An Alien Presence
Ned Resnikoff, senior editor of the leftwing publication ThinkProgress, encounters a tradesman:
Update, via the comments:
Mags adds,
One of the things that’s grimly funny is that Mr Resnikoff doubtless imagines himself as the one who’s enlightened, sophisticated and not at all prejudiced. And yet he veers towards hysteria based on nothing whatsoever beyond the race and presumed social class of a polite, visiting plumber. And note that the plumber’s reticence on political matters – i.e., his professionalism and good manners – is viewed by Resnikoff as suspect:
And this, lest we forget, is the kind of effete meltdown that Ms Resnikoff felt important to share publicly with his peers, in order to establish his ‘progressive’ credentials.
It would, I suspect, be interesting to hear the plumber’s account of his visit.
Those bastards were probably packing, too. Both the NRA guy and the plumber. Their kind frequently does.
Kevin Riches: This quietly simmering maniac could have been installing vinyl flooring – a well known racist trigger substance.
Ya never know… Michael Totten was astonished to discover that the tradesman who refinished his wood floors was a former terrorist. (Scroll down to “Thursday, February 20, 2003”.)
By the way, can we briefly address the elephant in the room?
Which is that the plumber probably charged him north of $100 to either (a) pour $5 worth of draino down the sink or (b) apply half-a-minute’s elbow-grease with a $10 plunger. Or, worst-case scenario, (c), popped out his plumber’s snake – get your mind out of the gutter – and, inserting it deep into the hole, moved it about with some vigour for a few short minutes at best until he was satisfied – I said get your mind out of the gutter!
By all means correct me if I’m wrong, but unblocking a drain is not some strange voodoo that only the poor and desperate know of. You might as well call an electrician to change a lightbulb.
In and out in five or ten minutes, getting paid a hefty clip to perform an elementary task – who’s the real simpleton here?
In this case, the dynamic is sort of, “I feared that, despite his civility and professionalism, this broad-shouldered prole might at any moment sense my disdain for his kind, rise up in a rage, and then strangle me with his big, unmoisturised hands.”
That.
That.
Well, it’s not unreasonable to wonder to what extent Mr Resnikoff’s display of paranoia betrays his own hostility and disdain. If his professed feelings are even remotely sincere, maybe it’s because he assumes his own sentiments must be mutual.
Not entirely unrelated.
Similar Sentiments
Similar Sentiments
I wonder when we’ll reach maximum saturation. If “white male” were to become the go-to pejorative among enough of the broader population, would this be considered an achievement? Would it be progress…?
Something tells me presidential press conferences are going to be unusually entertaining for the next few years.
We must chase her from the village
David, I accept that I transgressed. But it’s cold out here. Please can I come back inside?
Please can I come back inside?
Is that booze? Yes, of course.
presidential press conferences are going to be unusually entertaining for the next few years
That much is already clear. But will these (sporadic?) press conferences ever be informative, or just the verbal equivalent of a 140-character tweet? The world must now learn to live with Trump as US president. More pertinently, will Trump learn to live with the responsibilities of his office?
Similar Sentiments
Miss Byerley seems to have missed the efflux from California to Texas and South Flyoverlandia of businesses of late, and that the likes of Mercedes, BMW, VW, Airbus, nigh every Japanese and Korean auto manufacturer, Boeing all have all chosen to locate in the sticks rather than San Fransisco, which boasts more needles and human feces on the streets than any other US city.
Of course we miss out on the wonders of data and call centers, but the benefits of those would just be lost on us gap-toothed rubes.
By the way, can we briefly address the elephant in the room?
By introducing another elephant? If the plumber charged him north of $100 to either (a) pour $5 worth of draino down the sink or (b) apply half-a-minute’s elbow-grease with a $10 plunger. Or, worst-case scenario, (c), popped out his plumber’s snake, you are forgetting the costs of:
1) Fuel/oil/wear and tear on the truck the plumber showed up in.
2) Depreciation on said truck independent of #1
3) Salary/expenses for the dispatcher
4) Health insurance, etc. as may be mandated by the gov’t (this likely being in a blue state) for dispatcher and plumber
5 through x-1) things I’m anyone here who is or at one time was a real plumber would know that I don’t
x) (Probability that the customer is a PITA and will require another trip out to resolve a different problem which the plumber, wanting to ensure his reputation, will address at no cost) * (average cost of a second trip)
Not included but may be added on at discretion of plumber, dumb-ass charge specially allocated for servicing dilettante men who can’t do such simple things for themselves that their equally dumb-ass Richie Rich daddies should have taught them.
Neddykins is a bigot and a snob. Would he be more comfortable with Mark-1 Plumbing?
http://i.imgur.com/nJok3BB.jpg
We especially don’t want to live in states where the majority of residents are still voting for things that are against their own interests just because they don’t want brown people to thrive.
That sentence was truly a marvel. At once, she praises her own wisdom in presuming to know what the best interests are for the millions of people between the Sierra Nevada and Appalachians, while implying those people don’t. Or, if the proles do know then they are evil incarnate. Naturally, no examples or evidence are adduced for this proposition.
wtp is right. to pretax net just 1000 / week, the plumber has to gross something close to 4000. you price tools, trucks, work clothes lately? 4000/5 = 800 / day.
on the rare occasions i need pro plumbing help, i expect to pay 200-300 / hour with a 150 minimum. (although i do live in a high cost-of-living area.)
…presuming to know what the best interests are for the millions of people between the Sierra Nevada and Appalachians…
More like between US101 and I-95.
still voting for things that are against their own interests
Says the woman who presumes to know what those interests are, in detail, in tens of millions of cases, while displaying her own economic ignorance, and her cultural parochialism, and while sneering at those same people, the ones who dare to disagree, as “backwards” Untermenschen.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to completely recorder my life as I begin my quest for the coveted “Melinda Byerly Tweet of Condescending Approval.”
In other news, I just glanced up at the TV, which was muted, being ignored and on some random channel, and saw four words I didn’t expect to see. “Screenplay by Chuck Norris.”
Apparently, it’s the 1985 Cannon Films classic, Invasion USA.
Racism and anti-gentilism.
More like between US101 and I-95.
As a resident of California east of US101, your precision is appreciated. Thanks, Farnsworth.
Fred,
on the rare occasions i need pro plumbing help, i expect to pay 200-300 / hour with a 150 minimum. (although i do live in a high cost-of-living area.)
Why having some rudimentary plumbing skills (like unclogging a drain or repairing a dripping faucet – and having them stay fixed) comes in very handy.
More like between US101 and I-95.
Perhaps we should add “North of the Potomac River,” as well.
“More pertinently, will Trump learn to live with the responsibilities of his office?”
Jesus Christ on rollerblades. How about waiting to find out? I should think that a person who has run multiple businesses would have a better grasp of such than a former community organizer, but I’m funny that way.
Perhaps we should add “North of the Potomac River,” as well.
I-95 goes from the Canada-Maine border to Miami, everything east of it north of Norfolk and south of Jupiter FL is Byerelyland.
Spiny Norman:
My pleasure, I’ve spent enough time there to realize there are two Californias. What always annoys me are the county level election maps that show seas of blue, but fail to take into account things like San Bernardino County being bigger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined, but outside of San Bernardino, there are more lizards than people.
Spiny,
Yes. For the cost of one pro plumber visit, one could buy tools and parts to fix 80% of household plumbing problems. Assuming one has been taught or otherwise learned how to use them…
– and can tolerate the risk of breaking something
– and can cope with the occasional mess
– and the smell
The biggest barrier, I’ve found, to blokes doing their own repairs, is the fear of breaking something. Overcome that, and the rest is easy.
Farnsworth & Spiny:
Back when I was at UC Berkeley, it was easy to think the Berkeley ideology was universal. Unless one took the occasional trip a mere 10 miles east into the Livermore valley, where one started to see roadside signs like “Get US out of the UN”. the ultraliberal fringe is much fringier than it seems from the emanations of Hollywood and the MSM.
I can change a washer and replace a faucet. But, when it comes to sticking my snake into a shit encrusted hole. I’d rather pay someone else to do it. Conversation with said someone else is entirely optional.
…and the hits just keep coming. I love America. It’s Americans I hate.
The author of this mess is one Tim Kreider who is, “…an essayist and cartoonist. He divides his time between New York City and an Undisclosed Location on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.[one cannot imagine my surprise] His latest collection of essays is We Learn Nothing.”
At least he got that title right.
From Kreider: Others wonder whether it isn’t a misguided strategy to extend the benefit of the doubt and give fair hearing to people who have never once done the same for us.
I sincerely hope Trump bears this in mind when he takes office.
What always annoys me are the county level election maps that show seas of blue, but fail to take into account things like San Bernardino County being bigger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined, . . . .
. . . . Back when I was at UC Berkeley, . . .
Oh, yes, quite as previously discussed . . .
I first saw the attitude neatly summed up by Sir Pterry:
There were plotters, there was no doubt about it. Some had been ordinary people who’d had enough. Some were young people with no money who objected to the fact that the world was run by old people who were rich. Some were in it to get girls. And some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what they called ‘the people’. Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who’d steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he’d never met The People.
People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.