America The Stupid, Part Deux

I don't know what has gotten into me but I am just full of opinions this week. Must be that my mind is fully refreshed from vacation. Just like Frank Costanza's fictional holiday of Festivus, it's time for the airing of grievances. That's right America, I have a few problems with the way you operate...mainly how stupid you are. This blog post is the result of three separate emails/occurances in the last few days.

The first email was from my cousin, who I have inspired to start his own blog (see link below). He responded to my 9/11 rant by saying that us Cheifet's are often seen as insensitive but the bottom line is that we say it how it is. That's right, we are a bunch of straight-shooters, no bullshit. The second email was from my mom who was wondering why I didn't do a 1-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina post. As you might have guessed, I have an opinion on this one too. Allow me to explain.

As we all know, the Gulf Coast got slammed by a Category 5 hurricane last year. It was truly a tragedy. Thousands of people lost their homes and other invaluable possessions during the hurricane and subsequent flooding. Therein lies my grievance with the whole thing. It seems that everyone (including the media) forgot that these people in New Orleans lived below sea level!!! Hello, what do you expect to happen when you live below sea level? Did these people not think there was a chance that flooding might happen sooner or later? I almost want to say, "I told you so."

This goes back to my definition of "heroes" from the other day. When you knowingly accept risk and those percentages play out, no one is at fault other than you and luck. Sure, it's terrible that these people died or lost everything they had. I mean, these people in California who build their houses on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Every year there are mudslides and someone's home goes tumbling down the side of a mountain yet they continue to build there just for the view. Do I feel bad for them losing their homes? Yes. Do I feel bad for them for being stupid and building their house where they know it's probably going to get destroyed? Not at all.

The third encounter happened at the gym on Monday. For some reason my gym gives out free pizza on the first Monday of each month. People + Gym = Healthy. People + Pizza = Not Healthy. Gym + Not Healthy People = More Money. I thought this idea was pretty bad until I got on the stationary bike and the guy sitting next to me was pedaling and eating pizza at the same time!!! How do you expect to lose weight if you are eating pizza while exercising? Only in America.

So in conclusion. If you do something stupid and wonder why you got fucked in the end, then there is only one person you can blame: yourself. Or the media.