Black or woman president?

[Rabbit From Hell]

Cow Kitty would be THE BEST president EVER!

She would effectively veto EVERY law, returning the country to the time when it didn't suck.

[The_P]

But, I have to trust Py, when she claims
not to. Even if all my evidence from others
points differently. I don't know her. Maybe
she's pure.

I'm not saying I don't have biases, I'm saying I don't have those particular biases. I don't care what gender you are. I don't care what color your skin is. Though I'm starting to see that in this society I ought to expect people with darker skin to have a chip on their shoulders about race.

A few of the things I am biased about:

- mental health (I don't like depressives)
- work (I look down on people who don't try to work or find work)

I'm going to allow this post to apply to me personally, because I'm currently bored and could do with an argument to pass the time.

People like yourself, HG and JMan make me laugh. You lot have had major issues in your past lives, and for you guys to put down on the gutless and hopeless spastics like me and Dunc is laughable in itself. Some of us do have the right to find a job that suits our needs. I don't see you three applying for driving, postal or cleaning jobs (mainly computer work or psychology jobs, oh my!), so who the fuck are you to tell ME that I'm not trying or that I'm too picky? You think I was born here so that you cockroaches can feel good about yourselves by putting us all down with your condescending bullshit?

And do you know what it's like in the UK for disabled folk of any kind, that they're not offered equal opportunities because our society is quick to impose limitations on us because we're disabled? Do you think it's wise to put an agoraphobic in a supermarket job where he/she may have a mental breakdown with all those people? What practical help are you providing for these people, personally? Oh, I forget: it's too convenient to judge the unemployed and the mentally fucked-up than it is to use your skills and abilities to help them be financially independent.

[Pyraxis]

I'm going to allow this post to apply to me personally, because I'm currently bored and could do with an argument to pass the time.

Okay, I'll take you on. Nothing personal - I like a good fight too.

People like yourself, HG and JMan make me laugh. You lot have had major issues in your past lives, and for you guys to put down on the gutless and hopeless spastics like me and Dunc is laughable in itself. Some of us do have the right to find a job that suits our needs.

One, you're neither gutless nor hopeless; two, I have never claimed you don't have the right to find a job that suits your needs. You can do whatever you damn well please - and yet it pushes your buttons to hear me say I think you should try harder. So I suspect that on some level you agree with me, or you really wouldn't care what I think. You may not have seen evidence of me trying for basic jobs - well, I haven't seen evidence of you trying to work despite your issues. Now I don't know you in real life, so I may just be missing it. And I'm open to being wrong. But I haven't seen it.

I don't see you three applying for driving, postal or cleaning jobs (mainly computer work or psychology jobs, oh my!), so who the fuck are you to tell ME that I'm not trying or that I'm too picky?

Check your facts before you make accusations. I've applied for entry-level positions at Walmart, Meijers, Home Depot (major USA chain stores) as well as waitressing jobs. At Steak and Shake they laughed me out of the place, because my resume had stuff like "Art Director" and "Graphic Designer and Illustrator". They asked whether I was making a career change into hospitality.... I just needed the money. I can't know for certain but my guess is that I looked so overqualified that they assumed I must have something else seriously wrong with me. They were kinda right. 

And do you know what it's like in the UK for disabled folk of any kind, that they're not offered equal opportunities because our society is quick to impose limitations on us because we're disabled? 

Nope, but I seriously doubt the USA is any better.

Do you think it's wise to put an agoraphobic in a supermarket job where he/she may have a mental breakdown with all those people?

Here's where I get lambasted, but yes. Why? Sink or swim. People are more resourceful than they think, and the fact of this earth is that if you have a disability, you're going to have to scramble harder in order to hold your own. I know there comes a point where people are not physically capable of pushing themselves any farther, and that's fine - that's the time to stop and adjust to one's limitations. But can you honestly tell me you've reached that point?

What practical help are you providing for these people, personally? Oh, I forget: it's too convenient to judge the unemployed and the mentally fucked-up than it is to use your skills and abilities to help them be financially independent.

I judge no one any harsher than I judge myself. The practical help I am providing personally is mostly going to my partner and close friends, because I haven't yet mastered the art of helping large groups of people at once. But don't you worry - I don't say things like this out of convenience or laziness, I say them because I believe them, and I do live out my values in real life.

[Soph]

I can't get a job now because the only job I'd be able to get at my age and with no degree yet (afaik) is in a shop etc, working with customers. I can't do that now because of social anxiety and disorientation problems and stuff. I get no help with these things for free (as I am over 18 and, apart from student services, the only autistic-related help they give is for under-18s). So I am paying to see a support worker. I'll be paying for iot myself, and it will be costing me over half the money I have per month.

If I was to just force myself to get a job in a shop now, I wouldn't last five minutes. I'm still trying to sort myself out for depression (drugs not been working), and adding a job to that would end in some kind of nervous breakdown or something. I don't want to be in that position. My mum has two other kids to look after, and it's my step-dad who pays all the bills etc, so it's not like I don't feel bad about these things. But it's also not as simple as just going out and getting a job.

[Calandale]

No. It's not so simple. Indeed, I DID try and push
myself (had to) and got such jobs. On the phone.
I'm lucky I wasn't arrested.

But, there are other kinds of low end
jobs for unskilled. Such as stock work.
Or cleaning.

[Soph]

I couldn't be a cleaner because of ocd, I'm not bothered about doing boring shitty work though, or for a long time or whatever. But where I live the only places I could work would be with people.

[The_P]

I'm going to allow this post to apply to me personally, because I'm currently bored and could do with an argument to pass the time.

Okay, I'll take you on. Nothing personal - I like a good fight too.

Rawr. I came prepared myself. Unlike my recent half-assed one liners, I've written a draft in response to this argument on a notepad.

Fuck off.

One, you're neither gutless nor hopeless; two, I have never claimed you don't have the right to find a job that suits your needs. You can do whatever you damn well please - and yet it pushes your buttons to hear me say I think you should try harder. So I suspect that on some level you agree with me, or you really wouldn't care what I think. You may not have seen evidence of me trying for basic jobs - well, I haven't seen evidence of you trying to work despite your issues. Now I don't know you in real life, so I may just be missing it. And I'm open to being wrong. But I haven't seen it.

Yes, you've pushed my buttons; if you didn't then I wouldn't respond to you.

Though it isn't hard to rile me up over this considering that it's a sensitive issue for me. Oh woe is me for not being the hunting and gathering male.   

Check your facts before you make accusations. I've applied for entry-level positions at Walmart, Meijers, Home Depot (major USA chain stores) as well as waitressing jobs. At Steak and Shake they laughed me out of the place, because my resume had stuff like "Art Director" and "Graphic Designer and Illustrator". They asked whether I was making a career change into hospitality.... I just needed the money. I can't know for certain but my guess is that I looked so overqualified that they assumed I must have something else seriously wrong with me. They were kinda right. 

Hey, if you have chosen to get involved in my life and my personal (lol!) business, back it up with personal experiences and how emotionally daunting it was for you to cope in those jobs. Otherwise, I'm going to assume that you're a close-minded, stuck-up, social-darwinistic bitch who doesn't know what she's on about.

You know full well that I've been trying to get on the ladder of unemployment through my voluntary work for the past couple of years. I was trying to build up good job references and to also improve my people's skills, which is pretty admirable for someone who is a self-diagnosed agoraphobic. It's not putting meat on the table, sure, but it's a start -- and it's for a good cause.

Nope, but I seriously doubt the USA is any better.

Fact: The USA has more job opportunities than the UK does.

Also, the USA have a more positive attitude towards the disabled, which is quite ironic considering that they still use outdated autism research.

There was this tv documentary about a Tourette's sufferer who wasn't getting any equal opportunities in the UK, since he was patronised and regarded as a thicko. When he moved into the United States, however, he acquired a good job AND a girlfriend in tow.

Here's where I get lambasted, but yes. Why? Sink or swim. People are more resourceful than they think, and the fact of this earth is that if you have a disability, you're going to have to scramble harder in order to hold your own. I know there comes a point where people are not physically capable of pushing themselves any farther, and that's fine - that's the time to stop and adjust to one's limitations. But can you honestly tell me you've reached that point?

Where did I say that I've reached my limit? I'm still applying for jobs: one is for a retailing job at a video games shop (full-time); the other is a part-time one at a garden superstore -- as I have some gardening experience. I won't know when I'll get these jobs until I get an interview, which may take up to one, two... maybe three weeks time. :p

I've also registered myself with other cleaning agencies, but there's no local work right now because it's Janurary, and Janurary is always a funny time of the year when it comes to jobs.

I judge no one any harsher than I judge myself. The practical help I am providing personally is mostly going to my partner and close friends, because I haven't yet mastered the art of helping large groups of people at once. But don't you worry - I don't say things like this out of convenience or laziness, I say them because I believe them, and I do live out my values in real life.

That's fine, but I don't have the habit of chastising people online over work just because I don't have a close relationship with them. People who just post this shit and fucks off afterwards piss me off a little. I could easily disregard it as text on a screen but I'm dealing with actual human beings here.

[Pyraxis]

Hey, if you have chosen to get involved in my life and my personal (lol!) business, back it up with personal experiences and how emotionally daunting it was for you to cope in those jobs.

Your wish is my command. 

Though I don't particularly want to get into a "my angst is worse than your angst!" contest. And I'm always worried that's how it sounds when I talk about stuff.

I'm not agoraphobic, but I'm likely social-phobic - that's what they said was wrong with me before they figured out about autism. I got lucky - my father started throwing me into social challenges when I was in my early teens, so by the time I started working, I had practice at facing fear. He would volunteer me to do software presentations at the local computer users' group, without asking first, and I'd do them because I was more scared of him than them. He set me up doing game reviews, which required I make business calls to game companies from the pay phone at school. I remember one time I was pale and shaking enough afterwards that the girls at the lunch table thought I was sick.

I've fucked up too. I chickened out of one of the software presentations once and had to ask him to do it for me. I've lost the ability to talk in job interviews and presentations. Last fall I did caricatures at a flea market and a guy liked my work enough that he invited me to work at his company's events. But after a couple weeks of stress and two days of sitting with the phone in my hand and wanting to scream, I stopped being able to call him back and lost the opportunity. I have a baseline level of fear when I'm around other people, so I tend to appear stiff and formal from keeping it under control. A career advisor once told me she wouldn't hire me because of it, because she couldn't get a sense of my personality. I find it very hard to fake being cool and relaxed, and that seems to be what people want from a job candidate.

Otherwise, I'm going to assume that you're a close-minded, stuck-up, social-darwinistic bitch who doesn't know what she's on about.

Guilty as charged - on the stuck-up and social-darwinistic, anyway. The others you'll have to judge for yourself.

You know full well that I've been trying to get on the ladder of unemployment through my voluntary work for the past couple of years. I was trying to build up good job references and to also improve my people's skills, which is pretty admirable for someone who is a self-diagnosed agoraphobic. It's not putting meat on the table, sure, but it's a start -- and it's for a good cause.

Completely agreed. The reason I thought you weren't trying hard is because the last couple times you've come on here talking about an opportunity, you've built up anticipation for days - and then quit after the first day. It looks defeatist. Is it agoraphobia that's stopping you? How do you fight it?

Fact: The USA has more job opportunities than the UK does.

In 2006, the USA unemployment rate was 5.0% and the UK unemployment rate was lower: 4.0%. I don't know where you're getting your statistics on number of job opportunities - that can be hard to collect anyway since so many jobs are advertized by word of mouth and never officially recorded. Do you mean more job opportunities total, or more per capita? - because the USA has a much larger population.

Where did I say that I've reached my limit?

Nowhere, but I assumed you had reached a limit for each opportunity, when you left it.

I'm still applying for jobs: one is for a retailing job at a video games shop (full-time); the other is a part-time one at a garden superstore -- as I have some gardening experience. I won't know when I'll get these jobs until I get an interview, which may take up to one, two... maybe three weeks time. :p

I've also registered myself with other cleaning agencies, but there's no local work right now because it's Janurary, and Janurary is always a funny time of the year when it comes to jobs.

More power to you, then. I didn't know how hard you were still looking. You may want to send out more applications yet though. I've been told that several per working day is a good goal, though I can generally only manage one or two.

That's fine, but I don't have the habit of chastising people online over work just because I don't have a close relationship with them.

LOL. If you don't want to know what people think, don't ask them. I'm more likely to chastize people I do have some kind of relationship with. The others I either don't care or don't know them well enough to judge. Are you pissed off that I gave you honesty instead of a pretty and encouraging white lie?

[Dexter Morgan]

Condi Rice for President

[Calandale]

[The_P]

LOL. If you don't want to know what people think, don't ask them. I'm more likely to chastize people I do have some kind of relationship with. The others I either don't care or don't know them well enough to judge. Are you pissed off that I gave you honesty instead of a pretty and encouraging white lie?

Not knocking you for your honesty, nor do I completely disagree with what you have to say. I do respect you and have been always concerned as to how you're doing and shit, even if it's all behind a fucking keyboard and an internet connection. However, I'm human, so I'm going to have moments where I'm going to whine and bitch at people's opinions, even if they are true. I'm not going to keep my cool just so that I can earn more friendship points from the people I have a relationship with. I take people for what they are -- blatant flaws and all. Otherwise, where's the interest, the fun in relationships?

I'll answer the rest of your post later, Py. Sorry, but I'm a bit lethargic at the mo. 

[Pyraxis]

Well, don't let me get you down. 

[The_P]

Well, don't let me get you down. 

You're not, so don't worry. Though you would have a chance 5 years ago.