Wednesday's Whys #2

Every once in a while, I have a post on Wednesdays called the "Wednesday's Whys". No this is not some meme floating around blogland (that I am aware of); it is something I made up and did one time before. Things get into my head and I can't find a GOOD reason for it so I simply ask "why". A lot, but not all of todays questions have to do with driving.

1. Why do people insist on going slow in the right lane on the highway? Is it that they don't know it is wrong, or do they simply not care?

2. Why is that people from rural counties do not enter into the intersection to turn left when the light turns green? They sit back like it is still red till the opposing traffic clears to turn and then everyone behind them has to wait for the next light? Are these the same people that cruise slowly in the left lane?

3. Why do some people (maybe the same ones mentioned above) stop TWICE at a 4-way stop? If they have to stop twice, they stopped in the wrong place the first time!

4. Why, if the Bush Administration claims the right move is to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq, is their best wartime buddy Great Britain calling their troops home? I mean, if the British troops are no longer needed where they are, move them where they are needed.

5. While I am on the war in Iraq, why is it that if one thinks the war has gone on long enough, he is accused of not supporting the troops? I can't think of anything MORE supportive than wanting them to keep out of harm's way.

6. Why is it that Chief Illiniwek (the University of Illinois' mascot) has to die? Tonight is the last time the Chief will appear at a U of I game because the school has finally bent from the pressure they are getting from the NCAA. I get it that 'some' mascots are offensive to certain groups. The stupid-looking cartoon indian that makes up the logo of the Cleveland Indians' baseball team could be offensive to some native-Americans. However, the Chief is not a mocking caricature. It is probably the most revered of all "mascots" that I have ever seen. The person playing the chief takes it seriously and is very much respected during his time in the spotlight. On top of that, the Illini indian tribe has been extinct for many years (hundreds of years I think), so who is it that is offended? I wonder WHY no one from Dublin is all up in arms over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? I think it is because they are proud of it.

I am all for avoiding things that people find offensive, but this pc-craze is getting pretty tired. From time to time, some things are obviously offensive and they need to change. However, let those that are offended say so. I don't need a white, slick-haired nerd in a suit to be the pc police and dictate what we can and cannot say or do. I am offended by the extreme insistence that terms and traditions have to change, but evidently no one cares about offending me. Maybe it is because I am not extinct. One day I, and those of my ilk, will be.









4 comments:

Sayre said...

They tried to do away with our mascot at FSU as well. Chief Osceola and his horse Renegade open ALL the home games. But in a surprising turn of events, the Seminole Tribe actually voiced their approval of our mascot. When the very people that the PC move is supposed to protect step forward and say it's ridiculous - well, Chief Osceola lives on.

My big "wonder why" is kind of gross.... Why is it that the carriers in the pneumatic tubes at the bank all smell like someone vomited in them? Is that what money REALLY smells like?

Anonymous said...

having come of a "certain age".. I find myself wondering why the elderly in America aren't afforded more affordable medical care? Why must medical care for the elderly even cost them anything?

These thought are not really "picking on a specific group" and leaving out others.. for sooner or later we all become one of the "elderly"

Anonymous said...

I don't know why U of I would kill off their mascot -- especially under pressure from the NCAA.

Suppose it has to do with the relentlessness of ethinic groups (and sometimes individuals) in this country getting their panties in a wad over misrepresentations and wanting our culture to be more PC.

Jeff said...

Sayre: If they force one school to abandon their mascot like that, they should force all of those kind of mascots out (but they shouldn't make ANY). I think that the Seminoles not being offended should be a message there.

DesLily: I cannot agree with you more. Healthcare is not a luxury nor should it be in ANY country, much less in perhaps the most prosperous one on the planet. Universal healthcare is coming and it is an archaic notion that it isn't here yet.

Rodger: I agree. I think the PC thing is just a hobby for some. And when you can draw a paycheck from a hobby, you got it pretty good. I am still waiting to get paid for writing. ;)