January 31, 2005

PUBLIC YAPPITY-YAPPERS

Blogson Jeff of Au Fait is defending the honor of cell-phone users who yammer away in public:

As long as the volume level of their voice is reasonable, what's the beef? [...] If a close friend and I ride that same metro-rail, isn't it reasonable and expected that we will carry on a conversation while riding? With a cell phone, it should be even LESS bothersome, as you are only having to put up with one half of the talking.

That sounds reasonable on the face of it, but I'm having a hard time with this one. I don't like cell-phone talkers, but I'm not sure why.

I guess it's because I've always thought of phone conversations as private things that ought not be done in public. For example, if you're at your home entertaining guests, and you MUST take a call, you take the phone into a quiet area away from other people.

Public phone talkers just seem like public masturbators. They don't care who's around, they're just indulging their own pleasure because they can.

Frankly, I resent this verbal exhibitionism. My momma raised me to be polite. If I'm in an area where someone's having a conversation that I'm not involved in, I feel socially obligated to at least pretend I'm not listening in, no matter how audible their blah-blah-blah-ing. Public phoners impose on me by forcing me into applying my manners, all because they're too self-indulgent to either

A) Wait until later (like in the privacy of their car) to make that call,

OR

B) Find a quiet corner of the building, hang out there, do the talking & THEN re-join society, instead of standing in line next to me, jabbering away, and expecting me to pretend that I can't hear a single word they're shouting.

Finally, what about the person on the other end of the call? Do they have any idea how big an audience they're performing for? Would they continue to blather away without inhibition if they knew?

In short, people who use cell phones in crowded public areas for non-emergency purposes are self-absorbed twerps who desperately need a good whack on the nose with a rolled up Miss Manners newspaper column.

EPILOGUE: Yes, I know this is probably just me being a technophobic old coot who just hasn't adjusted to a new social norm and still owns a turntable so he can play his 78's. So if you can direct me to some etiquette guide wherein the norms of proper cell-phone usage are laid out, I will defer to its pronouncement.

UPDATE: Blogdaughter Teresa of Technicalities supports my contention that some people simply have no shame (or sense) when it comes to their public cell-phone conversations.

Posted by: Harvey at 08:45 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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January 25, 2005

I KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS

Lynn of Reflections in D Minor takes a chance and makes an honest, yet un-PC statement:

This might sound weird and it might even be offensive, in fact I'm sure it is because you can't say anything without offending someone but I like Black people. Yes I notice the differences and I like them. I like their voices. I like their eyes. I like proud, dignified Black men like James Earl Jones and Sidney Poitier. I like old-fashioned, motherly Black women; there's something about them that's so... I don't know... warm. But I'm not saying that all Black people ought to be like that anymore than I'd say all White men ought to be like... oh... Patrick Stewart, for example. I'm just saying, these people, those particular qualities, appeal to me.

I've had that experience myself.

Thanks to the US Navy, I had the opportunity to meet lots of people with better tans than me.

Technically, this includes everyone except Canadian red-heads, but that's beside the point.

And that point is... that when you're charmed by someone's personality, their noticable physical features become attractive by association, even if that feature is not, in and of itself, necessarily attractive.

For example, Beloved Wife has a mole on her... well, she has one. Madonna has one, too, but I think she's a total skank, so I don't find it attractive. I do, however, cherish Beloved Wife's.

Halle Berry has a body shape that would look good in ANY color of the rainbow, but because of that figure, her skin tone becomes pleasurable by association.

In 1990, I lived in low-income housing in Virginia (the Enterprise was in drydock and uninhabitable, so the Navy stuffed us wherever they could find room), and most of my neighbors were black. Most of them also had the "low-income mentality" and were 2nd or 3rd generation single welfare mothers. I did NOT find their skin color attractive. However, there was one young lady named Tammy, who had attitude and ambition, and you could just TELL she was going on to a brighter future. On her, that color looked gorgeous.

So I'm agreeing with Lynn. When it's on a person of class & dignity, ebony skin is a feature, not a bug.

Posted by: Harvey at 11:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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January 05, 2005

POSTING JONES

Dean of Blue Glow Worm left a comment on my post about not posting that gave me pause for thought:

Over the course of time I have more topics than I have time. So I create drafts of thoughts and ideas and save them for later work and hopefully posting.

I understand what he's saying. I *do* keep a "blog fodder" folder of possible items just in case it's a slow day in the 'sphere. However, when I write, it's usually with a VERY strong sense of urgency-to-publish. When I come up with a post, it's because Bosco the idea-lemur has got my head in his furry little hands and is shaking vigorously. And although I've been known to crib a post for a day or two, the shaking doesn't really stop until after I hit "publish". Only then does Bosco release his grip and go back to picking fleas off the horse-dog.

In real terms, this means that the same urge that makes me NEED to write IMMEDIATELY also makes me NEED to publish immediately so I can start getting reactions - people leaving smilies, linking me, or just telling me how devilishly wise and clever I am.

I think part of it is the hyperaccelerated news-cycle in the 'sphere. Topics are nearly dead within hours of taking their first breath. Trendy to trite before the earth makes it's 24th axial click.

Short version - I need to blog about it before Instapundit opens his virtual yap and ruins it for all of us.

Ok, that's a lie.

The REAL short version is that, if I think one of my post ideas is good enough to write in the first place, I want some social validation immediately. Because - until the post goes live - I'm just telling jokes to an empty room, thinking about all the laughs that it'll get, but only hearing them in my head, much like a lunatic in a padded room or Michael Moore anywhere.

So I tend not to hold stuff in reserve. If you see a lot of posts in one day, it's because I wrote a lot of posts in one day.

And what about you, dear readers? Are you write-post-write-post, or do you stash stuff for Bealy days?

Posted by: Harvey at 10:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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