A little while ago I was siting with a group of people when the topic of Apple computers came up. One of the folks in the group voices his disdain of all things Apple, and pledges his allegiance to the evil empire, by muttering two syllables in a sarcastic tone “Apple!?!” Another member of the group suggests that there may be more disciples of the Apple faith in the crowd and suggests that everyone play nice. The conversation ends there, but not my scorn. Despite what people may say, most people like the favorite, the powerful. Sure, they like an underdog, but only when it wins. But then, it’s not the underdog anymore if it wins is it? Where are all of the people saying how much they admired the Buffalo Bills of the early 90’s; or the New England Patriots when they lost to the Chicago Bears or the Green Bay Packers? Sure they loved the Patriots when the beat the Rams as a big underdog, but when they lost as big underdogs they just sucked. The way I see it, rooting for Microsoft is the same thing. We wanted the Patriots to get hammered by the Bears. We laughed at the Bills loosing four in a row. The romans never wanted the Christians to survive the lions. In the same way, picking Microsoft is safe. We bask in the glow of a perceived shared glory, but in the end the joke’s on us.
Category: Current Events
Primaries.
It is almost time to cast my first ballot of the year, and I’m a little conflicted. I don’t know as much about the candidates as I would like, and the candidates are not offering much to differentiate themselves. The only reason I can come up with to vote for one over another is that one is more electable in the general election. If you know where I live you probably know what I’m talking about. So my question is this: is this enough reason to vote for someone? Suppose I thought my beliefs were slightly more in tune with the person with less a chance of winning (they are not, but stay with me), would electability be a good reason to vote for the other person? Say I vote for the less ejectable person, knowing they could not win the general election; would my vote be wasted? What purpose would my vote serve my slim margin of preference if the person I really did not want in office won as a result of my primary election choice? I’ll figure it out in a week I guess.
Independence Day.
Did you know that The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776? Did you know that the resolution that led to the writing of The Declaration of Independence was passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776? Did you know that the original resolution was introduced to the Second Continental Congress by Richard Henry Lee in June of 1776? Did you know that the only person to actually sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was the president of the Second Continental Congress, John Hancock? Did you know that George Washington was elected the commander of the Continental Army by the First Continental Congress in June of 1775, more than one year prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence? Did you know that the representatives from New York did not vote on the original resolution until after July 4, 1776? Did you know that New York had more loyalist leanings, and was not as eager to vote yes on the resolution? Did you know that New York agreed to abstain from voting in order to preserve a unanimous vote, but that they later voted yes anyway, after July 4, 1776? I’m not entirely sure those things about New York (I wasn’t able to verify it with more than one source), but don’t take my word for it, look it up.