Would it piss off anti-abortion activists if you named your child “Choice?”
Aug
26
This is something that was brought to my attention, in passing, as a subject of discussion on Bullshido.
To preface this, Kyle Maynard probably doesn’t describe himself as a hero. And for what he’s accomplished, Kyle Maynard could even be considered somewhat badass.
Here’s what I posted, slightly adjusted for audience.
There’s two sides to this story for any logical, rational person:
1. Guy with a ton of physical handicaps busts his ass to be good at something. Cool!
2. Guy with a ton of physical handicaps that prevent him from fully participating in a sport feels he’s owed the right to exploit the rules, drag down the sport (literally and figuratively), and get a disproportionately large pat on the back for not just resigning himself to being a punchline for jokes that end with “Phil”, and “Matt”. Not Cool.
IMO it’s a product of our fucking Oprah-ized, spoiled suburban culture that everyone now expects a pat on the back for busting their ass to achieve something or overcome obstacles. It’s like nobody recognizes that that’s the @#(#ing point of life, and everyone has their own challenges to face. You’re not a !@)$ing hero for doing the best with what you’ve got, you’re a human being.
Kyle Maynard grappling Have our standards sunk so low? Do people really need to be told they’re heroes for doing their best at something? For going to work 5 days a week? For getting up in the morning?
Jesus *^_!ing christ. Don’t crap on real heroes like that. Kyle’s an awesome guy, but he has his limits. Trying to bring people down to the same level because of your own limitations is an asshole move in any context.
The word “hero” these days has no meaning. This is the phenomenon that describes Jessica Lynch as a “hero” for doing little more than getting captured.
A hero is someone who does something well beyond the exceptional. They’re someone society is supposed to be able to point to as an example of what we all should be in a perfect set of circumstances.
Don’t the types of people who push this “everyone’s a unique and beautiful snowflake” crap get the fact that everyone, by the very definition of the word, cannot be special?
Very few people have the character traits and strength of will to be heroes, and that’s a good thing. We need heroes who sacrifice themselves for just causes, we also need the plain-old-people who wake up every morning, go to work, come home, and repeat the cycle until they’re dead. Because without these people whose lives are the rule, we wouldn’t be able to distinguish those who are truly the exception.
Want to know what a real hero is? read this.
Aug
11
Or is this design pretty lame? Not talking about my head there, that’s awesome. But the overall theme is just a little too “Macintosh” for me I guess.
I don’t consider myself to be a member of the “iGeneration”, even though I’ve got an iPod. I’ve never danced in silhouette while wearing it though.
I’m a fairly independent person, so I guess I should dig the whole “i” thing (as opposed to the “you” thing). An iPod means iDon’t-have-to-acknowledge-you when i’Mwearing-it-in-public. It means i’M-minding-my-own-business-and-you-should-too. I’m a big fan of that
Anyway. I’m going to go shoot my new iGun today. At least, it’s about as close to an iGun as would be if those hippies at Apple ever decided to get into the firearms industry. “Kill Different” has a nice ring to it.
Shown here with tactical torch for lulz.
Might get video of shooting it, as requested by someone on my forums. Will see how that goes. Need to run to WalMart to get cheap ammo first though.
You know, the concept of an iGun isn’t all that crazy if you think about it. They could put an MP3 player in your gun and make a set of headphones that double as hearing protection and maybe some built in “Shoot to the Music” games so you can rock out and enjoy your second amendment rights at the same time.
Heck, if it weren’t for brandishing laws, you’d even be able to take it with you on the subway or bus to work if you’re in an urban area not controlled by politicians who think you’re too stupid to be responsible with your own protection.
iGun… yeah, I like that.
Aug
3
Most people who know me understand I don’t seriously consider myself to be some kind of hardass. In fact, I generally go out of my way to communicate to everyone else on Planet Earth how much of a giant goober I really am.
But I couldn’t resist decorating my rash guard with blood from Wednesday’s morning Jiu-jitsu class.
If you’ve been under a rock, or just out of touch with me, you probably didn’t know that about a month ago I stepped into the cage at a local show for a friendly ass kicking contest.
I lost.
Hell, here’s the video.
Anyway, even after a month if my schnoz takes a good bump, it erupts in a blood volcano. Rolling on Wednesday with one of the younger guys in class, I banged my honker into the side of his head and my face started leaking.
Art? Parody? A textile statement about the interplay between ever fading youth and the futile pursuit of immortality? An excuse to be pretentious?
Who knows. It made me chuckle so that’s all that matters.
