘to’ and ‘too.’ I once saw someone type ‘uphauled’ when they meant ‘appalled’.
When people say ‘pacifically,’ ‘supposubly,’ ‘all of the sudden,’ when they don’t add ‘ly’ when making a word an adjective-‘don’t take it personal.’ It’s ‘personally’! My hubs says ‘recon-ize’ instead of pronouncing the ‘G’ in ‘recognize’ and it drives me nuts, even though I’ve told him how to say it properly. And thanks to The Big Bang Theory, when people pronounce the ‘T’ in ‘often.’
When the closed-captioning is wrong. I can’t watch ‘The Man from Snowy River’ (on tv, haven’t tried the DVD) with the captions on. They keep calling the colt a ‘cult,’ not to mention everything else wrong with the captions, and it causes me to say ‘cooolt!’ in increasing volume and length as the movie progresses, until I want to throw something at the tv.
They shouldn’t of done that.
;-)
My eye is twitching. ;) Are you sure you’re not my hubs? His name is Jay and someone used to call him BlueJay. He would have responded like this, too!
I use to know someone who made stacks of grammarial errors. People are suppose to speak proper!
Sorry, but unless you’ve been lying to me all these years about working at the NY Public Library when you’ve actually been working at Macy’s, I’m afraid I’m not your husband.
He’s got a terrific sense of humor, though!
Stupidity will do it. (and also the use of adjectives when adverbs are called for.)
Yes. Stupidity. My mother says I have a very low tolerance for the stupidity of others. I work at Macy’s, and customers ask the dumbest things. I’m putting their clothes in a bag, and they say, “Oh, can I have a bag?” I pause and look at what I’m putting their clothes into. “Oh, I mean a handle bag.” I look at the handles…Then I specify, “Oh, you mean a PAPER bag.” I once had a customer bring me a pair of gloves and ask if they were for cold. No, they’re summer gloves. Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I asked if he meant California cold, or snow cold. He just looked at me blankly.
Ha, I sometimes amuse myself with clerks and cashiers: I once bought a gift certificate and asked the cashier if the person wasn’t happy with it, could they come and exchange it and get credit for another item in the store. She looked at me a good long time.
After spending five fun and frustrating years as a public school teacher, I’m tempted to rant when people who have never stood in front of a classroom pontificate about their sure-fire solution to fix our public school system.
In my early twenties, I was tempted to rant when people describing themselves as humble also claimed to have specific knowledge about the nature and desire of the creator(s) of the universe (which still seems to me the height of arrogance). I’ve since realized that the structure of our minds predisposes us to retain stories involving supernatural agents, so I try to use my time more constructively and stay out of religious discussions unless I know the person well.
Anyone claiming to present a logical argument who is clearly influenced by emotion and insecurity tends to inspire a rant as well. As do most ad hominems and arguments of the type: “No one cares what you think – your opinion is no more important than anyone else’s!” The inability of these people to realize that their arguments are self-defeating never ceases to amaze me.
I have a feeling any one of us who frequents this page could easily say “movie discussion” and call it a day. I know it’s true for me. Especially when I hear people praising a movie I think is junk.
Movies aside, I would go with the old standby of “The youth of today”. It’s unfair to paint a whole demo with a single brush, but It’s hard not to sometimes. I’m talking language, respect for others, Respect for others property, lack of discipline, etc., etc. I could rant all day about them!
Then, of course, we have people and their phones. Morons talking or texting while driving. People staring at their phone while at the dinner table. Morons staring at their phones while crossing the street. People and their goddamn phones! AAAUUUGGHH! *runs away screaming*
I agree with your second paragraph but the depressing thing is that I wouldn’t even limit it to ‘youth’; respect (for self and others) and a sense of personal or group responsibility are not qualities we’re seeing enough of in any demographic, IMHO. Totally with you on the phones.
I’m in that age demographic where the majority can’t spend 30 minutes away from a phone, but I don’t like texting. (For one, my fingers aren’t as nimble for messing with a tiny keyboard.) I prefer, you know, in-person interactions and more normal things like phone, e-mail and snail mail. I mainly use my phone to call folks and check the time (and I text occasionally), but that’s it. It’s not a 24/7 necessity for me.
Texting and people being preoccupied with their phone is maddening. But that’s the curse of modern technology these days.
People who assert that it’s totally cool to dismantle some fundamental aspects of democracy in order to make us ‘safe’ from global terrorism because “…it’s not like OUR government will misuse it’s power…” tend to make me froth at the mouth. Misuse of mobile phones, leading to chronic rudeness and anti-social behaviour. (Affluent) people who have never tried to learn a second language who say “why don’t immigrants learn English?” Vaccinating children (or, more specifically, not doing so). And, at the opposite end of the importance spectrum, I recently had a rant on Facebook about how much I hate those manipulative ‘share’ posts composed by Facebook trollops that try to guilt/shame people into forwarding them, e.g. “Share this if you love your daughter” or “my REAL friends will share this” or “Share this if you don’t hate [insert disenfranchised minority group here]”.
That would be “its power”, no apostrophe. (doh)
Mitch McConnell.
Excessive generalisations. Simple solutions to complex problems, proposed from a place of ignorance (“so why hasn’t that been tried then?”). Bad grammar. Failing to appreciate the importance of accuracy (both getting it as high as you can and knowing how high it is), in nearly any context. People who use answers they’ve been given by someone else rather than ones they’ve thought out for themselves.
Just call me Mr Ranty, really.
Animation, IP distribution, international trade and tariff policy, pseudoscience and denialism, especially on environmental issues.
“international trade and tariff policy”
Colour me intrigued: in what sense?
WIthout ranting, I feel we should have open trade, but a standardized minimum-wage based tarriff: I.e. If a product uses $8 of labor at minimum wage in country A, and is produced in country B for $1 worth of wages, then there should be a $7 import tariff on each of those shipped from B to A.
Forcing people in a $10/hour economy to “compete” with people in a $1/hour economy is corrosive to both the economy of the high-wage country and the quality of life in the low-wage country.
The ranting usually comes with knee-jerk pigeonholing of that position as “anti-trade” or “nationalist”
I absolutely agree. There used to be a thing called “Anti Dumping Duty” which was levied when countries felt that a vital part of their economy was being damaged by dumped products. It’s used less and less now simply because those industries have decamped to the old dumping countries in the name of open trade. The only people benefiting from this are the owners.
Racism and all it’s ugly adherents.
I’m afraid I’m a terrible bear baiter of the racist arseholes who frequent the Daily Telegraph comment pages.
I have an especial hatred of those who try to insist their attitudes are “natural” as a way of justifying their views.
See, I did it again…………..
People who waste NHS resources.
There is a staggering amount of hours lost to missed doctors and consultant appointments that could have been offered to other patients simply because someone was too busy to make ONE short phonecall to say they couldn’t make it.
People who over order repeat medication “just in case” and end up returning it for disposal because it’s not needed.
Unbelievably, a pharmacy’s DOOP bin (iwhere medicines are placed ready to be collected and destroyed) will contain things like untouched, unopened Fybogel returned because “I wanted the lemon flavour not the orange.”
They are an idiotic minority who never even stop to consider how privaleged they are to be able to treat their healthcare so flippantly but they cost the NHS millions.
Creationism, anti-vaccination, homeopathy and other such “alternative” medicine. Actually just any anti-science rhetoric is enough to set me off.
This is gonna sound really sleazy, but porn. Run! Cover your eyes (ears?)!
More specifically, I have these inner rants about porn’s representation and treatment of women, and then its treatment and representation of gays. I’m a gay male. I’m a fan of erotic stories, and I like subtext and using my imagination. That’s why I spend so much time crawling through page upon page of gaping, tearing, slapping, choking or contorting, forcing perfectly fine women to either change their bodies or to have sex with men they wouldn’t have sex with in real life (don’t even get me started on the male talent): so that maybe once I’ll find something truly believable and sexy. What’s the definition of insanity again?
On the gay side, the entire genre is run by homophobia. “Straight” actors who make it a point to tell everyone they’re straight (even though that’s highly unlikely). Men put into unlikely situations in typical masculine situations (the gym, the fire department, the frat house) and forced to live out fantasies, as if the entire world can’t admit that two guys could actually be into each other and come together naturally, or that they could actually hold a relationship. Then what are actual gay people supposed to believe? The same goes for the lesbian side of the spectrum.
They’re both terrible problems because, let’s face it, the age of getting a computer with internet is lowering and lowering (which is ANOTHER thing I rant about, btw).
Operation Prohibited by Disc
I’m so sorry. But Linux is free, and Linux-based media players don’t pay any attention to such nonsense.
People who watch Fox News. The ones I know are, to a person, elderly and have lived comparatively stress-free middle to upper-middleclass lives that make them very privileged in their attitudes. They have never worried about healthcare and don’t understand why anyone not of their generation is having a problem. They bought great houses back when they were affordable. They have no money worries in their old age. They worked hard but they got the benefit of it in a way that many of the rest of us have never been able to do. Yet, because of Fox News, they are not happy, they are angry, they think everyone’s trying to steal it from them, and that everyone who doesn’t have what they have is beneath them.
People who get real cheerful about how gosh-darned awesome it is that the Republican party is finding sneaky ways to close down Women’s Health clinics that serve poor women because now the dear babies won’t be getting killeded anymores. FLAMES DOWN THE SIDE OF MY FACE.
That gets me ranting too. Folks who forcing their beliefs on those who do not share them (let alone believe in any deity) have no business poking their noses in other people’s private affairs. Straight people are still going to get married when/if gay marriage is legalized nationwide, teenagers should have mandatory sex-ed classes and easy access to contraception (the abstinence-only method DOES NOT work), and women should have the right to get an abortion if they chose/need to do so.
If conservatives actually minded their own business more often, I think there’d be a whole lot less ranting.
“it’s just a theory.”
Yes! I HATE hearing that one. Makes me want to scream.
“Joss Whedon isn’t a real feminist.”
I have a problem with “the burden of representation” — that is, with cultural assumptions and expectations around race, ethnicity, place of origin, and other markers, which can hinder the full flourishing of individual identity, interests, abilities. And I like pointing out and celebrating people who buck those expectations. My first rant on the subject is here on my blog, and it’s turned into a topic that I seem to revisit often.
I also often find myself defending libraries.
And making the case for optimism in general.
Everything everyone on the internet says or does.
Which is funny, because IRL, I’m kind of meek and very non-confrontational. I don’t hardly even scold my students.
Same here. The internet has emboldened me quite a bit. In real life I’m just a quiet guy who pretty wants to be left alone.
Poor movie theatre ettiquette will set me off every time, particularly regarding people who talk/text during the show. My viewing of “Cloud Atlas” was ruined by an idiotic young couple who decided to sneak in to the show 2 hours in (after another movie let out, apparently) and proceeded to text pretty much non-stop throughout the rest of the film. I was so pissed off, I sent an angry e-mail to the theatre chain’s website and got 2 free passes in the mail. I’ll never understand why anyone would want to text during a movie to begin with. If somebody can’t sit still for 2 hours without obsessing over their texts or Twitter feed, then why don’t they just stay home?
Disrespect and/or lack of empathy.
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(This quote has also been attributed to James D. Miles)