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HATE - Oregon Commentator

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I hate nutria<br />

If you haven’t seen a nutria before, imagine an evil mix of a beaver and a rat. Now<br />

fill your damn backyard with these devilish creatures and you understand why I hate<br />

them. They eat anything in sight and then proceed to shit all over my patio area. If<br />

I had my way I’d have them all killed, and none of you hippies can argue with that<br />

because they aren’t indigenous to this area , and their population has become impossible<br />

to control.<br />

~ Egill the Drunk<br />

I hate fixies - lemmings on wheels<br />

It’s getting warmer out, and fixed gear<br />

bikers are cropping up like dandelions on a<br />

spring lawn: brightly colored, ubiquitous<br />

and irritating. You’ve seen these wheeled<br />

freak shows on campus, cruising brazenly<br />

through the EMU amphitheater in daring<br />

defiance of the “Please Walk Bikes”<br />

signage. He is probably an underfed,<br />

Urban Outfitted, coffee shop-lurking<br />

19-year-old with parental plastic and a<br />

brand-new Bianchi that he spends more<br />

time parading up and down<br />

13th Avenue than actually<br />

riding.<br />

Stripped of derailleurs,<br />

brakes, and gearing, fixed gear<br />

bikes were once individually<br />

built machines reserved for<br />

bike aficionados with a desire<br />

for self-reliance, an aesthetic of<br />

simplicity, and quads of steel.<br />

Fixed-gears were dignified,<br />

respectable, and most of all,<br />

rare. Nowadays, every bike<br />

rack on campus has at<br />

least two parked at it.<br />

Of course, the<br />

trendification<br />

of fixed-gear<br />

bikes is no great<br />

tragedy -- just one<br />

more example of<br />

the simultaneous<br />

exultation<br />

a n d<br />

commoditization of authenticity that has<br />

marked the death of all cool subgenres<br />

in the past fifty years. But listen, smug<br />

new vanguard of fixie riders: your greedy<br />

trend-whoring may be explained by the<br />

fact that you are a uniquely self-entitled<br />

snowflake of the ‘90s, but buying an<br />

Italian-import cycling cap does NOT<br />

make you a hardcore bike rider. Why do<br />

you insist on wearing those little hats<br />

everywhere, anyway Are they actually<br />

surgically grafted to your skull Or<br />

were you worried we wouldn’t notice<br />

just how into your fixie you are Also,<br />

it would be great if someone could<br />

enlighten me as to why you require a $190<br />

Reload messenger bag to cart around your<br />

rolling tobacco, Moleskine and dog-eared<br />

copy of The Stranger. Does the crassness<br />

of a nylon Jansport hurt your delicate<br />

shoulder blades, or just your pride<br />

One thing I do like about fixie riders<br />

is that they are too cool for helmets.<br />

This means that they will be slowly<br />

but surely eliminated from the<br />

population by vigilante bus<br />

and truck drivers. Fixies<br />

can fuck off. I’ll see you in<br />

Roma.<br />

~Þorgerðr the<br />

Flatulent<br />

Illustration by Katie Rossing<br />

I hate progressives<br />

Besides making me think of a<br />

cheap soup that tastes similar to Guy<br />

Simmons’ freedom chunks (witnessed at<br />

the Springtime Great American Smokein),<br />

the word “progressive” fills me with<br />

indescribable rage, and that is why I<br />

hate it.<br />

Countless politicians use the word<br />

“progressive” because it sounds positive<br />

and makes voters, or students (depending<br />

on the level of government), feel<br />

comfortable spending exorbitant amounts<br />

of money.<br />

Take, for example, the proposed<br />

national healthcare plan that every 2008<br />

Presidential candidate has promised this<br />

year. National healthcare is certainly<br />

progressive, is it not What about the<br />

additional tax dollars it is going to take to<br />

fund such a project<br />

Or, the over-realized fund allocation<br />

process, pieced together by Senators Boye<br />

and Hatch—arguably two of the most<br />

“progressive” members of this year’s<br />

ASUO Senate. How does $750,000 get<br />

spent in one evening Very progressively,<br />

that’s how!<br />

Why not call progressiveness by its<br />

real name — liberalism. When things are<br />

done liberally they are done in generous<br />

amounts, including spending. Progress<br />

can be made without spending generous<br />

amounts of money, therefore progressive<br />

≠ progress.<br />

~Halla<br />

I hate apathy<br />

I was going to look up what Apathy means<br />

but I didn’t care that much<br />

~ Þorbjörn the Lousy<br />

I hate postmodernism<br />

Postmodernism kind of sucks, but I<br />

can’t prove it.<br />

~ Ingjald Ironfist<br />

I hate progressives, Reprise<br />

I hate the word Progressive, it makes<br />

me think of Progresso the soup, which<br />

tastes like vomit.<br />

~Halla<br />

13

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