“He must have felt as though he had butted out a cigarette on his own soul.”
From Chris Jones’s beautiful take down of a fellow whose inner dickweed was recently unleashed by the Internet.
Rufus F.
Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).
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That is a good line and it’s quite sad the kinds of things people will say or do to get some fame.Report
@Sallad, Yeah, I’m at a loss as to what the motivation could be for posting things like that. Even if he wants attention, now he’s officially that dude who made fun of someone for having advanced-stage cancer because he disagreed with their take on a totally trivial news item.Report
@Rufus F.,
American kids being punished fro wearing an American flag and showing some pride is hardly a “trivial” issue. It shows just how far gone this country truly is.Report
@Scott,
Yeah that is the whole of the issue.
Certainly not a coordinated wardrobe designed to insult a large segment of the student population on a holiday that recognizes their heritage.
Wearing those flags as a group on that day is like wearing the confederate flag on MLK day, especially in the current context.
But is ok, being disruptive and insulting is what going to school is for.Report
@ThatPirateGuy,
Comparing the two is pathetic. I didn’t realize that showing pride in your country was now as culturally offensive as wearing the confederate flag. I guess the liberals finally won the culture wars.Report
@Scott,
It isn’t the flag by itself. It is the flag on that day in a group with the intention of pissing on Hispanic people and their culture.
Want to wear an american flag try may 6th of may 4th.Report
@ThatPirateGuy,
Their culture of hispanic-americaness in which cinco de mayo is an american holiday not widely celebrated in mexico. It is holding a no-irsh need apply sign at a st. patricks day parade.Report
A better analogy might be re-enacting Sherman’s march to the sea on Confederate Memorial Day. Yes, it’s a good thing that the Union won, but that’s not the best time to celebrate it.Report
@Scott, Do you seriously believe that some small town principal going too far in punishing a handful of kids is really a critical measurement of the soul of the nation? Or that disagreeing about that particular issue is grounds for, you know, making fun of someone for losing his jaw to cancer? That was sort of my point there. I think it’s an inappropriate response to disagreeing with Ebert. But, no, I still fail to see “how far gone” America is because of this particular news item. Sorry. When I’m in the US, I see flags everywhere. I think the country’s still pretty healthy.Report
@Rufus,
Morgan Hill CA is not a small hick town. It is a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. Do you really think that if school was in session on the 4th of July that Hispanic students wearing a Mexican flag would be threatened in the same way? I doubt it because that would be labeled racialy intolerant and not politically correct.Report
I’ve never heard of that guy before, it’s not obvious to me that he wanted attention, though that’s certainly plausible. But, people use Twitter accounts all the time without trying to become famous for them.
I’m more dismayed at Ebert. You would think he has better things to do than criticize Tea Partiers. But I think part of the issue is the difference between real life and the movies. Movie critics are supposed to suppose to have, if not exactly the last word, something close to it. But in real life, it’s actors, directors and producers who run the show.Report
@Koz, Right, but most of us probably have better things that we could be doing than arguing about politics on the Internet- if that ever stopped any of the rest of us, the blogosphere would come to a grinding halt!Report
I have much more urgent and important things to do than argue about politics on the Internet — why do you think I’m here, if not to avoid them?Report
Is this so different from mimicking a Parkinson’s Disease sufferer? The punishment for that is to be immensely rich and powerful.Report
@Mike Schilling, I’m not defending any dickweeds really. It seems to be a real flaw of the media- including the blogosphere- that saying or doing something obnoxious creates “buzz” and that gets rewarded to some extent. The only real exception I can think of is, surprisingly, Hollywood, where the financiers can refuse to bankroll any film with a star who has behaved too obnoxiously because of the insurance rates. But, there’s seemingly no drawback to being a dick online, although, of course, it’s not like fame and fortune await you in you new blogging career either! And I’ve certainly read blogs that became too painful to follow after a while because they were trying so hard to both be team players and be as shocking as possible to boost the page views.Report