vacuous.
© 2002 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>

It drives me nuts when people try to look like they're taking a stand on something, when really all they're doing is watching their lips flap. For example, in the Haight the other day, I saw a hand-drawn sign in a window of a house that said

PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR EVERYONE
(last word underlined three times)

And I just have to wonder, what possesses someone to do something like that? What message are they trying to communicate? What exactly is the goal? And more importantly, who is the target audience?

Where is the person who is going to look at that and say, ``well no, I disagree''?

Where is the person who is going to look at that and say, ``wow, that's an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered''?

Because of course, everybody thinks their position is right, and just, and good. The differences are in the definitions of those vacuous words. They might as well say, ``Nice people are nice!'' or, ``Up with Good! Down with Evil!'' It's as contentless a statement. I just don't understand how someone could take the time to prepare a public statement like that, and then not actually say anything!

I also saw a bumper sticker that said, ``where was your flag on September 10th?'' I thought that was kind of funny, but I'm not sure whether they meant it in a ``scary hyper-nationalist'' way, or a ``you're all a bunch of dumbasses'' way. I hope for the latter, but fear the former.

PS: If you're about to send me mail about this saying something like ``but obviously so-and-so don't believe in peace and justice for everyone!'' or ``at least this person is Thinking Good Thoughts, why are you so mean?'' then that means you have completely misunderstood what I wrote. Please strap down your jerking knee and read it again.