Things I Don’t Get

I don’t get how people who don’t happen to be rich think “supply-side” economics is a good idea. Or any sort of dogmatic economics for that matter. The only thing that works is maintaining a balanced budget (or some semblance thereof). Stop trying these economic and accounting tricks that just don’t work.

I don’t get why there isn’t a frisket film on the market that doesn’t leave an adhesive residue. It’s an airbrush thing.

I REALLY don’t get how G.W. Bush got elected a second time. Sad to say my fellow Americans, but I guess we deserve what we got. I know Kerry wasn’t exactly the most electrifying bulb on the string (not my first pick either), but really…y’all should have known better.

I don’t get why it seems the more feminine among us sometimes (but consistently) get all huffy and black-and-white things when disagreed with. Just because I want to have the garage door open when I’m in the garage working doesn’t mean that we should just keep the entire house unlocked all the time because clearly I don’t care about our safety.

I don’t get how the young today are getting so much taller. I’ve seen what they eat…it can’t be from nutrition. They certainly aren’t exercising more. It’s freaky.

I don’t get why people keep Tom on their Top Friends list on MySpace. Really? He’s one of your closest friends? Last I checked he has listed 230,006,051 friends. You must be VERY special. Personally, I don’t know the dude and removed him from my friends list almost immediately. I figured if I wanted to get in touch, I wouldn’t have to look too hard.

I don’t get why so many producers have to ruin creative projects. Are their egos really so fragile that they have to piss on a work so they like the scent better?

I don’t get why people resort to violence for trivial things. Food, water, shelter…you know all the trying to stay alive stuff…I can understand that. But skin color, bloodlines, philosophy, and colored pieces of paper? Perhaps the stupidist of all is the quest for power. As with love, power is only strength when you are wise enough not to wield it. The strongest leaders are those who can simply walk away.

I don’t get why trivial conveniences aren’t included in consumer electronics. While some might find using up and down buttons a convenient way to program their VCRs, DVRs, and any other timed contrivance, I like the option to simply punch in the time. All those buttons are already there on the remote, let me use them for Pete’s sake.

I don’t get why certain nations still go out and hunt whales.

I don’t get why people intoxicate themselves. A little temporary numbness doesn’t make the existing reality any better. If you try extending the numbness, it in fact makes the reality worse.

I don’t get why people don’t see that people are the crux of the problem. There are simply too many of us…but that will probably take care of itself soon enough through famine, thirst, disease, and bloodshed.

I don’t get why we are more likely to put a band-aid on a problem instead of fixing the problem. Covering it up doesn’t make it go away…indeed, more often than not it simply festers and gets worse with time.

I don’t get ties. They are dumb.

I don’t get why the old population discounts the young. Young people aren’t stupid. A little naïve, sometimes, but that’s good. So many innovations come from the rebellious nature of youth. While many of their “discoveries” are old hat to the more experienced, some are revolutionary and spark new pardigms.

I don’t get why youth so often ignores the wisdom that comes with age. Well, actually I do…because I often did. Now that I’m older, I see the historical patterns that are so frequently unavailable to the young. It’s useful stuff, this lifetime of learning thing, and it’s a shame that it isn’t taken advantage of more.

I don’t get how more than 1 in 100 Americans are incarcerated. Clearly we’ve screwed something up. It’s time to step back and look at what we are doing and do something different.

I don’t get how so many of the masculine persuasion are such misogynistic jerks. Whether by creed, upbringing, or just plain ignorance…you all need to grow up.

I don’t get how I can gain weight eating more than just 1,200 calories a day. It’s annoying.

I don’t get how we’ve managed to so thoroughly screw up our educational priorities. It used to be that we wanted an educated citizenry and capable workforce. That meant that we had certain standards…which meant that students would sometimes fail or at least not reach those standards. Even when I was in school I saw those standard erode, and it’s gotten worse. We need to expect more of our populace. To do less disrespects their abilities and cripples the nation.

I don’t get how people don’t understand science and pure research. It’s really not that difficult. Yeah, the math can be a pain, and the years of experimentation and trial & error tedious and sometimes expensive, but in the end we become so much richer for the increased understanding of how things work and how it can be made of practical benefit to us.

I don’t get why the U.S. isn’t totally on the metric system. Just don’t make no sense at all.

I don’t get why anyone who is a natural-born citizen of the U.S. isn’t just demographically classified as an American without any other hyphenations. Seriously, our genetic pool is so mixed at this point that the racial and ethnic distinctions are getting increasingly irrelevant.

I don’t get why I don’t get more blog readers. Am I really that boring and out of touch?

I don’t get why people tend to blow others off. Simple notes of “not interested” and the like, or even simple acknowledgments, go a long way in fostering good feelings. Ignoring people doesn’t.

I don’t get why the U.S. doesn’t have universal health care. I’m not talking mandatory health care, but one unified and regulated system. What we have now is expensive, unwieldy, and clearly doesn’t work.

I don’t get why we aren’t all apologizing to the coming generations for the messes we are leaving them.

Mostly, though, I don’t get why so many people carry so much fear. Sometimes fear is a good thing, like when a tiger shark is bulleting straight for you with its mouth agape. But for the most part, fear is what causes us to behave like idiots. The world isn’t perfect. Sometimes things, good and bad, happen for no good reason whatsoever. Why you? Why not you? If you take responsibility not only for your own actions, but how your actions affect and effect others, and try to make the overall result more beneficial than otherwise, things tend to work out OK. Basically, don’t be a schmuck.