More of your responses and Grrrs ...
Pat in Kansas City, Mo.: Giant Grrr! to Jose Conseco and all his steroid buddies. First Jose comes out a blazing about himself and other players. Why??? To make money selling a book. He does not care about baseball or the other players lives. If Jose broke a batting record, then he would not be talking right now. Jose gets the "It is all about me award." Rest of the steroid boys of summer ... they break records because of their juiced-up bodies. Records that now can never be broken because they outlawed the juice that will get a player there. And this is not just the players, but the players union, and commissioner. They sold out this great game because they need more interest and more MONEY! Baseball will never be the same.
Luke in Iowa: My new Grrr! is the fact that people are "giving up" the absolute dumbest things for Lent. Shopping, sleeping in on weekends, whistling, wearing jeans. Good Lord, people, if you're actually going to "give something up for Lent," at least don't bastardize the Lenten celebration with something as stupid as the aforementioned items. Give up something that will better your life or make you a better person.
Chad from Charleston: Grrr! to these people with "walkie talkie" cell phones! I see/hear them on my lunch break, usually filling the local eatery with loud, beeping noise pollution. Do they really need to talk AT their cell phone in front of their face, instead of INTO their cell phone next to their ear. It takes the same number of movements to answer a cell phone call as it does answer a "walkie talkie" call -- the only difference is the rest of us don't have to hear it!
Joshua in Cyber-Space: Following your column off and on for the past year or so, I often have felt compelled to let out a shout of agreement that America would understand. Occasionally, I don’t agree about some of your “Grrrs,” but I understand that frustration because I lose my patience in some cases where you wouldn’t. However, the majority of your observations I appreciate; you often speak the truth and reveal things for what they truly are. Thank you for faithfully standing up and refusing to roll around in the same limelight as it seems the rest of the media is in the habit of doing. You give a voice to the voiceless, those who are disgusted by the sickness that lies in so much of our culture, such as the making of Paris Hilton into some sort of god. I also appreciate the non-grrrs you’ve given out, because it does help us as readers to not just focus on the bad, but gives us something to smile about. I hope you continue to co-create culture in un-biased truth
And now for one of my grrrs … GRRR to the news media who don’t show anything but the daily body count in Iraq. Even when things start to take a positive spin over there, they try to find something shocking just to draw viewers to watch their station so they can make more money on commercials. How about showing some of the good? There must be stories of love, mercy or kindness out there somewhere. Why not put down the discord, jealousy and hatred for a minute in the news broadcast and show us something uplifting and profitable so that the community might profit from it?
Paul D. on my first Grrr! from last week: People who are trolls that complain about getting
flamed. You've got only yourself to blame.
M. Smith in Cyber-Space: WOW ... who put the bug up your butt?? That was some classic old-school Grrr-ing (last week). You got back to the basics!! I love that you are unafraid to offend others by telling the truth!! I agree about the trashy celebrities! I couldn't care less if I ever heard about Paris Hilton, Courtney Love or Anna Nicole Smith again. They are all famous for making fools of themselves in public. They are talentless. I turn the channel or flip the page if I see their faces, because I couldn't care less about anything they have to say. Grrrr to myself for even spending enough of my precious time typing this e-mail regarding them.
Dorothy on the frustrations of getting a book published:
— Grrr to all those publishers who insist on only publishing a sure thing, totally forgetting that at one time, their sure thing was a maybe.
— Grrr to literary agents and publishers, who won't take the time to make sure that the rejection letter they send is in the right envelope, which would prevent me from receiving a rejection letter in an envelope addressed to me, but the letter inside is addressed to Robert Smith.
— Grrr to literary agents who offer to represent you, and then want to charge you for office supplies, postage and phone calls to publishers on a monthly bases, but when you reject their generous offer, they insult your work and/or abilities as a writer.
— Grrr to literary agents who suggest you send your book to a 'book doctor' whom they refer, to polish/tighten/make it marketable, promising representation if your book is polished/tightened/made marketable by their referred doctor, only to disappear after the fee is paid and the polishing is done. They also totally forget to mention that they get a small percentage of the 'doctor's fees.'
Erin G. in Cyber-Space: I love your column and this week's bitter diatribe was ON THE NOSE! I, too, daily lament my misfortune of having to see and hear all about Brad and Jen. WHO CARES?! A broken marriage is hard enough to deal with without everyone needing every gory detail. You know what it is? It's all the disillusionites out there who have harbored secret crushes for these poor pedestaled people that get a small bit of joy out of the failure of their relationships because they think they might finally have a chance for romance with their fave celebrity! They're to blame for all the tabloid garbage! (deep, cleansing breath) OK. I'm done. Oh, and thank you for properly disciplining your child. She'll love you all the more for it and others will love her.
Counter clerk writes: I have found a good way to bring the self-centered back to reality and provide a break for myself when dealing with them at a check-in counter at the RV park where I work. When one is making demands and expecting to be treated better than anyone else, I simply say "excuse me for a minute," and walk outside. Then I come back in and say "Well, I just checked, and the earth is still revolving around the sun and not you." It stops them every time.
Carl from Indiana on one of last week's postings: Mike, I thought that was a really sweet letter from your mother who signed herself "Keith from Florida".
Jon P. in Arizona disagrees with my bling Grrr!: I love the term “bling." I find it hilarious. Just hearing the term makes me laugh. What it does for me is it minimizes all gaudy jewelry down to a flick of a trite term. Got a 2.5 carat diamond ring? It’s bling. Got a big honkin’ gold chain? Bling. Your initials in vast clusters of diamonds? Bling and that’s all it is. Bling. Really, it’s a backward insult to jewelry and those who value themselves based on the value of their jewelry. Think about it — would you refer to the Crown Jewels in England as “bling”? No. They carry some sort of power. Moral weight. History. Blah, blah, blah? No. They’re bling. Whether it’s a diamond in Britney Spears nose or jewels on the czar’s Easter eggs, it’s all just a buncha BLING! So GRRR yourself on this one, pally! Plus, you can make funny rhymes with it!
Jamie in Illinois: Grrr, Grrr, Grrr! I work at a bank and I know that I have a job because
we have customers and my job is to serve them, but sometimes ... Grrr! A customer just called to get their balance for their car loan. When I told them the payoff amount the customer said, "Oh, wait a minute, honey ... I have to find something to write this down," and of course she didn't have something nearby. It should NOT have been a surprise that this
information was coming. SHE called ME!!
Cindy from Indiana: Bravo on your GRRR!! to the mommies and daddies who don't discipline their screaming children. A few months ago I was in a local restaurant enjoying what I thought was going to be a quiet mid-afternoon lunch when a grandmother brought in her small grandson and granddaughter. The children weren't having a tantrum ... just playing amongst themselves before and during the meal. It might have been a little cute if they hadn't been so loud! Unfortunately, instead of having consideration for others in the restaurant, the grandmother just oohed and aahed at them over how cute they were. I could go on with several stories of oblivions and their kids but I'll stop here for now. Thanks for being a voice of reason in an age of insanity!
Chaz Ervin in St. Albans, W.Va.: My Grrr! is about the people who complain about media violence and the influence they think it has on their children. I, as well as many of my generation, grew up with loads of violent movies, cartoons, toys, games, comic books —you name it. Watching and playing G.I. Joe inspired my brother to become a soldier, not a criminal. My brothers and I were never violent kids, and we're not violent adults now. Parents need to realize that a child's real-life environment has a far greater effect than any work of fiction could.
The Liles in Cyber-Space: Well, you did it! You took a column that I would think should be objective and made it personal. Are we supposed to think you have the inside track on what is good and what isn’t? Doubtful -- very doubtful. The issue behind "The Passion" is not the caliber of movie; it is the blatant rejection of it within the critics — and they don’t even try to excuse it! Now, in my book, that’s a little childish on the part of the critic -- not the complainer in this case. And you have an opportunity to make a statement and this is all you can come up with??? I know some columnist that, if I were boss, would be looking for jobs.
Betty from Santa Cruz, Calif.: Thank you for mentioning the minors with their school logo on their pants! I go to the university, so I see this a lot more often, and often those pants would be so low on their hips that their underwear is showing a little, as if it is a fashion statement to let the whole world know that you are wearing a frilly thong underneath your already low and falling pants! Grrr! When I go to work, I see middle-schoolers and even preteens doing this! You know, parents, please do something about this! This is totally inappropriate, not to mention an eyesore to the rest of us who dress decently! Please don't buy any more of those pants or let them buy those pants, and don't forget to tell your daughters to pull the pants up too when they are in public! Grrrr.
Mike Straka is the director of operations and special projects for FOXNews.com, and contributes as a features reporter on "FOX Magazine," and occasionally as a news cut-ins anchor on FOX News Channel. Read Mike's Bio.
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