Why are people so stupid?
Why can't people recognize the importance of authority and the reason for its existence?
To give you an idea of from where I'm coming, I just spent fifteen hours of my saturday refereeing soccer at the local complex for a competitive tournament hosting teams from all over Texas. Just today I was witness to two fights, an arrest, multiple ejections, a game termination, and a halftime abandonment by a team. Many of these things happened as a result of coaches, parents, and players not agreeing with the referees.
What bugs me about these people is that they actively throw tournament rules out the window (of which they are likely to be ignorant) to yell at and verbally abuse referees regarding subjects about which they have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE! It seems they think they have the right to abuse us whenever the hell they feel like it, even though we're completely protected by the law. Do they understand that we are generously providing them with a service, and doing so to the best of our abilities? I just cannot fathom why people would do such stupid things out of sheer ignorance (and that is the reason).
Due to the abandonment I spoke of earlier, one fellow won't ever be allowed to coach again, and he had four teams in this tournament. One sixteen year old girl screamed at her father that he was embarassing her and her family with his conduct. It's one thing to question authority (as referees we welcome people who want to know why we do what we do; it cuts back on some of the ignorance that starts these messes), but it it worth losing your respect to spit in authority's face when you will gain nothing from it? The adage "Do not bite the hand that feeds you" rings true here.
Now, everything I just talked about was regarding soccer, and I just wanted to get that off my chest since I think about this after every game with bad sidelines. However, I feel the whole idea of resisting authority applies on greater levels, too, such as with government on every level. I'm not saying we should always comply with everything, but there is a time and a place to do so, and I just think the time and place rarely come up. For example, I suppose the black civil rights movement and civil disobedience was called for, but repetitive anti-government and anarchist (it's not always to this extreme level, though) bullshit is exactly that: bullshit. People who do that rarely take the time to really consider everything government does for them, and as a result throw their credibility away.
I just want people to think a little more, and keep their mouths shut when necessary.
--Guido
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