I guess it will always be this way

I read this bullshit today and now I can’t function.  Every so often I get crushed by someone else’s opinion of my hometown.  Why should I care?  I should let it go, realize that there are a lot of ignorant assholes in the world, and ignore them, right?

But I can’t help thinking that the more you repeat a lie, the truer it becomes.  I feel so much anger inside myself when I feel compelled to defend New Orleans, and I hate that feeling.  I’m tired of it.  I’m pretty powerless to stem the tide though.

I get the impression that the majority of people in the United States hate New Orleans.  That’s hard to take when where you’re from is wrapped up so tightly in who you are.

I think this will be the first election in which I don’t vote.

51 thoughts on “I guess it will always be this way”

  1. This guy’s some right-wing asshat, you really shouldn’t care what he says. Besides, he’s a blogger; I hear from the teevee that they’re the lowest form of human life.

    I wouldn’t say that most hate New Orleans, it’s just that they don’t seem to care. What other reason could it possibly be? I think that’s much more disturbing and I can’t quite figure out why. Is it because the people there are Black, or Southern, or “backwards”? Is it because doing the right thing is difficult and expensive and we’re lazy and cheap? Is it because the corporations that run the media can’t figure out a good (read: profitable) angle on this story and therefore the people forget about it? It’s probably a combination of these and other things.

    If this is your most important–or only–issue, then don’t vote. Really. Is anyone really taking your issue seriously? If not, then why bother? If you find someone that is, do more than just vote for them. Do something to help them out.

  2. Sure he’s a right-wing asshat, but it seems to me that there’s a lot of right-wing asshats in this country. This guy is just one soldier in the army of asshats that we call America.

    That is exactly why I don’t want to vote. What’s the point really?

  3. I don’t really see how that will come about. We teach asshattery in our schools. oops. I mean on television.

  4. Kent, you are always so mean to visitors. I think you should roll out the red carpet. Whether or not they are fuckwads.

  5. I didn’t mean to be mean, I’m sorry.

    vanderleun, consider the red carpet rolled out. Please come back often.

  6. Homophobe scout guy, you are welcome back too. We’re rolling out the red carpet for everyone today!

    Please come back and spread your message whenever you feel like it.

    I need to redesign the site as some kind of Asshat Paradise.

  7. You know buzz… or Tom Brady as I like to call you now… if you didn’t cheat at risk, you wouldn’t be giving that guy ammunition for his story.

    I make the blanket statement that everyone from new orleans is a cheater. prove me wrong.

    as a side note, that guy is a huge buttmunch and if I could actually respond to his story without being emotional, I would

  8. I think you don’t have the correct definition of cheating. I most certainly stabbed you in the back by breaking a treaty when you didn’t expect it, but that is well within the rules of the game. I can accept it if you want to call me a backstabber, but your accusations of cheating are baseless.

  9. I refer to these two definitions on cheating and cheaters.
    If anyone wants to chime in a ruling whether breaking an in game treating (backstabbing as tom brady semantically puts it) is considered cheating or not.

    One thing for sure is, I can never trust you again (well, at board games anyways… i still love you)

    American Heritage Dictionary – Cite This Source – Share This
    cheat (chēt) Pronunciation Key
    v. cheat·ed, cheat·ing, cheats

    v. tr.

    1. To deceive by trickery; swindle: cheated customers by overcharging them for purchases.
    2. To deprive by trickery; defraud: cheated them of their land.
    3. To mislead; fool: illusions that cheat the eye.
    4. To elude; escape: cheat death.

    v. intr.

    1. To act dishonestly; practice fraud.
    2. To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was accused of cheating at cards.
    3. Informal To be sexually unfaithful: cheat on a spouse.
    4. Baseball To position oneself closer to a certain area than is normal or expected: The shortstop cheated toward second base.

    WordNet – Cite This Source – Share This
    cheating

    adjective
    1. not faithful to a spouse or lover; “adulterous husbands and wives”; “a two-timing boyfriend” [syn: adulterous]
    2. violating accepted standards or rules; “a dirty fighter”; “used foul means to gain power”; “a nasty unsporting serve”; “fined for unsportsmanlike behavior”

    noun
    1. a deception for profit to yourself [syn: cheat]

  10. I’m sorry that you feel that way, but that treaty would have allowed you to win the game, and me to lose. So I ended it. I would not ask another to march to his death, so that I may live. I hope that this broken treaty does not affect your ability to play the game effectively in the future.

    These comments officially label us as nerds, by the way.

  11. Better nerds than asshats.

    I wonder what Asshat Paradise would be like? And, how many circle jerks are involved?

  12. I’ve passed the title of President of Backdooring to you, Buzz. May you wear your asshat well.

  13. All semantics aside, I stand by my earlier blanket statement. mmmmmmmmm, blanket.

    speaking of blankets… it snowed in Atlanta last night.
    The funniest thing about the snow is that Atlanta Govt canceled school and such at about 9:30 LAST NIGHT. This morning the roads and everything are absolutely fine. the snow does not “stick” in atlanta and it is almost always above freezing, so not even icy roads.

    I know I come from a place where snow is common, but talk about your classic case of government overreaction… or their reaction to perceived problems instead of dealing with the reality of the situation.

  14. People get excited when it snows. It’s like this everywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

    There have been legitimate ice storms here in Atlanta, though.

    Every time I see snow I remember waking to the train in Salem or waiting for the bus in Poland and I remember how much I hate it.

  15. I just realized that my blanket statement has to include Marnie….

    oh, well. they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’ll blame it on Cpt. Jack, but I stand by my statement until I’m proven wrong.

  16. It’s the whole state of Louisiana that cheats. How else can you explain LSU winning a national championship with two losses? Two?! They had to cheat! There’s simply no other explanation. If they’re willing to cheat at college football, why not a strategy board game of global domination?

    However, in Kent’s defense, isn’t it a legitimate strategic choice to break a treaty? It may not be nice, but is it really cheating?

  17. Thank you Dennis. That is exactly my point. I am willing to accept being called a not very nice Risk player, but the accusations of cheating are misguided.

  18. If you cheat one time are you labeled a cheater for life? Is there any kind of forgiveness or reconciliation if you mess up or is that it? We have all cheated in some form or another. I know I have, but I do not ccnsider myself a cheater. This will be the most popular posting next year. Wow!! Up to 26 now.

    We pray for snow days in the South….Just one or two flakes and the city closes down. It was the same in Ft. Worth. However, I have seen a lot of panic and cancellations when it rains hard here in New Orleans. Parents get really panicy and rush to school to pick up their children.

    What is wrong with the world today are these kind of statements that include the word EVERYONE. “Everyone in Texas rides a horse and has an oil well in his backyard.” It is a shame that we judge people or condemn a city because of the action of a few. The idiot in the article is just plain ignorant and that is that.

  19. When I first moved to DC, the woman who installed my phone line found out I was from the west coast and asked if I owned a horse because “everyone” out there rides horses everywhere. I told her “yes” simply because it was such a stupid question that I wanted the conversation to end. Of course, for Texas, I think it is true.

    It was a lame comment, I know, but the phone installer story is true. I really just wanted this to get up to 30.

  20. Just to prove that wild generalizations aren’t always so crazy: It wasn’t quite a commune, but when I was in high school, I did live in a group house with my hippie sister who’d leave every summer to follow around the Dead selling burritos. I’m sure they would have loved to have a commune, they just couldn’t afford it.

    Getting back to what’s important, Vanderleun is still an asshat. Did anyone notice that the post Kent linked to seems to be the only one that has any comments? He seems to have two equally pasty friends who will crawl out of their caves long enough to comment on every third or fourth rant, yet he still continues to push out new posts like he has huge traffic numbers. I think someone needs to get out of his home office and spend more time with his grandchildren (unless they don’t like him either).

  21. I just got back from my niece’s wedding in CA (Sacramento) so I’m just now catching up with y’all. ALL the folks that knew I was from NO, asked me the same question. “How are you (the city) doing? I let them know all the tourist stuff was and is fine, but some areas outside that higher ground were the same as 2 1/2 years ago and some were slowly coming back, mostly without much, if any, government “help”. A follow-up question “Why do you want to live there?” Because it’s my home. And why do you want to live in California?-earthquakes, hillside fires followed by mudslides, Kansas?-killer tornadoes, Florida?- 2′ above sea level and sinking, the Northeast?-blizzards the size of your Aunt Eppie, the Midwest?-whatever. Even St. Louis sits on the New Madrid fault line. Everywhere has its own natural hazards. But the flooding of New Orleans happened because the Corps of Eng. had to make do with their poor decsions and the slashed funding provided by Congress. Our state provides the wherewithal for a large chunk of offshore oil to be sent to the rest of the gas sucking country. We have an annual dead zone off the coast caused by nitrogen fertilizer run-off from farms upriver that grow more and more nutrient and water hungry corn for ethanol, that wonderful additive. But I don’t want to start a rant here. Just expressing a few thoughts about cheating-related topics.

  22. I’m not trying to make light of your comments, but…

    Blizzards the size of Aunt Eppie? That line made me laugh. Is that a NO expression?

  23. I just wanted to add to Jack’s list (both a new region and a geological/atmospheric phenomena): when I was growing up in Washington, we literally had a mountain blow up and bury my home town in 6 inches of ash. What a mess that was. It’s possible for something similar to happen again as the place is literally chock-full-o-mountains that from time to time go boom.

    Lucky for us, not too many people actually lived on or near the mountain. Although the government’s response was lacking, nothing compares to NO and Katrina. Also, no one could claim that the government’s incompetence caused it.

    Is that Aunt Eppie line open for everyone to use?

  24. Here’s some more….

    Cute as a speckled pup under a red wagon.
    Slow as Ned in the first reader
    Colder than frog feet
    Enough food to feed Cox’s army
    Tighter than a tick

    I am sure I can come up with some more for ya’ll to use. New Orleans has some great expressions also.

  25. Kent, has this post hit the all time record for the most comments???????
    Pretty impressive for 43.

  26. My home town smells liked creamed corn from the factories. And we’re the ugliest people in America. I found that when having these conversations with people in Philadelphia about New Orleans I must put it in their perspective to get my point across: Imagine from the airport through Center City to Bensalem and from the Delaware to Chestnut Hill or so, imagine that flattened and flooded. That tends to shut them up fast. Especially when I say that the Wawa’s are all gone. And Pat’s and Geno’s shut down and never come back.

  27. Speaking of MG, What are the thoughts for this one that’s quickly approaching? Feb 5.

  28. yeah what is the plan? I can finally make it this year – come sun, rain and most probable extreme cold.

  29. I’ll be saddling up jack rabbits and riding them to mexico before I make it to mardi gra this year.

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