The World's Smallest Violin (Desperate liberal needs Freeper advice)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | October 26, 2007 | James Taranto

[Zakeet]

Think you've got problems? Let Ken Ilgunas offer you some perspective. Ken's got problems, and the Buffalo News has generously offered him space to tell the world about them:

I am 24, live with my parents, can't find work and am floundering in a sea of debt five figures high. I think of myself as ambitious, independent and hardworking. Now I'm dependent, unemployed and sleeping under the same Super Mario ceiling fan that I did when I was 7.

How did this happen? I did what every upstanding citizen is supposed to do. I went to college. . . .Upon graduating, I was helplessly launched headfirst into the "real world," equipped with a degree in history and $32,000 in student loans. Before ricocheting back home, I would learn two important lessons: 1) There are no well-paying--let alone paying--jobs for history majors. 2) The real world is really tough.

At one point, Ken was so "desperate" that he even considered working for a bank or an insurance company!

"I had hit an all-time low. Could I surrender my soul for health coverage and a steady income? Could I sacrifice my ideals by falling into line?"

Our hero stood firm.

[Freedom4US]

Part of it might be the incessant “esteem training” that is going on these days in education. Academia is world unto itself. I went into the Army - it must be admitted - to help pay for College. Mommy and daddy weren’t gonna foot the bill. Looking back NOW, it’s easy to understand why.

But I remember during those first few weeks in Basic, I was feelin’ pretty low, lol. During KP, it all kinda hit me. Feelin’ sorry for meself. Well the Army was the best thing that ever happened to me. That ain’t always the case for everyone of course. But I owe Uncle Sam a debt of gratitude, and the outstanding NCOs and Officers and fellow Soldiers that can never be repaid. I Suppose it could be argued that had I paid attention to Mom, Dad, Apple Pie and Chevrolet in the first place, a couple stints in the .mil wouldn’t have been necessary to begin with, but that ain’t how it worked out.

[tennteacher]

Reminds me of another idealogue, albeit a more successful one, Thoreau.

Ralph Waldo Emerson supported him.

[Don Corleone]

A true Hillary (Liberal Socialist leaning) democrat.

[mhx]

I want to get a graduate degree in history too, but I don’t expect to be able to pay my bills with it. So I am trying to become independently wealthy first :-)

[Huck]

Hobart, baby!

[Bon mots]

Q: How do you get a history major off your front porch?
A: Pay him for the pizza.

Q: What do you call a history grad in New York City?
A: Waiter!

Q: Why don't history majors buy condoms?
A: Who would sleep with a history major?

[Huck]

I moved out on my own when I was 18. It was my own decision. Never looked back.

[gridlock]

Ken,

Do you realize that your very respiration is contributing to Global Warming. Not to mention the energy and resources that you consume no matter how hard you try to lead a low-impact lifestyle. You are contributing to the eventual floods and hurricanes that will soon engulf our planet.

There is really only one way to avoid being part of the problem, Ken, and I think we all know what that is...

[Fledermaus]

I wonder how fast he’d “compromise his integrity” when starving.

Fool.

[Bommer]

"I had hit an all-time low. Could I surrender my soul for health coverage and a steady income? Could I sacrifice my ideals by falling into line?"

Ken you ignorant slut! There are those who risk their lives floating in an innertube for 90 miles in shark infested water just to taste freedom and are happy as hell to live in a slum and work at a Burger King for minimum wage. They left everything they knew just to have freedom.

You my embilocal cord attached, hemp huffing loser still wish to remain a prisoner of moms basement, because losers like yourself would rather be chained to suckling on your moms dried out sagging teet than to be a real man and face the world. You canoot surrender ideals because you have none.

You my friend are a leech. A worthless individual that contributes nothing but to sponge off someone else. My advise, join the marines so that they can beat a worthless punk like you into becoming a man instead of a child pornography downloading pedafile that life the "lavita loco" life of Norman Bates!

[chargers fan]

A history degree isn’t exactly a death knoll for your career. I’m a history major here at West Point... but then again the only reason I majored in it is that I already know I’ll have a job when I graduate. Guess it’s different circumstances than this dude.

[Redleg Duke]

After four and a half years of engineering school, I graduated, took a job in aerospace in 1970 and was laid off three months later. I came to find my beloved step-grandfather dying of cancer after only a year of well-earned retirement.

His last words to me as he shook my hand was, "If you can't work for two dollars a day, work for a dollar a day!"

I think this egotistical parasite named "Ken" needs a more serious dose of reality. He should be kicked out of his parents house and onto his smarmy face.

[TigersEye]

You can read more about Ken's travails at the bottom of the page -- including his belief that he is better off unemployed than "compromising his integrity."

That's fine. However convoluted his principles may seem it is his choice to make them. He ought to stand by them. But the minute you whine "unfair" your integrity is completely gone. Ken has none now.

[BamaAndy]

That’s right—he might not have the credentials to teach but could get them in about one quarter—too bad these types do wind up teaching (Bennish) and/or working for the government. That’s why the institution, even the CIA has been filled with lib hacks who don’t mind the lie for the sake of the agenda.

[Bat_Chemist]

Lack of education in proper grammar.

(C8

[Huck]

Well then how did I catch my error, hmmm? :-P

[berdie]

No doubt you are correct about “esteem training”. As far of a reach as this may seem..the fact that our kids can’t fully participate in what used to be an independent childhood (simple things like playing in the front yard alone, playing in the neighborhood with friends, with no adult supervision..gasp) because of the dangers involved, may have robbed them of their independence and decision making ability. Very often what one learned in that relatively adult free environment, carried forward to adulthood.

The military is a great teacher. Thanks for your service.

[Freedom4US]

Well, the schooling wasn’t for nought either, but I was, and am, a little ticked off on what it has morphed into. In spite of the loonies of all stripes, there are some excellent educators around. Some of the most valuable (although, I really didn’t need to spend 20 large) was the art of critical thinking - logical fallacies - and related studies. Unfortunately, emotion and demagoguery seems to have the upper hand today, and I don’t see the situation improving. But it keeps me sane, no small consolation in this world we live in. Thank *you* for your kind words. Everyone can do something, whether it’s the military or something else. To give something to others is very satisfying and can be its own reward, or something like that.

[OpusatFR]

“...the only reason I majored in it is that I already know I’ll have a job when I graduate...”

I graduated in the sixties. I won’t say the date since I’d like to be able to pretend I’m not as old as dirt.

During my college years, all the draft dodgers were history majors. I suppose that is the reason I have a jaundiced view of them.

~Revisionist history is the other reason! These people come out with skewed versions of historical events.

[WVNan]

Once you get in the door, the degree is pretty useless. An uneducated wise guy like me can come in and steal the job from you, because guy's like me know how to huck and chuck to survive, while fools who spend their lives in school do not.

You are so right. A bright person can talk their way into a job and go right up the ladder of success, even without the sheepskin. My husband became a teacher with a high school education. He turned his heavy equipment school in the Marine Corp. into a position at a diesel college, and went on to become manager of Cummins Ga. He has had other successful careers (he gets bored). He was successful in the music business. He was a successful Marketing Rep. Believe it or not, he was at one time a bird trainer for Parrot Jungle in Miami. He is retired now and pastoring 4 churches. Yes four of them.

Jobs are not hard to find if you want one. You take what presents itself and use it as a springboard to better things. I learned more from my job as a waitress than any job I have had. Serving people teaches you patience, tact, anger management, and organization. All of those things come in handy in life.

This young moocher needs a dose of reality.