I'm allowed to have my opinion, but you're not allowed to have yours...deal with it

Don't you just alternatively hate/love arguing with stupid people?

So this morning I popped onto the WW website and checked out the message boards. Someone posted their opinion on a hot topic. Since that topic is also very hot in my life right now, I posted a differing opinion.

Fur flies!

Meerrrrroooooow!!!!

Claws came out and bam bam bam, I was put in my place!

You see, the thing is, most people believe that they have the right to their opinion...but you don't have the right to yours.

I find more and more opinions on hot topics are based on how a person feels and not facts or critical thinking. There is nothing wrong with feeling something about a situation, but when you want to debate the topic you really need to try to step back from the emotion and look at both sides, think critically about it, and understand your opponent's point of view.

I also find a lot of people making completely unrelated side arguments that have no bearing on the situation, but they somehow feel that because this happened in their lives, no one else is allowed to have that...

Oh okay, I'm talking about striking. You figured me out and I can't really make my point without talking about the topic. This morning someone posted about how inconvenienced they were by the grocery strike in California.

I posted the counter-view that while it may be inconvenient, people simply do not strike on a whim. There are real issues there and it's bigger than just one person or a few stores.

Wow someone got MAD at me! That's okay, as long as I'm allowed to have my say in the argument I don't get all bunged up over someone getting mad. But I just find it interesting that people have become so self-centered that they seem to have lost their ability to put themselves in the shoes of another. Here are some of the most common arguments I've seen against strike situations (my own and others):

Well my DH (I hate that term, makes me want to barf) got laid off last year.

That's very sad, but it has no bearing on the other industry's situation. It's very sad that people get laid off, but that doesn't mean that others shouldn't figh for fair treatment on their job.

Life is tough all over.

So we should just accept it when people try to take advantage of us? Of course not. And it's not true that life IS tough all over. There are many people getting rich in our society and if we don't allow unions to do their job, fighting for the rights of labor, the rich get richer and we all take it up the hiney.

Well this is really inconveniencing me!

Man I am so sorry that this is causing you to have to make some changes in your life. Don't you think it's inconveniencing the striker to be bringing in zero income and spend the day being abused by the public? Strikes are bigger than any one person, as I said before. They are a symptom that something is very wrong with labor/management relations in that industry. If something isn't done about it, things just keep building and building.

Well they get paid more than I do!

I always just want to say, "And your point is???" Most of the time the person saying this actually has no real clue about what the industry gets paid nor what it takes to be a part of that industry. I know I've heard that from people with no more than a high school education. Well, I went to school for 8 years to get to where I am, and continue to pursue education all the time. That's what I do to be a member of my industry. It was a sacrifice I made and continue to make so that I can work in a job I love and make a fair wage. Yeah, teachers don't really get paid what they're worth, but we know that going in. That doesn't mean we deserve to take cuts in pay or that we'll continue forever to do more with less.

If they don't like it, they can just get another job.

Yeah! That's the answer! Just let management roll right over labor and go get another job...but what happens when that management, working under the precedence set by others, decides to roll over you. Do you just keep taking it and taking it? Eventually we have to stand up for what's right, not run from the fight.

Well I don't get benefits, so why should they? I mean look at what a sweet deal they have! I'd be HAPPY to make what they make!

Again, this is often said by people who have no understanding of the job, no actual skills or training to do the job, and are working hard in jobs they fell into, not careers they chose.

Besides, it isn't as if you can't join the industry! Go get the training and jump on board! If one more person tells ME what MY job is like I'm going to beat them with a piece of chalk. If teaching is, indeed, such a "scam". If I truly only work 9 months a year and get paid really well (their argument, not mine). If if if...JOIN US! Go back to college and get a teaching degree. Do your student teaching for ZERO pay. Apply for one of the many openings and become part of the wonderful world of education.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love teaching and up until recent events, would never have considered doing something else. But it isn't all polished apples and beaming faces singing "Good morning to you! Good morning to you!" It's damn hard work. It's fulfilling work, but it's hard work.

But I digress...anyhow, that's my thing for today. Gotta love arguing with people who couldn't form an informed opinion if their lives depended upon it.

Strike Diary

Day One

Wow this is fascinating. Everyone seems in good spirits. Nobody wanted to do it, but it had to be done. People are waving and yelling out support as they drive by. Oh cool! Someone just brought pizza!

Day Five

Wow, who knew this would go on so long. Our resolve is still strong and we're confident that it can't last another week. People are bringing us pizza, sodas, and other food stuffs. A local family drops by baked goods every day.

Some of the more talented among us have been writing fun song parodies.

Day Ten

Okay, this is going on a lot longer than we expected, but it should be any day now. Some people are starting to feel stressed out. I wonder if we'll get paid this month? The community support still seems strong, although a few people are yelling things out their window at us. We just smile and wave knowing they are misguided.

The musical talents continue to flow and more song parodies have been written. Most of us are still in good spirits and bolstering those of us who aren't.

Day Twenty

Holy mother of GOD who knew this would last so long? Less people are honking supportively now, and a few more have started giving us the one finger salute as they drive by. Yeah, big man when you're driving 35 miles an hour. Let's see you stop and say that to my face.

If someone brings me another pizza I'm going to hurl. I've seen enough pizza and donuts to last me a freaking lifetime. I don't want to seem ungracious, but holy crap people. Have you never heard of a vegetable?

Our district is sending out letters telling everyone what big losers we are. I'm sure no one believes it. I mean who would believe such lies?

Day Thirty

Mother *bleeping* son of a *bleep....*. Will this strike never be over? I can't believe I complained about pizza. Now all we're getting is curses, birds, and insults.

Remember how I said no one would believe the garbage the district is sending out? HA! If one more person tells me I'm selfish and should be "doing it for the kids" I'm going to beat them bloody with my strike sign. Since when did becoming a teacher mean you had to take a vow of poverty?

We have so many *bleeping* song parodies that we can put out a two-CD disk set and sell it through RonCo! Despite it all, though, we won't give in. Our resolve is strong.

Day Thirty Five

That's it. I'm never reading the *bleeping* paper again. Apparently the only requirement to have a *bleeping* letter to the *bleeping* editor printed is that you take all leave of your *bleeping* senses, dredge up the most *bleeping* pathetic lies, and speak out of your *bleep*hole. Where do they find these *bleeping* people? If I read one more *bleeping* letter that tells me how overpaid and *bleeping* underworked I am, I'm going to pull a *bleeping* Milton on the place!

Vesuvius, baby...I'm going Vesuvius.

And don't get me *bleeping* STARTED on the actual *bleeping* stories! If anyone actually did any mother-*bleeping* research I'd probably grasp my chest and drop dead of a *bleeping* cardiac event!

Then there are the *bleeping* talk shows and *bleeping* news stations, where they apparently believe that our *bleeping* Hi-Q team hangs out smoking *bleeping* fags and spitting at the *bleeping* skate park. They dig up the biggest *bleeping* losers in town and ask them their opinion. Funny, Joe Student, you weren't so almighty concerned about your *bleeping* education when you were failing my *bleeping* class last year!

The truth may be out there, but I swear half the people in this *bleeping* community wouldn't recognize the *bleeping* truth if it bit them in the *bleeping* ass!

Day Forty

Well, we made the record. Whoopdee *bleeping* doo. We beat Fife for the longest teacher strike in history.

A parent group is taking us to court to force us back to work. We still don't have a fair offer on the table. People aren't even bringing us crusts of pizza, much less a *bleeping* donut. They don't understand that we can't just settle for a cut in pay and go back to work.

District *bleeping* lies go on. More *bleeping* love letters have been sent out. If we get forced back to work I full expect to be sent out into the cornfield with the Children of the Corn and someone will find my crow-pecked body lying at the side of a cornfield in Nebraska two weeks from now.

Day Forty-Five

BLEEEEP



This is a work of fiction. I truly love my students and feel for them. I wrote this tongue in cheek so please don't publish it to the Everett Herald as some sort of factual accounting of a strike diary. If you do, I will find you and I will eat your liver with a nice chianti and some fava beans.