Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:41 am
Meta:
Sorry guys but I have to disagree here. (Would you have expected any less?)
Rich, you are forgiven, being that Geo Dubbyah is your Boss, so I'll not argue your points too harshly, other than to say, if you are going to quote figures as fact, it's only fair to ask that you back 'em up with hyperlinks, no?
...and why do I always imagine your voice as the Drill Sarge from full metal jacket?
I've worked in the Network Engineering field for 25 years now, and I have seen a trend of graduates coming out of American Colleges who are frankly unprepared, arrogant, stupid, and think that because they were the "goto guy" to hook up the counterstike Lan party at the frat house means that they can walk like "Netops Jebus" himself into my data center and understand the current architecture and business model of modern networking. Whereas, I get a steady stream of grads from India and these guys often know as much as I do, work hard, are willing to learn, and could give a rats a$$ about stock options...(and they don't call off work because they “partied too hard” the night before.
I call 'em as I see 'em.
The emperor has no clothes, and on top of that, he's a low grade moron.
My work takes me all across this great land and when I see more and more people caring less about culture and more about Indy cars, beer, and fast food and the act of consume, consume, consume, (and oh yeah, lots of porn) it makes me want to hang my head low sometimes..
Try this exercise:
Go up to a random Joe on the street and ask them who the Republican, or Democratic majority leaders are, or even the Secretary of state. Heck, ask them what is the square root of Pi, or who wrote the constitution, or what it even means, or what Bell's theorem is, or who is Pythagoras, or Schrödinger even, or just where the hell Afghanistan or Iraq or China actually are on a map, and after being shocked by the answers, we should discuss just how "great" our educational systems are, and exactly where our "intellectual capital" is.
It certainly isn't on Capitol Hill.
In fact, don't ask a random Joe. Ask a recent college grad, or in some cases, even a college professor!
Most of them haven't a clue.
Why? simple. As a nation, we have become arrogant, fat, lazy, apathetic, and self absorbed. If it doesn’t affect my life directly, and it’s not a reality TV show, most of us just turn the channel. A book? What’s that? Go to the local library at any major metropolitan city. You’ll see three kinds of people there; 1. Homeless using the facilities for BM, 2. Dateless Nerds (The future ruling class) 3. Foriegners (See #2.)
Very few are the whole families these days, and in fact, where I live, they are actually shutting many libraries down due to lack of interest.
For the most part, to sum up, we could care less about world events or history and are generally anti-intellectual. Might makes right, and T.V. is always right.
…And if we are what eat….we are a big fat-laden bag of potato chips.
We celebrate stupidity, and reward and idolize criminals, murderers and those who always seem to "get over." On “the system.”
As long as we have an endless supply of DVDs, Cable T.V. and video games, all is right with the world and F everyone else.
I got mine.
Now go get yours.
Here's another exercise:
Ask someone under 25 what these things mean:
Trustworthiness
Respect
Responsibility
Fairness
Caring
Citizenship
The answers may shock you.
For example, I've been told by many of my fellow Americans to my face that my adherence to the standards of personal honor and ethics are antiquated, unrealistic, unnecessary, immature, and essentially had no place in modern society.
My take on it is; as long as I am alive, honor will exist, at least my perception of it, even if the whole world thinks I've gone mad. Lucky for America, we still have the U.S Marine Corps.
Now, with that all said; my rant on America is after all a generalization, which will always have many exceptions.
But it's the majority that I am concerned with.
Nobody likes to see bad things happening in their county, but there's a reason why we are not thought of too fondly recently throughout the world. We need to take a look at that, and at ourselves.
I'd say priority #1 is...Loose weight.
#2: Is put down the controller and hit the books
And of course, I could be wrong, and all is just peachy keen with America and we have nothing to fear.
But what if I am right?
Sorry guys but I have to disagree here. (Would you have expected any less?)
Rich, you are forgiven, being that Geo Dubbyah is your Boss, so I'll not argue your points too harshly, other than to say, if you are going to quote figures as fact, it's only fair to ask that you back 'em up with hyperlinks, no?
...and why do I always imagine your voice as the Drill Sarge from full metal jacket?
I've worked in the Network Engineering field for 25 years now, and I have seen a trend of graduates coming out of American Colleges who are frankly unprepared, arrogant, stupid, and think that because they were the "goto guy" to hook up the counterstike Lan party at the frat house means that they can walk like "Netops Jebus" himself into my data center and understand the current architecture and business model of modern networking. Whereas, I get a steady stream of grads from India and these guys often know as much as I do, work hard, are willing to learn, and could give a rats a$$ about stock options...(and they don't call off work because they “partied too hard” the night before.
I call 'em as I see 'em.
The emperor has no clothes, and on top of that, he's a low grade moron.
My work takes me all across this great land and when I see more and more people caring less about culture and more about Indy cars, beer, and fast food and the act of consume, consume, consume, (and oh yeah, lots of porn) it makes me want to hang my head low sometimes..
Try this exercise:
Go up to a random Joe on the street and ask them who the Republican, or Democratic majority leaders are, or even the Secretary of state. Heck, ask them what is the square root of Pi, or who wrote the constitution, or what it even means, or what Bell's theorem is, or who is Pythagoras, or Schrödinger even, or just where the hell Afghanistan or Iraq or China actually are on a map, and after being shocked by the answers, we should discuss just how "great" our educational systems are, and exactly where our "intellectual capital" is.
It certainly isn't on Capitol Hill.
In fact, don't ask a random Joe. Ask a recent college grad, or in some cases, even a college professor!
Most of them haven't a clue.
Why? simple. As a nation, we have become arrogant, fat, lazy, apathetic, and self absorbed. If it doesn’t affect my life directly, and it’s not a reality TV show, most of us just turn the channel. A book? What’s that? Go to the local library at any major metropolitan city. You’ll see three kinds of people there; 1. Homeless using the facilities for BM, 2. Dateless Nerds (The future ruling class) 3. Foriegners (See #2.)
Very few are the whole families these days, and in fact, where I live, they are actually shutting many libraries down due to lack of interest.
For the most part, to sum up, we could care less about world events or history and are generally anti-intellectual. Might makes right, and T.V. is always right.
…And if we are what eat….we are a big fat-laden bag of potato chips.
We celebrate stupidity, and reward and idolize criminals, murderers and those who always seem to "get over." On “the system.”
As long as we have an endless supply of DVDs, Cable T.V. and video games, all is right with the world and F everyone else.
I got mine.
Now go get yours.
Here's another exercise:
Ask someone under 25 what these things mean:
Trustworthiness
Respect
Responsibility
Fairness
Caring
Citizenship
The answers may shock you.
For example, I've been told by many of my fellow Americans to my face that my adherence to the standards of personal honor and ethics are antiquated, unrealistic, unnecessary, immature, and essentially had no place in modern society.
My take on it is; as long as I am alive, honor will exist, at least my perception of it, even if the whole world thinks I've gone mad. Lucky for America, we still have the U.S Marine Corps.
Now, with that all said; my rant on America is after all a generalization, which will always have many exceptions.
But it's the majority that I am concerned with.
Nobody likes to see bad things happening in their county, but there's a reason why we are not thought of too fondly recently throughout the world. We need to take a look at that, and at ourselves.
I'd say priority #1 is...Loose weight.
#2: Is put down the controller and hit the books
And of course, I could be wrong, and all is just peachy keen with America and we have nothing to fear.
But what if I am right?