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Advocate for Majority Rights
Since politics didn't seem to get a rise out of anyone (except for a Hillary supporter) I'll try a different route.
I've decided to become a Majority Rights Activist. I haven't determined exactly what this means yet, but thought maybe some of the other canteen soldiers would be interested molding the definition. Basically, it's standing up for the shrinking rights of the emasculated majority. This has nothing to do with race, sex, or age, the typical things one thinks of when minority rights are considered, but rather just simply calling foul on the ridiculousness that occurs every day in our society. A few examples to better illustrate my point are as follows:
Our city is trying to pass a new development code which includes a clause that all multi-family residential and commercial buildings are required to provide for both long term, and short term, bicycle parking. This includes a specific type of rack, and an enclosed, lockable space for the long term parking. Since when did the majority of our streets have adequate bike lanes, and since when did even a small fraction of our population commute by bicycle? Last I checked, bicycles are not considered vehicles, at least not by the tax assesors. Currently, places are not required to have a certain number of motorcycle parking spaces - which is a far more common means of transportation. What happens if I decide to skateboard to work one day, must my employer provide a designated spot to store my board as well. This is ridiculous.
To date, my office has recieved 38 "Christmas" cards, yet only 8 of them actually say "Christmas". The rest are the typical watered down Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, Happy New Year, or any number of other PC phrases. This is an argument that I won't bore you with the merits of because we've all heard it before, and everyone seems to agree with it - yet still only 18% of the Christmas cards sent have the courage to mention Christ. True, not everyone is a Christian, or believes in the true meaning of Christmas, and to them I say, "have the guts to admit that you don't believe by simply not celebrating."
Ameristar Casino, and many others, offers hourly childcare. Yes, hourly childcare at a casino. Amazingly, these services are offered under the innocent guise of family friendly, educational opportunites, just like your typical Small World Montessori. But let's call this what it is, a spot for neglectful parents to drop their kids off while they gamble away their paycheck. I don't think any of its patrons will be winning the Parent of the Year Award anytime soon. Someone has made a fortune off this concept - theses particular facilities are located in casino's across the country, and amazing only in casinos. This is ridiculous and crazy. They would probably claim that they're providing a safe venue for these children that might otherwise be left in inadequate conditions, but I say they are enticements to weak minded parents.
The above are just a small sampling of the different types of issues that a Majority Rights Activist could embrace and challenge. Really, it's just asking "says who?" when something silly arises, relying on old fashioned common sense, and determining between right and wrong as God defined for us.
Ironically, I googled majority rights activists and got nothing related, but found all sorts of things when I changed to minority.
Just think, the Canteen Soldiers could be pioneers in a whole new movement. This just may be our ticket to success! I call dibs on the patent and trademark for the concept and name.
5 comments:
Good post Sarge. Funny you bring this up because I was just commenting to a colleague the other day about how the kooks and crazies run our political system and they seem to be quite entrenched.
I'm am afraid you're fighting an up-hill battle here. The majority is apathetic. They (We) have gladly handed over those rights because keeping things in check cuts into our Thursday night television schedule. The majority walks around hoping "someone" will step up and do what is right.
The traffic laws in all 50 states consider bicycles to be vehicles. They've been used on the roads longer than motor vehicles have. They're coming back into use as people seek non-fuel alternatives for the short runs that in recent years have comprised a quarter or more of all motor trips. It's good public policy and good public health to encourage bicycle use.
I don't know about you guys but whenever I see a bicyclist riding halfway onto the street I just wanna run his ass over! Use the fuckin sidewalk hippie, I need that room for my oversized, gas guzzling SUV! What a stupid idea to ride a bike down the street, haven't these people seen the idiots driving around talking on their cell phone paying no attention to where they're going! Sooner or later these clowns on their bike might learn their lesson and use the sidewalk, its a lot safer, I guarantee that!
Bronco - precisely why a Majority Rights Activist is needed. Each of these types of issues are raised by a feverent minority interest group that won't quit yapping until somebody just gives in because it's no longer worth the fight.
jhop - thanks for joining the discussion, and you're absolutely right - it is good to ENCOURAGE bicycle use and public health, but driving up the cost of workforce housing, and development in general, by REQUIRING parking and storage solutions for a miniscule portion of the population is not good for anybody.
P.S. - Horses pre-date cars too, and it would be equally ridiculous to bring back those wooden rails to wrap our reigns over.
Steel - I see the MRA (Majority Rights) group has it's P.R. man!
I always thought Jesus i.e. God incarnate was concerned primarily with those outside the mainstream of society - minorities as it were. I'm all for sensible solutions but the "majority" is most likely "apathetic" because, well, things aren't so bad for us.
Rest assured when things start getting a little more precarious the majority (the top 20% or so) will start getting a little more motivated (to put it lightly). We always do.
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