BreakPoint Blog
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Is It an Anti-Human Bias? Some establishments, including restaurants, movie houses, and grocery stores, are instituting a ban on kids under six (or at least establishing kid-free times). I've got some questions about this trend. 1. Are children more un-mannered than they were, say, 20 years ago? 2. As a society, are we becoming less tolerant of children than we were ten years ago? 3. Do more parents ignore their children's bad behavior in public places? 4. Do we want an adult-only environment because we continually segment society? (Churches do this by having worship for kids, young adults, those over 35, seniors, etc.) 5. Is there something a lot more pernicious: Are we showing an anti-human bias? If bans like this spread, they can affect large portions of society. For instance, my extended family is planning a get-together at a local eatery this week, which will include my daughter and her three very young sons. We'll try and get tables at the back of the restaurant, and bring toys. But if bans like these spread, family get-togethers, like mine, might not be possible. |
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It was a pleasant evening, and my daughter got to have fun. Of course, we sat in the back room which was fine since we had three kids.
Andrea, my auntie had to take care of six of us under six. She did a great job, but I often wondered how she kept her sanity. Good going!
Carol, I find that I'm getting a little less tolerant of screaming kids when dinning at a nicer place. I scout tables while walking to the table. Fast food, great. Sweet Water Tavern, not so good.
Rolley, squirrel power! Maybe engineers should start designing cars in the shape of squirrels instead of large cats. ;-()
However my imaginary friends really like coffee and have plenty of time to drink it between star systems. Maybe Lee will too.
…as best I can tell, the only bias our squirrelLee friend ever came close to having was a bias-ply tire – right in the corn pouch.
And I do mean close. And, you know, to celebrate that close call of his, I think Lee ought to bias each a cigar. Or better, he can bias each a steaming mug of coffee.
What say you? Do I have a second?
(After all, that’s all the time it would take for “Superluminal Lee” to make roughly 40 coffee-bearing roundtrips between Portland, OR and Irmo, SC).
A second.
Get it? A “second”.
Oh never mind.
Discover faster-than-light travel? Jason, LeeQuod already did that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0TONBwqc7E
Gina was a close second, but as they say….”no cigar”….
Hey, **I** do interesting things! The same ones? Lessee...
"like founding civilizations in space,"
I've founded civilizations in cyberspace. Check.
"fighting aliens"
Like, say, labrialum, and FriarThom, and others who threaten the community? Check.
"and marrying gorgeous girls."
Thirty years ago, this past March. Check!
So, does this mean I'm one of your imagin-
And then there are their voices. I remember being a parent: I couldn't WAIT for them to learn to talk! And then, you wonder how to shut them up! (I had 2 girls!) Seriously, those sweet little voices, even when they are just talking normally, are so high-pitched they grate on nerves you didn't even know you had! When they scream, it's like a knife going through your head! It can be immobilizing.
So, for grandparents and great-grandparents everywhere, I'm inclined to approve strongly of "child-free" dining. And, the prospect of child-free grocery shopping is enough to send me into ecstasy!
I do think my imaginary friends to be very good friends. This is because I went to a lot of work creating them and they do interesting things like founding civilizations in space, fighting aliens and marrying gorgeous girls.
As for your cigar named TNT I wouldn't worry about it exploding seeing as real TNT melts when it is heated, long before it explodes and it will probably just dribble over your feet causing acid burns that will force the doctor to conduct an amputation. Have fun smoking!
1. Congratulations in advance! I'm delighted for you.
2. It's one thing to have a "family area" versus an "adults area" of a restaurant, and another thing entirely to say "No, Kim, you can't bring your grandchildren in here," which I think was her point. And it's quite possible to imagine a family having difficulty finding a place to eat with their children if this is the start of a trend. Furthermore, no one has yet mentioned the slippery slope: if you can ban kids under age 6, why not 7, 8, 9, ...? Oh, and don't forget to bring the birth certificates, in case you get challenged because Tiny Tim looks younger than he is. But on the other hand, these kinds of bans are occurring because too many parents don't discipline their children, and because society and the courts make it dangerous to publicly disapprove of someone else's behavior (or lack thereof). I imagine capitalism will eventually sort this out, as some restaurants thrive and others falter.
3. My maternal grandfather's family name was Barbour when they arrived in the USA in the early 1700s. Sometime later someone in my lineage changed it to Barber, which makes me feel somewhat cheated. I love to see the original spelling; thank you for that.
Ellen, I read about Solomon's Temple in the Old Testament, and I imagine with the sacrifices of animals on the altar that the place must have smelled like a bar-b-que. I wonder if Heaven, or at least parts of it, smells like that: some kind of overwhelming olfactory sensation that tells you there are good times of nourishment and fellowship here. Perhaps your desire to invite us over is a kind of foreshadowing of what we all will one day experience in the next life. So if we don't meet here on Earth, just look for the guy inside the Pearly Gates wearing this expression, and you'll know it's me: http://www.thecartoonpictures.com/data/media/299/over-the-hedge-hammy_800.jpg
Jason, I can see right through your ruse; you're just want me to quote that old Internet line "Of all my friends, I like the imaginary ones best." Or maybe you're trying to get me to go all geeky and riff on my remark to Ellen, with something about the benefits of relationships in cyberspace versus (appropriate for a bar-b-que, but actually referring to humans shaking hands, a.k.a. "pressing flesh") what we geeks sometimes jokingly call "meatspace". Well, I'm under no illusions that virtual friends are somehow more virtuous. So you're not gonna lead me down the path I... just... went... down. Drat. Now I need a cigar, and Rolley sent me an entire box; he must have forgiven me for blaming him for that exploding cigar I gave you. Wow, he really went overboard on this; the brand is "TNT". They must be some kind of special import; the outer leaf is bright red, and they come with a special little piece of cord you're supposed to light, instead of clipping the end and then puffing hard as you have to do with the less fancy brands. You want one? No?? OK, then - more for me. I'll be back in a bit, or so...