Friday, August 22, 2008

Fighting Jurl

Jurrrrrls, I just engaged in my first comment war! As previously disclosed, I'm obsessed with livingoprah.com, one woman's attempt to live her life for one year as Oprah tells her to live it (I've been doing it for years so I wish I'd thought of this!). The other day her blog was about one of the charity shows...like the pajama project, food bank giving, etc. Well, some "thing" from Australia left a comment blasting Americans for their trivial giving when we should just have a country like hers where the government takes care of everything.

Ugh. I don't know why arrogant, snobbish foreigners get to me, but they do. Really, I don't think much riles me up (excluding Sam), but this Aussie's comment was like a stick of dynamite in my ass. I fired off a comment, mostly to be humorous, but I was peeved by this person I don't know, will never know, and don't really care about. When I checked this morning the Aussie was back with another ridiculous comment! So of course, I spent an hour crafting my reply. Sometimes, I just like to fight and I'm finding it more satisfying to not know the person on the other end....it can't be personal between complete strangers. I've grown weary of debating friends and family because...because....it just gets on my nerves.

Ironically, when you read my comments I might seem like a conservative redneck (not that I have anything against the conservative redneck, I know and love many of them), but am in fact a pinko liberal. Huh. I guess I just don't like outsiders picking on us. Kind of like I can say my Momma is CRAZY all day long, but nobody else better say it or they'll get a punch in the head.

Have I mentioned how crazy my Momma is? Oh, I have so many stories to share with you......

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When governments take care of everything, no one does anything, because hey, "we gave at the office already." There was a recent article comparing charitable worldwide giving among countries and the US was first. England was a distant second at almost half of what we give. In government aid, we also give waaaay more than any other country. And what kind of thanks do we get? None! Because "we're supposed to since we're such a wealthy nation." I hate snooty (nearly all) foreigners. And when the US faces a disaster, you can almost hear the crickets from the other countries, the immediate aftermath of 9/11 excluded. i think a couple of countries gave money then, but then a year later blames us for it.

Claudia said...

At the risk of showing my conservative tendencies, when the government "takes care of everything" who does your Aussie nemesis think pays for that in the end?? At least by giving to the charity of my choice, I can excercise some discretion as to where my money is spent. =)

Misti D. Mosteller said...

Anon-right there with ya, though I only hate the French. I just don't get their love-hate relationship with this country. Admit that your fascinated with us, acknowledge we're awesmome, suggest we have some failings, but wish us well and applaud our efforts in the right direction. Is that really so much to ask?

Claudia- conservatives are welcomed and loved! The Aussie made a point of saying her taxes pay for care of the poor, but when you've only lived in a socialsit country and always paid crazy high taxes then how can you relate to Americans, right? If she's started off with out kind of tax rate she'd be loathe to go higher, I betcha. Totally agree that there is power in choosing your own method of giving.

Peace out, peeps.