Irritation is the main topic in my Cant today.
I'm irritated mightily about a couple of things, and probably I should know better. I should be able to shrug my shoulders and not give it a second thought, but, well, I can't.
First on the block today are people who insist on using BCE instead of BC. I was listening a few days ago to some self-righteous windbag on NPR (before you get all uppity, I like NPR. The windbag was an exception, not the rule,) who was lecturing the listeners on a variety of topics (incorrectly, I might add,) and using the term BCE to refer to dates.
Now I get less irritated by the equally stupid replacement of AD with CE, because almost no one uses AD, it's just sort of assumed to be there unless you say otherwise. Anyway, if you get all bent out of shape because someone mentions "God", even in another language, then fine. Quit peeing your pants and use CE. It marks you out as a pathetic whiner, but whatever. On the other hand, using BCE instead of BC just marks you out as a PC neo-nazi. Dear God. It stands for "Before Christ." Now, unless I'm very, very much mistaken, the year 0 was supposed to be the year of Jesus' birth. (OK, I'll admit there's some finagling with the whole counting starting at 1 thing, but their hearts were in the right place even if they got the math a little wrong.) Now since there's no real question about Jesus' existence, the only thing you can be objecting to is his being mentioned at all when dealing with dates.
Get over it.
Like it or not, we started counting from the year of His birth and that's just the way it is. Removing references to Jesus just makes you look like a complete ass-monkey. Is it really so frigging offensive? And if so, to WHOM? Other religions have their own calendar, but I've yet to meet anyone who was mortally offended that we refer to this year as 2004. I don't insist on anyone who uses the date 2004 saying ten Hail Mary's to give thanks for the fact that we can agree on a dating system, so quit pretending that we just somehow picked a random year to start the numbering system from.
Ass-monkey. Yes, I know I said that before, but it bears repeating. Damn it makes me annoyed. However, no where near as annoyed as the ungrateful bunch of slack-jawed butt-crawlers who are currently "representing" Iraqi as their Olympic soccer team make me. I just love the fact that their coach managed to say (on the air) how they liked and respected all peoples of the world, "even Americans."
What? Surely I misheard him. Surely he meant to say "And thank you to the brave Americans and members of the coalition who fought and died to free us from the most oppressive regime imaginable." Surely that's what he meant, right?
Then young Ahmed Manajid, another member of the squad, points out that if he were not playing football "for sure" he would be fighting as part of the resistance. The resistance? Oh, that would be the bunch of spineless clowns who didn't have the stones to free their own people from Saddam Hussein but now feel the need to attack journalists and truck drivers bringing fuel to their cities? Those resistance fighters? The ones who hide inside a holy shrine, then claim victory because we're too sensitive to level the place while their filthy flea-bitten hides are cowering inside? Those resistance fighters?
I know, I know, they don't represent all Iraqis, and it's too much to expect them all to be grateful for the fact that we saved them from their own special variety of homicidal maniac. Even so, it makes my stomach churn when I think of those ungrateful slime crawling back on board a Royal Air force transport for the trip home, perfectly happy to return to a country we freed, and completely unable to recognize the debt they owe us. Some people, it has to be said, are too stupid and weak to be trusted with their own freedom. If the loadmaster of that plane is reading this, please make sure you don't accidentally dump their stupid carcasses out over the Med. on the way back. It'd be a great loss of us all. Really.
On to something a little happier. I realized yesterday afternoon that living here in Houston really does has some advantages in the summer. Sure, the heat is nasty, but the by-product is that the whole city is just so damn green. I mean, it's positively verdant. Reminds me very much of England, with greenery and trees everywhere. It really is just lovely. Of course, that's while I'm on the *inside* of an air-conditioned building or car, but even so. It could be miserably hot and, say, brown and yucky. No, I like it, despite the drawbacks of moisture and heat.
Also, I'm immensely pleased to see that there’s a new Cantista writing. Welcome Marc, nice start to your presence here. Now, as long as we can agree that it's 2004 AD and you don't play soccer for Iraq, we should get along juuuuust fine.