this is a sad sad nation. maybe it's worse here in oklahoma, and god i hope so, cause that means there's hope for the rest of the country. but i'm gonna guess it sucks ass and people are mean and ignorant pretty much all over.

what the hell am i talking about? well i hate to bore you by bringing up the same old crap that you are hearing all around right now, but, well, i need to vent, and this is my forum. i was at the gym last night, and it's pretty deserted (not a lot of students during a holiday week), but not far from me is a chick on the stair climber and a guy lifting weights. the tv closest to us is tuned to the national news, which is, of course, focused on the death of that reporter and a "mistaken" attack in afghanistan in which lots of innocent people were killed. the girl was all, "ooooh that's soooo sad about that reporter. his wife is like seven months pregnant or something." then news report says something about the attack like "many of the victims were found dead in their beds, apparently shot while sleeping." i am thinking, my god, this all sucks, it's so terrible, senseless, etc ...

but stair-climber girl and weight-lifter guy are apparently not on my wavelength ... in reponse to this news, she says, in the most nasty sarcastic tone you've ever heard (and believe me, i know my nasty sarcastic tones) "aaaawww, isn't that just TOO BAD!" and he says, "no doubt! who cares how they died?" to which she replies, "i know! i mean, don't you think the people in the world trade center were just as surprised as those people were in their sleep?" ...

i am about to puke at this point, but she drives the nail in my coffin with, "if you ask me" ...and i am not exaggerating this shit for effect... "they should bomb the whole damned country."

to which weight-lifter replies, "no doubt."

and i said nothing. what a chicken shit. i mean, i was just so stunned ... i mean, i'm not _that_ naive; i know that there are millions of hateful, cruel people in this world, and i know that lots and lots and lots of americans share these sentiments. i AM naive enough, however, to think that most of them have the decency not to voice these fucking stupid opinions in public places.

apparently, i vastly underestimated the average capacity for stupidity and hatred. honestly, if this girl couldn't see the dichotomy in her statements -- if she can't see that all these dead people are PEOPLE regardless of geography and skin color, people with mothers and children and friends -- is there really anything i could say that would make her see. is there? i'm asking, because if i could have said something to make her change her mind, or even make her have the tiniest spark of independent thought in her head, i would say it.

or maybe i should just kick the living shit out of her. oh wait, did i say that out loud? i guess that really undermines my don't-be-mean proposition, doesn't it? anyway, i don't know what my ultimate goal is in telling this story. i guess to have you share my pain.

now i will go cheer myself up by listening to the theme from Fat Albert six or seven times in a row.