I will still finish my editorial on the state of education on Wednesday.  Just consider this a bonus rant because I was in a pissy mood.

11-22-04

Jackasses

At one o'clock this morning, I—being unable to sleep—realized that I still had a DVD that was due back at Blockbuster©™^{RamaLamaDingDong} before noon tomorrow.  Doubting my ability to do so in the morning, I decided to go ahead and take it in tonight.  On my way there, I pulled up to a stop light.  Now, when I say stop light, I don't mean some rural flasher marking the junction of Main Street and US 223, I mean a fully-functional, multi-synchronized control light for a freeway interchange.  People approach this light decellerating from upwards of 50 miles an hour (yeah right, like anyone in Texas would be caught dead doing less that 70 on a feeder road, but I digress).  I stopped at the light.  A few seconds later, somebody else also stopped at the light, next to me.  A few more seconds, and they went ahead and pulled across the intersection right under the still-blazing-red light.
          Now, on any other day, I probably would have said, "hunh, what a jackass."  (I said it today, too.)  But, because it was today, and because I'd already been beleagured by the idiot shopper who paid no attention to anyone anywhere and pushed her cart in a fashion that would have killed the entire population of Erie, PA, had it been a car, AND the irritating person who entered the express lane with well over (the very generous limit of) 20 items, then proceeded to argue with the clerk on every item then had to fish through her 700 badly-organized coupons to find the three valid ones that might save her maybe 26 cents (did I mention this was the express lane), so jackass number three kinda got me going, and you get to reap the benefit of his assitude.
          Because we have become a nation of jackasses.  Hypocritical ones, a lot of the time.  A local "acitivist" has spent a lot of time and a lot of court money challenging his arrest for failing to pull over and surrender the fugitive he had riding with him.  The upshot of this was that a jury found him guilty of the misdemeanor charge of failing to pull over for an emergency services vehicle (he had also been charged with a more serious felony charge that sounded like—but wasn't—aiding and abetting a fugitive, but had been found not-guilty due to a deal he had with the DA which I still don't fully understand).  He's appealing it.  A misdemeanor traffic charge.  He's taking a ticket, a ticket that he richly deserves, to the state court of appeals.  Because he was "delivering the fugitive" and when he saw lights in his rear-view mirror, he didn't pull over.
          Do you see the similarity in these four cases studies?  In all of them, the people indulging in jackass behavior decided, on some level, that the laws and the rules don't apply to them.  In the case of the activist, it was the basis of his defense.
          It's a huge problem.  It crosses all social boundaries.  No one race, age group, gender or politcal party can lay claim to the lion's share of jackasses.  Because to be a true jackass, it's not enough to violate the rules.  It's easy to violate a rule or a law, you just have to let your brain run in neutral for long enough and odds are you'll do something stupid.  To be a true jackass, you must violate the law, then, when you're caught or called on it, spend hours upon hours justifying why that particular law didn't apply to you, why you had a good reason to break the rule.  Why you shouldn't take your lumps and pay your fines like the rest of us.
          Well, here's a newsflash for all those to whom the last two sentences apply (not that I expect you to recognize it if they do, but hope springs eternal, no?):  You ain't that special.  Stop for the red light and stay stopped until it turns green, pull over for the flashing lights, Take your grocery cart full of crap to the regular lane, just like the rest of us.  If you can't manage that, at least suck it up and take your lumps; don't waste my time explaining why you had to do something rude, illegal, or moronic.  I don't care.

Just stop being a jackass.