what you're saying reminds me of a conversation I had during the 2016 campaign. my "friend upstairs" was talking to a genuine "loser" friend. this guy is a never-remotely-successful "screenwriter" whose major claim to fame is that he's the guy who turned Heath Ledger on to heroin. great work, right? my friend had been trying to tell me t…
what you're saying reminds me of a conversation I had during the 2016 campaign. my "friend upstairs" was talking to a genuine "loser" friend. this guy is a never-remotely-successful "screenwriter" whose major claim to fame is that he's the guy who turned Heath Ledger on to heroin. great work, right? my friend had been trying to tell me that his "very reasonable" guy was having "genuine doubts" about voting for the "that bitch of a corrupt Democrat." I was feeling ornery enough to ask if I could talk to him. so I got on with the schmuck and told him that I had a way of saving us both a lot of time and trouble by asking him one question. the question was "do you consider D***** T**** a viable or even plausible presidential candidate?" his answer was "I think I'll just have to hold my nose and vote for T****." my response was triumphant. "BEAUTIFUL," I said, "thank you SO MUCH. you see?...you just saved me a lot of energy and grief because now I know you're a fucking asshole and I don't have to waste my time on you." I NEVER say that kind of thing, but saying it just felt so GREAT and I figured I'd also gotten a good story in about a half minute.
my upstairs friend thought I behaved very badly. in fact, pretty much everyone to whom I told my "good story" maintained (and continue to maintain) that I was the asshole for being so rude and childish. and some of these people know very well when I am, in fact, being an asshole because they've known me a very long time.
but at no point have I ever agreed with them. good manners are a lovely thing, but in their place.
in 2016, my response to poor George (that's this schmuck's first name) might have seemed a little extreme; it was also a LOT prescient. and, from this vantage point, ridiculously mild.
People were amazed when I cut off friends I had known for years, after they turned up in 2016 with red hats. I went out to Chino that spring to do a presentation at their First Saturday event. When I saw the majority of the crowd was wearing red hats, I turned to the museum staffer in charge of the event and told him he'd need to get a different speaker, because I wasn't going to be there when the event began. As I left, I told him "Don't plan on me returning." I haven't been out there since, and I had been a regular presence out there for 40 years. The fact that after Ed Maloney died in 2015 (founder of the museum), the atmosphere changed for what I consider the worse helped with the decision.
So long as they believe in the Constitution, the rule of law and our constitutional democratic republic, they're golden. The laws of aerodynamics also apply to politics: the eagle can't fly with just one wing.
what you're saying reminds me of a conversation I had during the 2016 campaign. my "friend upstairs" was talking to a genuine "loser" friend. this guy is a never-remotely-successful "screenwriter" whose major claim to fame is that he's the guy who turned Heath Ledger on to heroin. great work, right? my friend had been trying to tell me that his "very reasonable" guy was having "genuine doubts" about voting for the "that bitch of a corrupt Democrat." I was feeling ornery enough to ask if I could talk to him. so I got on with the schmuck and told him that I had a way of saving us both a lot of time and trouble by asking him one question. the question was "do you consider D***** T**** a viable or even plausible presidential candidate?" his answer was "I think I'll just have to hold my nose and vote for T****." my response was triumphant. "BEAUTIFUL," I said, "thank you SO MUCH. you see?...you just saved me a lot of energy and grief because now I know you're a fucking asshole and I don't have to waste my time on you." I NEVER say that kind of thing, but saying it just felt so GREAT and I figured I'd also gotten a good story in about a half minute.
my upstairs friend thought I behaved very badly. in fact, pretty much everyone to whom I told my "good story" maintained (and continue to maintain) that I was the asshole for being so rude and childish. and some of these people know very well when I am, in fact, being an asshole because they've known me a very long time.
but at no point have I ever agreed with them. good manners are a lovely thing, but in their place.
in 2016, my response to poor George (that's this schmuck's first name) might have seemed a little extreme; it was also a LOT prescient. and, from this vantage point, ridiculously mild.
People were amazed when I cut off friends I had known for years, after they turned up in 2016 with red hats. I went out to Chino that spring to do a presentation at their First Saturday event. When I saw the majority of the crowd was wearing red hats, I turned to the museum staffer in charge of the event and told him he'd need to get a different speaker, because I wasn't going to be there when the event began. As I left, I told him "Don't plan on me returning." I haven't been out there since, and I had been a regular presence out there for 40 years. The fact that after Ed Maloney died in 2015 (founder of the museum), the atmosphere changed for what I consider the worse helped with the decision.
So long as they believe in the Constitution, the rule of law and our constitutional democratic republic, they're golden. The laws of aerodynamics also apply to politics: the eagle can't fly with just one wing.