Rant of the Week #2

Vote With Your Dollars.

In today's society, it's apparent that mediocrity has become the standard of the day. People complain incessantly about Microsoft in Usenet discussions and the trade press - "Bill Gates is taking over the world"! I don't have any problem with domination, but I want to be dominated by excellent products. At least Microsoft is trying to excel - they may not always succeed but they strive to. Mediocrity is prevalent in most industries - perhaps this is a side effect of the world's having become Gapified and MickeyD fed and Disnitained. Lowest-Common-Denominator life. Perhaps it's something else, the gradual decline of civilization as the idiots out-reproduce the smart. I don't know for sure, so I guess I'm not among the smart.

I'd be less worried if my Mac didn't crash at least once a day, and if it hadn't taken my local Dodge dealer three tries to fix my air conditioner (this changes everything), and if the City of Salem could finally put a trash barrel out on the street and then collect it on occasion. Just because my waitress at the nice resturant has her nose pierced doesn't make her bad at what she does. Talking to a friend and ignoring the customer does, though (and bring the food out when it's ready, dammit, not after it's cold).

We could demand better of the world. But we seem content to sit on our butts, watch TV, and tolerate bad products, bad service, and bad government. I'm just as bad as everybody else. Our disposable income shouldn't be supporting nonsense.

You get what you deserve. Try to deserve more.

-Josh Turiel
josht@janeshouse.com