HATE - Oregon Commentator
HATE - Oregon Commentator
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 />
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