"You are a very negative person. I've never complained about my job or my employer. I'm paid well and I enjoy the challenge. I would like to be permitted to enjoy a movie in a theater while using the tools I need for my job responsibly."
Glenn, you are a profound asshat. And a sissy-lib, I just realized: If someone calls you on some bit of pretentiousness and self-importance that YOU introduce, then you default to, "You're negative!" Do you have one of those "I Hate Negative People!" bumper stickers on your Scion?
And hey, Glenn: If you’re so freaking busy and important, how can you spend so much damned time on FR? Four or five people responded to your statement that you can't be out of touch with the world for 2.5 hours in the exact same way I did, and here you are responding to all of us. Come on, man, you could miss a really important Blackberry message!
I see you have also defaulted to the I'm-untouchably-cutting-edge-technologically-and-you-people-are-all-so-vacuum-tube postiion that presumes we are knuckle-dragging apes who would freak out if exposed to the bright lights and wondrous wonders of a CompUSA, but actually we're really cool about all of it. We understand that we don't want to define ourselves by our gizmos.
You even bet someone they didn't have a cell phone. Glenn, we all have cell phones, we just regard them as what they are: Tools.
And of course you had to revert to calling people Luddites if they don't have a P5 implanted in their rectums, but perhaps you are unaware of a phenomenom identified by anthropologists (actually, I'm not kidding on this): A combination of rote-action feedback meshes with a psychological need to create an addictive state between user and his device.
Or as we call addicted Blackberry users on the street: Crackberries.
(Just one of the things I love about FR: This week's ally was last week's pissing contest opponent. Yo, DogGone: Merry Christmas!)
I don't even remember what we were arguing about last week. My memory is too lousy to even consider being able to hold a grudge. ;-)
Annoyances. My family has practically every tech bell & whistle (and has for quite some time). What they are most of the time is a supreme hassle. The new American dream is not to just get rich, but to disconnect as well.
I need to be able to watch my Blackberry as I am enjoying a movie while driving through the tunnel in my Scion and can't possibly be distracted. :-P
Very clever, John. You are the man!
You are assuming pretentiousness -- wrongly. (To be expected from a guy who looks for the least, I suppose.) I can't bring myself to waste time giving remedial instruction on way the world really works outside your conception of it.
Can you construct in that mighty mind of yours any circumstance which would allow for people to act responsibly on their own? One where there isn't "black and white" only? Where there are people who want their plumber before the water reaches the main floor?
You are so busy being pissed about your ill-conception of me, you've stopped thinking. I know your type. You are legion. But if it makes you feel special, run with it.