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No it's not an ignorant thing to say
sure it is.
Anytime I see an influential person in a community (this case being the internet community with influence over all the pissedoffidolaters on this site) refer to giving back to your local community as being "unhip" it bothers me.
and please, do quote me where i said it was unhip to help out one's local community.
It doesn't really matter if it's said directly or the message is wrapped around a coy little JPG from a well known movie.
"doing the Bare minimun" made me chuckle and think of the flare sceene. nothing more. i'm sure others got a chuckle out of it as well.
What is Hondaswap? Isn't it in itself a tool to educate and better a community of people?
https://hondaswap.com/about.php#goals
And we have seen countless "thanks for the help", "you made my swap a breeze", ect comments from people who are genuinely thankful for the help this community has provided. What bothers me is that certian people fail to see how this same concept applies to everyday life, not just Honda.
Why do you think i started this site? Because i'm some bad person who wanted to redeem himself by helping out online? no...
This country has been at it's best when the government stayed smallish and the people controlled as much of the country on as local a level as possible. Many people on here criticize the government for controlling too much of their lives on here. Many of those same people, sometimes in the same breath, also make Marxist statements saying that "I pay taxes and the government should take care of (insert inconvenience here) for me".
But, that's not what we are. We are a big government with little say in anything any more. We vote for some rep who then goes off and does whatever the fuck they want to anyway. Because yes, the "people are too stupid" to do it on their own. That is in the constitution. And hence the electorial college.
As an elected leader, it is their JOB to make decisions that HELP the country and its people.
It should not be their job to make themselves more rich, give gov't contracts to their buddies business even if there were other bidders, etc etc. But, that is what it has become today. It's like high-paying lobbiests.
This plays to a larger concern I have about my generation having a real problem doing anything for themselves, we are the children and grandchildren of the most successful generation in America, and although we benefited from their wealth we often find ourselves crutched as a result. It's just easier for someone else (in this case the government, which are the ultimate parental figure) to do it for us, even if we complain that they can't handle what they're already doing. If you analize the mindset you'll find it closely resembles that of a teenage male...
My grandfather was poor as shit, went to war when he was 17, came home, and saved everything. and i mean everything. rusty used nails in 5 gallon buckets. half-used lead paint cans from 1938. made bearings for GM for 35 years before retiring. hardly successful in my book being a factory worker. It's an hoenst job, sure, but it's no CEO. Unless your grandfather was Carnegie, or one of the other 10-20 names from the turn of the century, our grandparents were nothing.
And this gives more to your case than anything. you aim for those big 10 (republicans) and the grandfathers (dems) get swept under the area rug.
Don't get me wrong, things like national security and the global war or terrorism can't be handled by local chapters and I'm glad the government takes care of those things.
Really?
FEMA proved itself worthless less than a year ago.
But, what about MEMA? ya know, the Misissippi emergency group? yeah them. They took care of shit on their own, and they got more of a hit from Katrina than N.O. did.
But as we have seen with things like illegal immigration, local people getting involved is far more effective then our government which is mired in red tape.
What have local groups done for immigration? anything they have done is probably illegal.
Try to stop them at the border? Assult.
Give them a job? Under cutting federal tax law.
please, enlighten me.
The message? Getting involved works. I learned this in the military. And no I wasn't brainwashed (it's amazing how the people who use that term toward the military have spent their entire lives listening to liberal media and teachers), I learned that because when I joined the military I had nothing. When I left the military I was making close to $50,000 a year, and in the mean time I acquired an education. How did I get all that? By working with the people around me for mutual benefit, and more indirectly, the betterment of our community. Those aren't the tactics of "the man" it's a proven formula that has made, kept, and will (if more of us will get off our asses) retain the greatness of our country.
I won't deny that getting involved works.... but how is what you do different from what i do?
i help people every day. i connect people to other people. hell, you wouldn't be here writing this rant if it weren't for me, hosmer would have never sold that bike to josh, Ian wouldn't have that gsr head, and i wouldn't have had the chance to get blown off by the canadian chick. and as much as that sucks ass, in the end, it was all worth it. why? because i made a few good friends off here, learned some stuff about cars, developed my programming skills and such, and even blow time at work to make long replies such as this.
And i'd do it all over again in a heart beat.
