Monday, August 18, 2014

Morlocks and Eloi

My first thought was "How do you reach adulthood without knowing what foam earplugs look like? Have you never been on a shop floor and seen the dispensers? Or rode in a military aircraft? Or been on a shooting range?"

No. No, they haven't. Same planet, different worlds. Speciation is well underway.
.

32 comments:

Paul Schwa said...

You'd like to think it's a joke. Sadly, I don't think it is.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Shoot, we were issued those on the shop floor at Stewart-Warner back when I was 20. I think I still have some squirreled away somewhere.

And thank goodness for that. I probably still have perfect hearing at 54 because they made us wear hearing protection in that shop.

But yeah, how anybody could mistake such things for rubber bullets sure beats the hell out of me.

KM said...

The smartly dressed people you see on television who present themselves as intelligent professionals discussing matters of great import are
..people who are paid well to read out loud.

Windy Wilson said...

Dios Mio! The ignorance, it burns! This is as stupid as "The Ovaltine Bust", recounted in Flying Magazine" sometime in the early 70's (DEA agent with IQ lower than his sleeve length thought Ovaltine crystals were LSD, grossly misreading the test).
The only appropriate response to the assertion that those are rubber bullets is something that would be interpreted as a threat by those whose business is to use your words against you.

Tasso said...

Or been to a auto race. Or operated a chain saw. Or a table saw. Or flown on a short haul air carrier in flyover country. Or operated a back hoe. Or worked in any kind of factory or mill. Or attended a heavy metal concert.

Basically, a child.

We should be fair. Homo Statist reaches maturity much later than Sapiens. If it all.

Maxwell said...

Wonder what he'd think if he saw real rubber bullets?

(Suppositories, perhaps?)

Anonymous said...

I suspect he knows exactly what they are, but is hoping his viewers wouldn't.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Yup. There are legions of them. People who have never built anything, have never worked with their hands, have never produced anything yet think they know more than those who actually do those things.

I'm sort of hoping for the zombie apocalypse to begin so the stupid will be winnowed out.

Al_in_Ottawa

Joseph said...

I don't think we should criticize him. A typical reporter would have assumed his guess was correct and put in the story. It's much better for someone ignorant to ask.

In other words, this is not someone who is unskilled and unaware but someone who is unskilled and aware.

Steve Skubinna said...

Yeah, my first reaction was "How can you not recognize a pair of foamies?"

Second reaction was "Obviously, by never having been anywhere or done anything where you'd encounter, let alone use them."

Reminds me of when I told a co-worker that my water came from a well, and he asked "But you still have to pay the city for that, right?"

When I asked "What city?" he had a stunned expression, as he tried to process the bizarre words I had uttered.

Weer'd Beard said...

Or lived in a shitty apartment near the train tracks, or where the junkies next door party all night ect.

Nope, not that either.

Kristophr said...

Roof Koreans.

alanstorm said...

I'm pretty sure that the photo shows "high-capacity cop-killer military-style"* earplugs, so the confusion is understandable.



*If they were black, we'd add "tactical" as well, and charge double.

Aaron said...

Nor does he know anyone that voted for Nixon, nor Bush (I and II).

Anonymous said...

There are reports coming in that multiple individuals have been shot in the ears with those

diesel smoke said...

I think i sat on a plane with this guy once. He thought they were chewing gum. Yes he ate them. I thought the flight attendant was going to explode. She asked him if he wanted seconds. It was priceless.
DS

Joel said...

Morlocks and Eloi

We need a third category. I hate the taste of Eloi.

global village idiot said...

I'm with Joseph.

He did ask if he was right, which is paltry credit but he earned it fair-and-square.

gvi

global village idiot said...

I'm with Joseph.

He did ask if he was right, which is paltry credit but he earned it fair-and-square.

gvi

LCB said...

Fuzzy Curmudgeon, I wish the paper mill where I worked had mandated hearing protection when I worked there. For the first 6-8 years I was there everyone thought that the "finishing room" employees didn't need them. But we had lots of airlines hissing high freq stuff. My ears have paid for it...

In the mid 80's they finally did a sound study and guess what...eh? What was that???

Tam said...

Joseph & gvi,

"I don't think we should criticize him."

All I asked was "How do you reach adulthood without knowing what foam earplugs look like?" I'm not sure that is criticism, although I suppose it could be read that way.

Although I'm reminded of this.

Matthew said...

When your resume is nothing but white collar internships and J-school you aren't qualified to opine on *anything*.

Just read your teleprompter, monkey.

Bubblehead Les. said...

But remember that 90% of the MSM votes for Politicians that vote to Ban "The Shoulder Thing that goes Up".

And I stand by my "Secret Tunnel to the Sewers" Comment! ; )

Rick C said...

Heck, you don't need to do blue-collar jobs for them: I know more than one person who sleeps with them, and I once worked in an office with a guy who wore them because he set in a high-traffic area and didn't like all the background noise.

Mike_C said...

Apparently he's not had an MRI scan either. I am always annoyed by techs (or MDs) who tell patients "You'll hear a slight knocking noise..." because it's more like being inside a trashcan that someone is attacking with a jackhammer. There's a reason we hand out foam earplugs - let's not bullshit our patients.

Anyway, somewhere else (and I really wish I had thought of this) someone back-tweeted to the hapless reporter: "No, those are condoms for reporters."

@Kristophr: hahaha! But "can't be accused of racism" has hardly been the case.

staghounds said...

No ignorance surprises me.

Years ago I watched some round table discussion moderated by William F. Buckley. The subject was drugs, and the panelists were the top tier of American drug policy- the "drug czar", Senators, Doctors, Police chiefs, DEA boss, all the big names and positions of the time. Legalizing Marijuana was being talked about, and a one ounce minimum came up.

Buckley asked the person he was talking with (as I recall), "How big is an ounce of Marijuana?"

"Uh, what?"

"I know it weighs an ounce. But how much space does it occupy? Is it as big as a pack of cigarettes for example?"

"Uhh..."

"Does anyone else know?"

And not one of the experts did.

Buzz said...

Got into a little discussion with leftist friends of a high school acquaintance.

She and they swore there was no way, no how that firearms safety course was ever taught in an elementary school, anywhere, ever.

While I'm sure the pro-gun instructor might have embellished the ubiquity of firearms safety training to youngsters, Scouts can still have the book portion of their merit badge in the schools and churches in which they meet.

Just because YOUR life experience didn't expose you to something, especially something completely opposite of your political and world view, doesn't mean nobody else's did.

Anonymous said...

(With my shame face on) I admit to pushing a few into primed .38 cases and shooting them at plastic army men. So technically I may have made him correct.

Anonymous said...

+ 1 on Tasso.

I've been using them ever since the late, and long lamented CYCLE magazine ran an article on hearing protection back in the mid-'70s? I now buy 'em by the box - 200 pair for $30 plus tax at the local Safety & Supply shop, and exactly like the ones in the picture. 33dB noise reduction, and I use them for doing anything that produces noise - motorcycle helmet wind noise, tool noise, shooting, lawn mowers, weed-eaters, etc., etc., etc. Cheap at twice the price. I sure wish they had been available when my Dad was in the US Army Air Corp. He was a B-17 and B-29 navigator. On the B-29, his position was just a foot or so from the prop tips of the inboard engine, which meant that the shock waves from near super-sonic prop tips were smacking the fuselage the entire time he was in the air. Now he can't hear, and at his age, that can be physically dangerous. He can't even talk to someone on the phone.

Ear plugs - buy 'em by the gross, and use 'em for everything.

BSR

Al T. said...

Diesel smoke's story amused me. At my LGS, we have a big bucket of foamies and every now and again someone's kid will get butt hurt that their parents won't buy them some candy. Now I'm comfortable knowing that if one of the little monsters eats one, they won't fall on the floor and assume room temperature. :)

Rob K said...

...or been to Home Depot or Lowes or Menards or...

Jon said...

Or have gone camping?