How Cool!

Finally, an op-ed piece that hits the nail on the head. (Well, actually, Sowell and a couple others always seem to hit it on the head..., but there aren't many who do.)

We reward mediocrity, incompetence, and even failure--in everything we do. Halls of fame, all-everything, blank-of-the-year awards, grades, you name it. It makes me want to vomit! Seriously, unless of course you think people who get these awards really deserve them--then, we cannot have a discussion because we are living in parallel, but different universes--how many of recent people you know who got these awards came close to deserving them? Obviously, I think not many, not many at all. It used to be one had to actually accomplish things to get accolades. No longer, not since the schools thought "self-esteem" is more important that reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. The cost is beyond laughable. Some people might actually deserve to be a blank-of-the-year, in some hall of fame, be all-everything...but, with a name plaque next to all of these bozos, who can tell? If the ones we know in there are bozos, what about the ones we don't know? What is it they say about "guilt" by association? (I have a couple stories to tell about that, but I won't. I have, in the past, told them--likely when I was loaded--and have had people look at me like I was looney tunes, which I am, but not for this reason. Let's leave it at I didn't want to be identified with other teachers.) I remember seeing a plaque in a school bldg with the names of the teachers-of-the-year by year. I roared, getting some weird looks, when I saw that all the teachers won the award and then it just started over again, with the same teachers getting the award a second time.... I heard of someone I know getting an honor quite a while ago and was astounded; my first thought was "why?" Nobody could explain it to me, other than I was stupid for questioning such a proper honor. That's what this entails, as Gus noted, don't question or ask, which risks being called names.

Look at what we do. We penalize or ignore people who actually accomplish things. This includes even the mundane, like working, paying bills, etc. What does gov't do to those who work harder or longer? Well, it punishes them by stealing their money. (And what is it when someone takes money without the permission of the owner of that money? Oh, c'mon Ron! OK, how many of you would voluntarily pay taxes, if you didn't have to? What if your boss came up to you and said, "Hey, there's a change. You can get all of your pay from now on or we can take withholding taxes out, like usual?" I know what you'd say and so do you. So, are taxes "stealing?") In encourages bad behavior and discourages good behavior. It rewards the worst of us by penalizing the best of us.

And who allowed theis Donna Brazile woman to be a columnist in the newspaper? The OP must have her as the token liberal--not that many of its conservative columnists are any better. How did she get her job? Doubt me? Read some of her gibberish. Among other things, see above for what is wrong with her. Oh, but I know what some will say about my criticism...because some things can't be criticized or even discussed. Sort of like "diversity" in the schools--go ahead, talk to the "diversity" gurus in the schools and see for yourself how shallow and ignorant they are by asking a few questions and getting, not dialogue or reasoned answers, but looks like you are a Neanderthal. That, my friends, is what passes for "dialogue" in our bastions of education today.

OK, out to get a soda!