Macho conservative assholes

[Rageaholic]

*Note: this doesn't apply to all conservatives as I know plenty who would never hurt a fly. Just those who take the hardass view of life*

What I'm talking about are those who hate on liberals for being too "soft" or "wimpy", consider anyone who has a legitiment complaint a "whiner", and considers any human compassion a weakness. These are the people who would mock liberal Christians for believing in a "Mr Rogers god" and think that the only way to parent is to be super strict. Favorite expressions of these people are "get over it" "quit whinning" "that's life" and even go as far as mocking those who they precieve as weaker.

Here's an example of something I found that I thought was bullshit, but demonstrates this mentality.

http://www.parentbooksummaries.com/the-real-world/

Here's some of his fifty rules.

2. The real world won’t care as much as your school does about your self-esteem. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself

7. If you think our teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He won’t have tenre, so he’ll tend to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you FEEL about it.

11. After you graduate, you won’t be competing against rivals who were raised to be wimps on the playground.

21. You’re offended? So what? No, really. So what?

22. You are not a victim. So stop whining.

He's trying to come across as blunt and honest, but all I can think is "What a jerk!". I mean, sure, I agree with some of his rules and people will be jerks, but he's advocating the jerkassery and being one himself. It's no different then something a schoolyard bully would say. I mean, "Wimps on the playground" who says these things?! He's acting like a bully who looks down on those he sees as "weak" as if they deserve it. At least that's what I get from it.

And yes, he's just one example of a jerk who thinks that just because other people will be jerks, he's justified in being one. I haven't read his book so I can't say for sure, but the tone of his "50 rules" sounds very similar to the rhetoric Bill O'reilly and other pundits spew on FOX news.

I know I will probably get some who will disagree or even take offense at my bashing of these far right people. ANd I guess I can't hate anyone for simply agreeing with him, but for those who do agree, remember.

21. You’re offended? So what? No, really. So what?

[DrFaroohk]

Bah, I've seen this crap before. It's more random superficial crap designed to sound like it really holds some important life lesson but is actually just a bunch of empty words. Ooooh it's so shocking! He's got such a realistic view of the world! Ooooh lucky him. Someone who has all the answers to life.

[Ipecac Drano]

I really don't see why this is "macho conservative asshole" rhetoric. I know O'Reilly et al. say some things similar to these, but only on certain things.

Another sampling:

1. Life is not fair. Get used to it.

Yep.

3. Sorry, you won’t make sixty thousand dollars a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a company car. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a designer label.

Not everyone who works their butt off can get there.

4. You are not entitled…

Something that should have been taught to lawbreakers.

32. Television is not real life.

Very important.

Now this doesn't sound "macho conservative asshole":

33. Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

41. You are not the first and you are not the only one who has gone through what you are going through.

Very true.

47. You are not perfect, and you don’t have to be.

49. Don’t forget to say thank you.

50. Enjoy this while you can.

[guywithashovel]

"Macho conservative assholes" typically aren't so macho when one of their sacred cows get milked. In fact, when their sacred cows get milked or squashed, they usually whine and moan just like the liberals do. For example, they listen to Rush Limbaugh's numerous rants that bash the crap out of left-wingers, and they all think that's hilarious. But as soon as some media figure takes a shot at anyone on the right, they'll do a bunch of sniveling and pouting about the alleged "liberal bias" in the media.

As for the list, I've actually seen it before. It's come to my email box a few times in the form of forwards, and each time it's been attributed to a different person. One said that Bill Gates wrote it. Another said it was George Carlin. If this link is right, it was Charles Sykes. And it does have some good advice in it.

[HYHYBT]

On life not being fair: that's no reason it shouldn't be as fair as possible, and certainly no excuse to make it less so.

[Rageaholic]

I never said it was all bad. I agree with some of his rules (30, 33, 41, and 47 especially), but a lot of what he says is condescending tripe. The ones I sampled was just an example of some of the shit I hear from die hard conservatives.

[Rageaholic]

"Macho conservative assholes" typically aren't so macho when one of their sacred cows get milked. In fact, when their sacred cows get milked or squashed, they usually whine and moan just like the liberals do. For example, they listen to Rush Limbaugh's numerous rants that bash the crap out of left-wingers, and they all think that's hilarious. But as soon as some media figure takes a shot at anyone on the right, they'll do a bunch of sniveling and pouting about the alleged "liberal bias" in the media.

As for the list, I've actually seen it before. It's come to my email box a few times in the form of forwards, and each time it's been attributed to a different person. One said that Bill Gates wrote it. Another said it was George Carlin. If this link is right, it was Charles Sykes. And it does have some good advice in it.

Yeah, it's Charles Sykes. I heard the myth that it came from Bill Gates, but that was just an urban legend. A lot of those people can't handle any criticism of their views, even though they look at liberals as wimps. It's even worse when Christians take this view. You know, the ones who are taught to love one another? It gives the good caring Christians a bad name.

On life not being fair: that's no reason it shouldn't be as fair as possible, and certainly no excuse to make it less so.

Exactly. Regardless of whether or not his crapsack world exists, a lot of the unfairness and "harsh reality" he mentions have more to do with people being assholes. Capitalism encourages this unfortunately, but it doesn't mean it *has* to be this way. It can change, but they just don't want it to.

[Boozy]

15. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.

No offense to Mr. Charles Sykes, but our parents and grandparents grew up in a different world than we did.

There is such a thing as a dead-end job (not "opportunities"), there are people with advanced degrees flipping burgers, and it is "beneath them". It is a tragic waste of human potential, and it's a serious economic problem that should be addressed.

We weren't all so lucky to be born into a world experiencing a post-WWII economic boom.

7. If you think our teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He won’t have tenre, so he’ll tend to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you FEEL about it.

So Mr. Sykes assumes that all bosses are douchebags.

Perhaps that says more about his performance as an employee than how people generally behave as supervisors. Some of my bosses have been dicks, sure, but most have been great.

When I'm addressing performance issues with my staff, I absolutely ask about their feelings. That's just good management. You get better productivity treating your employees as total human beings instead of just robots.

[Racket_Man]

I do not really disagree with the "rules" the article puts forth. sorry but for the most part they ARE true.

but I do think he plagerized a lot of George Carlin's material

[telecom_goddess]

I like it! I think they are all right on the money...except this one is kinda weird:
46. Check on the guinea pig in the basement.

But all in all I think they have it. I don't find it macho or anything else, it's realistic.

As for stealing George Carlin lines he had it right too....about coddling the children all the time...FUCK the children They do NOT need to be put on a pedastal to be worshipped like they are these days.

Not everyone does this but it's enough that it's getting sickening.

[Rageaholic]

No offense to Mr. Charles Sykes, but our parents and grandparents grew up in a different world than we did.

There is such a thing as a dead-end job (not "opportunities"), there are people with advanced degrees flipping burgers, and it is "beneath them". It is a tragic waste of human potential, and it's a serious economic problem that should be addressed.

We weren't all so lucky to be born into a world experiencing a post-WWII economic boom.

Hmm, I never thought of it that way. That was one rule I was torn on. On one hand, you got people who look down on those who work "lesser" jobs so I took it to mean that you shouldn't be ashamed of flipping burgers.

On the other hand, conservatives often claim that people can't find jobs because they're too proud and aren't willing to do grunt work. On another forum, some asshole told a woman who was out of work to "suck it up" and look for a job painting mailboxes. Yes, painting mailboxes, because those jobs will pay SO well.

I don't consider fast food below me (at least not for a temp job) and have applied several places (with no luck), but I know others with college degrees who aren't able to find work in their field. Thus, they are stuck at dead end jobs working for jerkass managers. It's a shame because they do have a lot of potential, but there's nothing available.

So Mr. Sykes assumes that all bosses are douchebags.

Perhaps that says more about his performance as an employee than how people generally behave as supervisors. Some of my bosses have been dicks, sure, but most have been great.

When I'm addressing performance issues with my staff, I absolutely ask about their feelings. That's just good management. You get better productivity treating your employees as total human beings instead of just robots.

That's what I heard in one of my business classes. A good manager treats their employees like humans and a bad manager is how Sykes thinks all managers are, jerkasses. Now granted, not all managers are good managers, but that does not mean the bad ones should be the norm. We can progress, and in many ways we are progressing, but Sykes does not want to progress. He just wants us to expect the hardest and not do anything to make it better.

[Ipecac Drano]

If you think our teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He won’t have tenre, so he’ll tend to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you FEEL about it.

I think a lot of people are reading too much into this. It's really not a negative statement.

Most bosses are at-will employees that have no contract and could be fired at any time for any reason. Whatever their subordinates do and however they do it reflects on the boss. Sure, the boss isn't going to ask you how you feel about a screw-up you made; he's going to tell you how to improve and to make sure that you don't do it again. No big deal.

[lordlundar]

Gonna burst your bubble Rage, but this sounds more about you not liking the person as opposed to the rules. The only information I see there is basically saying "You are not a special little snowflake, learn to accept that". I don't see anything there that is synonymous with "macho conservative assholes". I even searched for him to find out his political leanings, and couldn't find anything on it.

[Rageaholic]

I think a lot of people are reading too much into this. It's really not a negative statement.

Most bosses are at-will employees that have no contract and could be fired at any time for any reason. Whatever their subordinates do and however they do it reflects on the boss. Sure, the boss isn't going to ask you how you feel about a screw-up you made; he's going to tell you how to improve and to make sure that you don't do it again. No big deal.

Your mileage may vary, but I took it a bit differently. Like he was implying that a boss will be a much bigger dick than a teacher. It came across as something used to scare kids about the big bad "real world". Of course, he may not have meant it to be as harsh as it came across, and I stand corrected if I'm wrong, but all that means is that's a bad example of a macho conservative asshole.

Gonna burst your bubble Rage, but this sounds more about you not liking the person as opposed to the rules. The only information I see there is basically saying "You are not a special little snowflake, learn to accept that". I don't see anything there that is synonymous with "macho conservative assholes". I even searched for him to find out his political leanings, and couldn't find anything on it.

Of course it's the rules I don't like. It's the only thing I know about the guy. His "rules" sound similar to most conservative self depowering rhetoric. Again, it could be a bad example, and I can easily find better examples of macho conservatives, but as it stands, all this sounds familular.

[Ipecac Drano]

Your mileage may vary, but I took it a bit differently. Like he was implying that a boss will be a much bigger dick than a teacher.

A boss may be more demanding than a teacher, but the author doesn't mean that the boss is going to be unreasonable or unpleasant.

It came across as something used to scare kids about the big bad "real world".

It was meant as such. Some kids think that the world is going to be all fuzzy wuzzy when they get out of school and grow up thinking that the world is going to be handed to them on a platter. I see adults like that everyday.

Of course, he may not have meant it to be as harsh as it came across, and I stand corrected if I'm wrong, but all that means is that's a bad example of a macho conservative asshole.

Those rules could also apply to an "effeminate liberal niceguy", and anyone across the psychogender, political, and mood spectra.

Of course it's the rules I don't like. It's the only thing I know about the guy. His "rules" sound similar to most conservative self depowering rhetoric. Again, it could be a bad example, and I can easily find better examples of macho conservatives, but as it stands, all this sounds familular.

Just because it sounds like something you had heard from conservatives doesn't mean that it is conservative.