'Tard, Thy Name is James

I've spent the last few days trying to get my wireless network going. This included my first ever phone call to Apple tech support. After farting around with them for 1/2 an hour the tech says "must be a hardware problem - take the base station back to the dealer". I do this and the dealer sets it up in the store and suddenly every Mac in the joint can see it. Whatever the problem is, it's not the base station.

So I'm bitching about this to garething and Jason, who proceed to ride my ass until I look at the problem more. It's a good thing too.

We quickly discover that the base station can only be seen by my iLamp when it is literally inches away from it. Even then the signal is piss poor. After much playing around with the equipment we finally decide to see if the computer's wireless network card is seated properly. I open up my iLamp and find that the antenna is not connected all the way. This means that my computer was having the exact same troubles as my cell phone - it had a microscopic antenna that didn't satisfy anyone. God I feel so inadequate.

I fixed the antenna, turned the machine back on and suddenly I have wireless internet. I asked Gareth to close the door (his daughter was in the next room) and proceeded to fill the room with profanities.

At least it's working now.

On Rednecks

We gamed last weekend. You can read about it here if you care. While waiting for the rest of the players to show up, one of them - K - said the following, which set off all kinds of alarms in my head:

"I'm proud to be a redneck"

Well this floored me, and seeking understanding I asked why.

"Because being redneck means you have honesty, integrity and common sense."

This of course pushed a whole bunch of my buttons (but not the two big ones thank god, or what little self-control I had would have vanished in a cloud of spitting gnashing rage). I could not let this go unchallenged, but at the same time I had to hold back from using the full force of my debating ability because it tends to piss people off.

The short version was:

1) Those qualities have more to do with being in a close-knit community than with being a redneck.
2) The corollary (that non-rednecks lack honesty, integrity and common sense) is not true.

As is her habit, K simply didn't bother listening so after a few attempts at reason I gave up with an "I disagree". As I've been down this road with her before, I knew better than to push it. The end result would not have changed her opinion one iota, and she would have nothing to do with me until she had a couple of years to cool off. As I wanted to game, I decided to drop it.

So you get to hear my real arguments!

To my way of thinking, there are several levels of redneck. The basest level is the literal reading: A redneck is a rural laborer - the sort of person who has a red neck because they work in the sun all day.

Going up the list we have a somewhat neutral definition: A redneck is a person who is neither sophisticated nor pretentious. The sort of person who lives the simple life and has simple pleasures. Nothing wrong with that - I myself have been known to hang out with the other thousandaires and bowl a few frames.

Nothing about either of those definitions speaks to positive (or negative) character traits. However, the most common definition for redneck is entirely negative - it's synonymous with bigot. Specifically a white bigot from the American south. As if that were something to be proud of. But of course K wasn't proud of being identified with uneducated bigots. She was proud of being part of a community that considers itself to be salt-of-the-earth.

Does it stand up to investigation though? My argument is that those traits are an illusion brought out by being part of a close-knit community. In this setting, dishonesty is punished. Corruption is punished. Agreeing with everyone else is "common sense". You do it out of fear, not out of principle.

It's always been my assertion that you can judge a person by how they treat the people around them. But not the people who can help or hurt you. No, the truest test of character is how you treat people who cannot hurt, hinder or help you. When you have nothing to gain and nothing to lose do you still treat people decently? If so, then you can call yourself principled.

So is it integrity that keeps the small town mechanic from ripping you off, or is it the fact that you're his neighbor and you both know that any attempt to cheat you will become grist for the gossip-mill? I'm not saying that this guy lacks integrity, just that you'll never know it because he'll always treat you fairly. Does he do the same thing to the Ontario tourist who's never going to drive through Rocky Mountain House again in his life?

Is it common sense to verbally gay bash in the local pub? Or do you just not know any better because you're part of a herd and you've never knowingly met a gay in your life?

I think what really bothered me was the unspoken "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude. It was patronizing and indefensible. Intolerance is not a virtue and it's certainly not something you trumpet to the world.