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New Law
I thought the fishing scene was easily the funniest on the whole show. It was a perfect rendering of the classic comedy routine whereby Subject A verbally badgers (either by repeating the obvious or rambling all over the place) Subject B, while Subject B is attempting to perform some extremely complicated task. For all you W.C. Field fans, I need only repeat, ?Get the gun, Ambrose! Get the gun!?
In my opinion, Kyle showed the remarkable restraint that is both the great virtue and burden of youth. Any old codger, like me for example, would have been unable to resist using words far more colorful than ?sshh? and I believe that Vickie, being an old codger as well, would have laughed accordingly. Saying ?sshh? to someone is just a fraction above the highly offensive phrase, ?I beg of you, please, let us kindly have a moment of silence for this poor suffering fish.?
There is a classic Chinese saying: ?Respectful demeanor does not equal obedience? (it sounds more impressive in Chinese). While it is generally misused as a means of getting people to follow orders, the essence of it should really be understood as ?Respectful demeanor does not equal sincerity of respect.? Just because we don?t often ?look? the part (conventionally speaking, that is), doesn?t mean we are any less respectful or anything else.
Anyway, on the subject of facial expressions, I think it is wise to use them freely.
In my opinion, Kyle showed the remarkable restraint that is both the great virtue and burden of youth. Any old codger, like me for example, would have been unable to resist using words far more colorful than ?sshh? and I believe that Vickie, being an old codger as well, would have laughed accordingly. Saying ?sshh? to someone is just a fraction above the highly offensive phrase, ?I beg of you, please, let us kindly have a moment of silence for this poor suffering fish.?
There is a classic Chinese saying: ?Respectful demeanor does not equal obedience? (it sounds more impressive in Chinese). While it is generally misused as a means of getting people to follow orders, the essence of it should really be understood as ?Respectful demeanor does not equal sincerity of respect.? Just because we don?t often ?look? the part (conventionally speaking, that is), doesn?t mean we are any less respectful or anything else.
Anyway, on the subject of facial expressions, I think it is wise to use them freely.
Comments
I do not know if I could pick just one, so some things I would change:
*Higher education would be free to anyone who wanted to learn
*I would outlaw factory farms and bring back the family farms
*I would create a policy that would ensure each child in school learns to defend themselves properly (martial arts, etc)
*I would lower the voting age to 15
*I would abolish a President/Prime Minister position and create a council instead of elected officials.
*I would make it necessary to have a certain amount of parkspace/treed lot per city block.
Nothing in this world is free. Would you enter your neighbor's house with a gun and force him to give you his hard eared money to pay for your kid's education? No? Why would you ask government to do the same?
More people would starve
We don't put 15 year olds behind the wheel of cars for good reason and you would give them the power of a vote? ha!
Who would you put in this council? Marx? Lenin? Chairman Mao?
I sure am glad you're not in charge. :roll:
You're talking laws, right? You do realize America already has these laws, right? That's why some people term them "illegal" immigrants.
Call me crazy, but I don't see "legal" Americans lining up to pick crops and live in shacks for next-to-nothing wages voluntarily. Passing laws does attempts to fix the symptoms, but will still be as ineffective as the current laws if the root cause is allowed to flourish unchecked.
The first law put into affect for my new country is everyone's rights are the same and don't infringe on anyone's rights.
As for the voting law, Ron I am completely offended. Why is it so "funny" for allowing 15 year olds and older vote? Do they not have a say on how their futures are determined goverment wise? These 15 year olds are the next generation that are going to be the future of America, we need to get it through now at younger ages that their voices matter and are important. I am 19 years old, and finally got to vote this year, and was quite involved and interested in the whole voting semantics. I think if we got more teens involved in the voting process, our world would improve and become a better place. I cannot say I totally agree with the council thing, although then, there would be more aspects and opinions being brought in to make tougher decisions, for example the war on teror, but it could get quite complex and tricky. Finally as for the parkspace I think that is actually a great idea. We are urbanizing everything and pretty soon everything is going to be city. If we dont put into check what we are doing now, the future generations are not going to have a future.
If college were free, how would the teachers get paid? Would you force them to teach without pay like a slave? Or by free do you mean someone else should be forced to pay for your education?
The greatest thing about higher education in this country is the fact that anyone can get an education if they are really determined and motivated. Some of the most successful people in America got their education by working for it. They would work two jobs, save thier money, go to night school, etc. It may have taken them a little longer to get a degree, but they appreciate it all the more because they truly earned it.
So, Friendlyvisitor, would you gain more satisfaction going through life with your hand out or with your hand up, reaching for the next rung?
As for 15 year olds voting, there's a reason why they still live at home. They need guidance from their parents. There's a reason why they're in school. They're still learning how to think for themselves. (unfortunatly when it comes to political matters, some teachers would rather indoctrinate their students with their own personal agendas) That's why it is the responsibility of adults to make sure that the next generation has a future. Why? Because it's in our best interest.
Surely you must agree that you have much greater reasoning power now than you had four years ago. You make clearer decisions now than at 15. You think about things a little bit deeper, you take things a little more seriously now than at 15. Am I right? ( I know this because I used to be 19 and I also used to be 15 ... good times, good times 8) )
There is no doubt that as you grow, the way you think changes. That's the nature of things. You will someday, as I have, think back to something you did in your youth and think, "how could I have been so stupid?" Then realize that it wasn't being stupid, it was just the nature of being young. For as the proverb goes, "foolishness is tied up in the heart of a boy"
Sorry that you were offended by my earlier comments. they weren't meant to be offensive. You might think I'm anti-youth or something but, i'm not. I just have a lot of experience with 15 year olds when I worked as a youth counselor.
As for the issue of open space. Time for a road trip dude! Take a drive from coast to coast and you will see that there is so so much open space in this country. It would take thousands of years to use up all the open space.
I've lived in medium sized cities, suburbia, small towns, and the big city. New York was exciting for the first couple of years. All that culture! Hanging out with artists, poets, film makers, actors and musicians. But after a while dealing with the crap got to me. So now I have my little acre out side a really small town and I enjoy all the wide open spaces.