I saw the censored version of this rant by Adam Carolla posted on the PFP thread. This is the uncensored version.
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I remember when Adam Carolla got his start in radio at KROQ. He had this character called Mr Beauchamp who gave building advice (handyman type) laced with vicious insults. It was absolutely hilarious.
And he totally nails the OWS movement. In fact, he nails what drives liberals in general.
and he also very correctly ridicules the whole "participation trophy" culture that we have created.
I remember when I was in little league, my first couple of years I was not that good. I got stuck in right field and batted last. And I hated it. I hated seeing the other guys get the trophies. So I worked hard at baseball and got pretty good. And finally when I was the best kid on the team, that's the year that they started with the participation trophies. Now instead of getting to stand up and get my MVP trophy, every kid on the team got a trophy so mine was reduced to a meaningless symbol that proved only that my parents shelled out the registration fee and that I didn't quit the team. These participation trophies robbed me of my youthful equivalent 15 minutes of fame.
Nowadays, we are not allowed to keep score at little league games until the kids are 9 years old. Of course, we don't have to keep score, the kids are keeping score regardless of what we tell them. Seriously, the league makes sure that we know that it isn't about competition and winning. It's about learning and having fun. Guess what - winning is pretty fucking fun! And every kid should have a chance to win.....and lose. Instead, they are all winners because they participate. What a bunch of horseshit.
Adam Carolla nailed it, but he doesn't really point fingers. And I'll probably fall short of that too. However, Chuck Palahniuk does a pretty good job in "Fight Club". Our current state of affairs is really a result of the pussification of the boys and men in our culture. As a culture we have become emasculated. We aren't allowed to win at the ball field, hunters are ridiculed as bambi slayers. Hell, our president even ridiculed gun owners. Jobs that require physical strength have the requirements relaxed to allow women to get the jobs (raise your hand if you want a woman firefighter carrying you down a 100' ladder).
When I was a kid, I was bullied a bit. It sucked. But my Dad understood guy culture. He understood that going to the principal would only cause more bullying. He knew that the only way it would stop is if I stood up to the guys who were bullying me. He told me that I had to fight and that no matter the outcome, the bullying would stop. So, the day came and I stood up to the bulliers. I fought Barry Sullivan. And he kicked my ass. And the bullying stopped. In fact, Barry and I became friends after that. While one of the other bulliers ended up joining the theater group. I really regret not teasing him about that little gem.
My Mom always claimed to be a feminist. She worked in the high tech corporate world and she made a name for herself. But, she also encouraged competition. She encouraged winning. When we would go out to dinner when I was a kid, she would have me take the money and pay the bill. She had me hold the door open for girls/women. To this day she says "vive' le difference".
Thank God I had parents who didn't try to shield me from the realities of life. Parents who made me stand up for myself and didn't fight my battles for me. We are doing our kids a disservice by presenting them a world that doesn't have winners and losers. In the real world you simply can't avoid it. And if you don't raise your kids to want to be winners, they are going to grow up and join groups like Occupy Wall Street and ACORN.
I'm gonna say it. The first step to ending the pussification of America is to get women out of the inner workings of boys' competitive sports. It's time to start keeping score again. It's time to let us coaches make the kids run laps or do pushups when they are slacking (not kidding here, a coach at the little league where I am involved was banned from coaching for making a kid do pushups).
And Dads need to teach their boys how to throw a punch. And make damn sure he isn't afraid to do it when he is protecting himself. When I was teaching JXN how to throw a punch, I told him that if anybody laid hands on him aggressively, he had a right to force them to stop. He said that the teachers told him that he couldn't do that. That he would get in as much trouble as the bully if he fought back. What does that teach our kids? It teaches them how to be victims! fuck that! I told JXN that he may get in trouble with the school, but I am his Dad and I would support him and he wouldn't be in trouble with me or his mom.
I want my son to go to college, get a job at the bottom of a company, work his way up through management, eventually have his own company and I want him to be RICH! I want my son to be the 1% at the top. Could you imagine wanting your kid to be a bottomfeeder living in a tent in a public park with no visible means of support?
It's time for this country to grow some balls. |
