Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Who’s on Your Airing of Grievances List?
Today is Christmas Eve eve, which means it’s time to enjoy Frank Costanza’s Festivus, an annual tradition when we participate in the “Airing of Grievances.” This is a special day to skewer those deserving of our ire.
Many folks are on my list, from politicians, journalists and celebrities to my neighbor upwind of me who partakes in the “herb.”
I will start the list with Terry Fine. Terry is a professor at University of Central Florida who wrote an article suggesting Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or even Happy Holidays is “exclusionary.” Instead, Terry wants us to greet each other with “Happy Federal Holiday.” Because guv’ment is our true religion, amirite?
I would suggest that we take a new approach that observes “the holidays” we all have on our calendars, no matter our religion.
My friends and I wish each other a “Happy Federal Holiday.”
Most everyone is included and no one is excluded no matter their religious beliefs or practices. The banks are closed, along with post offices, local, state and federal government offices, and state institutions such as UCF. As long as we live in the United States, these federal and state holidays impact us equally so we might as well celebrate them equally, too.
Obviously the force stupid is strong with this one. If Terry was just some random blogger, it would be laughable. However, the fact she is a political science professor molding the minds of Orlando’s yutes distinguishes her to be on my list of people worthy of grievances.
Imagine the carols sung at Professor Fines annual Federal Holiday party:
Good tidings we bring
To you and any non-gender specific thing,
We wish you a Happy Federal Holiday
And a Happy New Anytime You Wish to Be in this Space/Time Continuum
Merry Christmas Terry!
What/who are on your airing of grievances?
Published in General
Seinfeld came along after I dropped out, so I never saw it.
Chris Campion, They don’t understand that the reason people go into places like that is that it’s fast, usually.
1. Lots of driving complaints, which means we all spend too much time in our cars and not enough time doing the things we’re driving to.
2. People who think regular season NBA games matter.
3. Taking more than 20 seconds to offer the evening weather on the 10:00 pm news in July in Texas. “Hot. Really hot. Like today. That’s all. Now to Biff for sports.”
4. Waiters who rush to the table with entrees before you’re finished with the salad, but can’t be found when you need to order or need to pay the check.
5. People who post on Facebook their innermost thoughts and deeply personal habits but think that the NSA is too intrusive.
Dog owners who take no responsibility for the behavior, grooming, and barking of their beasts.
Ricochet members who hijack a really good thread (that already had more than a 100 relevant comments) with some esoteric discussion that goes on and on, often in heated tones, and forces all previous commenters to look constantly at their alerts in the faint hope that something pertinent to the original discussion might show up.
People who complain about the NBA but never actually watch it to see how exciting it can be.
Ha, ha, ha. Sports are boring, to quote a famous NBA player whose name I can’t quite remember.
I don’t complain about the NBA, but then, I don’t watch it either. Why would I?
I’m a big fan of Chris Lloyd (writer) who also ran the writing room on Frasier. We enjoyed the first few seasons of Modern Family. Love the cast. They were wise to avoid the whole SSM issue early on, but then history forced them into a sharp reversal.
I thought the show started getting too broad (especially Cam) in season four, and we stopped watching after the season five premiere. Every time I’ve checked in on it since then it’s remained far too broad for our taste. It’s unavoidable, but some of the younger characters had changed so much I hardly recognized the show.
Modern Family deserves credit for being the only classicly structured comedy in the MTM/Paramount tradition to successfully launch in this century. It just doesn’t make me laugh anymore.
To be serious for a moment, watching Stephen Curry having one of his better games is one of the most glorious experiences in sport. When all is said and done, he will be regarded as one of the best, if not the best, players of all time. I have had to pay for the NBA ticket so that I could guarantee that I would not miss one of his stellar performances. Curry and Klay Thompson are a marvel of excellence that few human endeavors can match. Maybe the Pietà and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, but not too many others.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is arguably even better than Seinfeld, and should be appreciated by any Seinfeld fan. It has the same sensibility but is more cleverly crafted.
I’ll be serious for a moment. In 100 years, no one is even going to know who Stephen Curry was. Get real. He’s an athlete. They’re a dime a dozen.
I can understand your reservations but the characters Cam and Phil still send me into paroxysms of laughter. I think the writers took a cue from South Park. :)
Do you know who Jim Thorpe was? Do you know who Jesse Owens was? Do you know who Babe Ruth was?
Artists and politicians are also a dime a dozen. Great ones are worth a bit more.
Oh oh… My 10 year old disagrees. “26-1 dude!”
I don’t even know what that means.
I note that none of them were roundballers.
No one will notice who Paul Ryan was in 100 years. People will remember Churchill for a thousand.
Professional basketball hasn’t been around that long. Give it time.
But they couldn’t have predicted that when Churchill was 27 years old.
Lol. I don’t know who the guy is now. How is it that people will remember him in 100 years?
As near as I can tell, he plays some second rate sport for some backwater city on the west coast.
He mispoke. They’re now 27-1. (He’s not a fan or anything).
Yes they could. He’d already been a lancer at Omdurban, and walked out of South Africa in the Boer war.
It’s going to get worse for your boy. When there are 100 years of roundball history, there will have been many wonderboys.
Michael Jordan might be remembered. Your guy, not so much.
West, Russell, Robertson, Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabar, Magic, Bird, Duncan, and Shaq still stand out along with Jordan. Lebron will too. Hopefully, his former teammate in Miami D-Wade will as well.
Kobe could have but we’re all sick of him already.
Kawhi Leonard may eventually join that list. We shall see.
Jerry West? Nah. Bill Russell, maybe. Wilt, more for the women he bedded than for his BB exploits. Kareem, maybe. I still remember him in the game against Memphis. The rest came along after I quit paying attention.
Jerry West invented the modern game. He was one of the first to make plays like a point guard and score like a shooting guard.
You blew his chances when you said “one of the first.”
Man, this is (almost) expert trolling.
When you say Kareem v. Memphis are you thinking of Bill Walton v. Memphis State? Or of Kareem (when he was still Lew) v. Houston and Elvin Hayes?
It may surprise you to know that people can still be great even though you, Randy Webster, are not paying attention to them.
You give up the game when you denigrate Wilt’s basketball exploits, which are so varied and so outsized that they defy belief. The only other man who ever lived who had such accomplishments recorded next to his name is Kim Jong-un.
Those are hardly accomplishments worthy of being remembered for 1,000 years. In fact, who would remember them now if Churchill hadn’t done a few more memorable things later in life? He’d be as well-remembered as General Jacobus Hercules (Koos) De la Rey and General Hector Macdonald, which is to say, not at all.
It is pointless to argue about who will be remembered in 100 or 1,000 years. That is not the only measure of greatness. But if you insist, I’ll put my money where my mouth is. I will bet you $10,000 that 1,000 years from today Stephen Curry will be more famous than Churchill.
At this rate, in a millennium 10,000 US dollars will be worth a slice of bread. But don’t worry, it will be a really good slice of bread.
Well, not that good.
Festivus is actually a good occasion to lay aside bitterness before the great holiday of the Incarnation of our Lord; and churches should develop appropriate liturgies.
Let me see if I have this straight. You’re equating a guy who entertains people by shoving a ball through a hoop with one who probably saved western civilization? Good call.
How well do you remember (on your honor, without looking them up on the internet) Ernst Rüdiger Graf von Starhemberg or John III Sobieski? They also saved western civilization, although they did it 332 years ago. Or how about Wilhelm von Roggendorf, who did the same 486 years ago, or Admiral Don Juan of Austria, 444 years ago? You might find, if you look closely, that people credited with saving western civilization are, to use your phrase, a dime a dozen, and not long remembered.
After another guy (Trump?) comes along to save western civilization yet again Churchill will be yesterday’s news, much like yesterday’s sports hero. Heck, you can’t even find a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office anymore. That speaks volumes about how much he actually is venerated. I’ll bet you can find a picture of Steph Curry there, though. I’ll bet you that for every American who can tell you who Churchill was there are 100 who can tell you who Steph Curry is.
Now, I think you are being a bit unfair to accuse me of equating these two. I’m only talking about fame. Fame for statesmen is fleeting, just as it is for athletes. My $10,000 bet is still on offer.