How we stopped being wise...

"Rules and procedures may be dumb, but they save you from thinking."

That sums up so much, right there. I'd say that should be on a plaque somewhere, but too many would take it seriously.

Seriously, dude, that clip had you leaping to your feet '...like an evangelical revival'? I've seen a lot of briefs, speeches, seminars, whatever you want to call them in my 20+ years in the military and I managed to keep my seat. Where do I start? Here's my biggest beefs with it:

- The master-of-the-obvious appeal that we need wisdom and common sense. Really? Rules and regulations can be abused? Get the f*** out, no way!

- The P.C. list of good guys, such as janitors, NPR, Bill Gates, Swiss survey participants and some nameless academic who accidentally slipped his kid a Mike's Hard Lemonade. And should he really kiss Obama's ass quite so hard? Personally, I got nothing against someone who voted for him, that their business and his or her right as an American. But this public adoration and fawning, especially when you open with a jab at the former President, is very unprofessional. To honest, that set the whole tone of the speech for me.

- The malicious, wisdom-impaired bad guys. CEOs, bankers, bureaucrats, heartless rule-followers, anyone that tries to teach ethics and of course, the Devil Himself, George W. Bush.

- That whole 'Malcolm Gladwell meets Anthony Robbins' vibe. and what's up with the random clapping whenever he mentioned 'Obama', 'children' or 'Indonesian rainforests'? What, no mention of 'Darfur' or 'Al Gore'?

- Was it just me or did his examples of 'heroic' people that we should admire and emulate strike ya'll as kind of thin? I mean, really, trotting out Atticus Finch, Aaron Feuerstein (?), Ray Anderson (double ??) and Willy Smitts (a full blown 'WTF?) as your 'go to' list of shining examples? That's his examples of heroes to be looked up to? No Mike Murphys, Rick Rescorlas, Dick Hoyts or Brad Kassals? So much for 'Someone You Should Know' (with all apologies to Matt at Blackfive)

Overall, not that great. I appreciate his appeal to use your experience and sense of right and wrong to guide you but his call to arms could be summed up as 'Do the Right Thing!' and save a good 19 minutes of the audience's time. And I could definitely do without the 'Thank God we have a new President' undercurrent of the whole thing.

If this is kind of stuff that blows your skirt up, I guess I better find another mil-blog to bookmark...

y'know -- I've never understood the threat to stop reading a blog because you hate one of the posts. Why does everyone do that?

Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I only have a limited amount of time to surf the web. I have a small number of mil-blogs I like to check in with every day or so and Op-For is one of them (so far). Like a lot of other people, I have my bookmark list and I just work my way down my favorites.

But here's the rub. If a good blog, or webmaster starts to write or post stuff that just rubs you the wrong way or flat out pisses you off, it's a pretty safe bet you'll go to other places with your limited time. Like everything else, people change over time. A writer you like and enjoy might lose his magic and start publishing total crap. You don't start hating the guy, but you definitely spend your money on someone else after being disappointed a time or two.

Now, some folks would fire back "hold on there, don't be so closed-minded, what's wrong with opinions you don't necessarily agree with?" Unfortunately, that response doesn't discriminate between a post/article that makes me think and ponder, even though I might not agree with the main thrust of the article, and a post or article that is full of ad hominen attacks, strawmen arguments, juvenile insults or bald-faced lies, even though I might agree with the underlying premise. I'm not claiming any of that with this latest video posted on Op-For, but I am stating that my tastes and attitudes and the ones of the Op-For staff may have diverged and it might be time for me to look elsewhere. Like I stated, if this video is an example of "Wow, that is excellent! what an awesome speech!", then I'm completely missing the boat and chances are, I will be missing the boat on a lot of future posts, videos, jokes, etc... Better to just move on and chalk it up to a gradual failure to see eye-to-eye.

Another example: Like a lot of other folks I work with, I initially enjoyed the early days of 'The Daily Show', back before Jon Stewart was the host (remember? he was the Craig Kilborn replacement unit). When Stewart took over, he did a good job and I enjoyed tuning in to the show, even the parts where he poked fun at GWB. He seemed pretty even-handed in his choice of targets and was refreshingly laid back. That was then, though....

Now, I can't even stand the 3 or 4 seconds I get when I channel surf past it. It's horrible, a studio full of boot-licking sycophants, hooting and jeering at the hapless fools (always conservative) who agree to come on the show and get blasted by a smarmy know-it-all. The whole 'Clown nose on/Clown nose off' schtick wore off a long time ago for me. Same thing happened to Dave Letterman, a guy I first started watching on the CBS Late,Late Show, dropping Molotov watermelons and old TVs off a ten story building. Now, he's a cranky old man who needs to retire, badly.

Off the top of my head, other writers/bloggers/entertainers I used to enjoy that I drifted away from after realizing I was wasting my time trying to find something that was no longer there -

Tom Clancy
Stephen King
George R.R. Martin
Orson Scott Card
Chuck Palahniuk
Henry Rollins
Neal Stephenson
William Gibson
Ralph Peters
Colby Buzzell
Andrew Exum
Po Bronson
Malcolm Gladwell

Some of it you just outgrow (I look back at my Tom Clancy fanboy days wondering what the hell I was thinking). Others, you initially liked them for the novelty, which soon grew really,really old when there was nothing else behind it (quick, name anything else readable and/or watchable that Palahniuk has done besides Fight Club).

So my apologies if I sounded like those ranting lunatics who declare "I'll never read this blog again! You guys suck!!!". No hard feelings, I'll just quietly move on. I'm sure you guys get more than enough newcomers to cover one dude who doesn't get it anymore. Granted, probably not too many guys reading this blog who did SERE back when the USSR still existed and are now pulling instructor duty in an Mi-17 but that's the breaks.

Sorry for the long post, lots of time on my hands this weekend...

PLJ

hate to lose you, because you're right -- we don't have too many readers with your experience, and no doubt our discussions would benefit with you around.

Actually, I like what PLJ has to say, and I have to admit finding myself not "feeling" some of the posts from John, but I've chalked it up to an age thing. There has been more than one occasion where John is excited and I'm wrinkling my nose.

Then I just figured that I'm getting old and maybe just a bit more seasoned and curmudgeonly, while John has the youthful, shiny outlook at the moment.

He'll learn : )

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