The Beginning of the End

    Well, Cunning Linguist is off and running, but now, while we're still at the start, it seems like the logical time to for what I believe will be a rarity in my blog. For the first time (obviously), and hopefully for the last time, I want to tell you what you should think. Most of my postings will be me displaying facts, and bringing to public attention my observations and opinions. It will ne clear when I am expressing an opinion or a fact, and my opinions may not be correct for everyone. Typically I will be pointing out the things that are wrong, and I won't necessarily have the right answer. I only want to highlight what is root if the issue, and help guide you in making your own decisions. This one time, however, I want you to really seriously consider taking my advice, which is how I try to live my life. Perhaps I might call it The Chaba Doctrine if I were the first person to say it:

THINK FOR YOURSELF

    Before you jump to any hasty conclusions about that or anything ever, let me tell you my reasoning. Especially in America, we are constantly being bombarded with the opinions of others, and outside forces regularly try to influence your own opinions. What's worse though, says this observer, is how little resistance the majority of Americans put forth to prevent themselves from being influenced. Whenever someone, anyone, from politicians and religious officials to advertising companies and their clients, tries to sway the perspective of the masses, there is always some goal they are trying to achieve, sometimes obvious and sometimes covert. What really gets my goat is that so many people, 'the masses' one might say, mindlessly bend toward these authoritative voices without so much as a mental double-take to try to identify ulterior motives. Therefore, I find it fitting, to give you, perhaps what I'd call The Kevin Corollary to The Chaba Doctrine:

QUESTION EVERYTHING

    The only people who do not welcome their message being questioned, in my experience, are those who have something to hide or whose message does not stand up to scrutiny. Apparently I'm in a shriveling minority, in that while I was growing up I was constantly encouraged to ask questions. Because of this, I have a very strong "bullshit" sense. I can smell the bullshit that wafts out of Jesus pamphlets, and I can't even watch TV during major elections due to the bullshit that pervades political ads. When people are discouraged from asking questions, it teaches them to blindly accept blatant bullshit, and pointedly ignore subtle bullshit. As I go about putting myself out there on the Internet, blogging my opinions, I will be bringing to the populace the questions I have with society, and I look forward to my ideals being questioned. It demonstrates a desire for understanding before a decision is made. So if you get nothing else from the entirety of my blog, I hope to spread this message to THINK FOR YOURSELF and to QUESTION EVERYTHING!

Welcome! The Who, The What and The Why

    Salutations from the Cunning Linguist blog! I'd like to start off with some introductions, and to flesh out what to expect from this here weblog. A wee bit o' background first, though, for purposes of understanding. I have lofty ambitions of becoming a standup comedian, and I've been working on jokes with which I'm not particularly satisfied. As I started to gather ideas to write about, many of my what I wanted to be jokes turned into something more akin to rants lashing out at the avalanche of stupid I deal with daily. Not necessarily funny, but often quirky, as well as  harsh and critical. And so I settled on the blog, to get out my disgruntled opinions on the things in my daily life and society around me. My goal here in That Cunning Linguist is to get my points across as clearly as possible, with less focus on the funny and more focus on lucidity and the crafty making of my point.
    Back to the introductions, now that you know what I'm doing. I think a bit of history can help shape your perspective of me. I'm a twenty-two year old honkey raised in Rochester, New York. I was actually born in Albuquerque,  NM, which gains some noteriety as being en route to all of Bugs Bunny's travels. I only lived there for six unrememberable months, though, in my infancy before moving to Western New York. I'm an Eagle Scout from BSA troop 31, International Baccalaureate (sounds cooler than it is) graduate from Wilson Magnet HS, former FIRST robotics team member on Team 191 The X-Cats (racy, ain't it?), and I was in my drama club, DVC in high school. I was raised in reform Judaism at Temple Brith Kodesh, but I'm not particularly observant anymore. I've been married to my wife Mia for two years, and we're currently saving up some cheddar to make the move westward to the City of Angels, where I will chase the comedy dragon, and she will be writing.
    Now, allow me to wrap it up by way of telling you what to expect from 'That Cunning Linguist.' I will soon be delving deep into the myriad problems that thrive in this great country of America. I love my native country, but I am certainly not of the delusion that the nation is flawless.   I will be tackling a plethora of irritants, the mundane, the gravely serious, the controversial and the abstract. Also, fair warning, I'm sure I will come across inflammatory, incendiary and downright annoying to certain people. However, I do try to examine all sides of an issue and opt for whichever seems more beneficial to most, and I always explain why. Therefore I believe I will recieve the most opposition from only those with closed minds. I welcome controversy and I will eagerly engage in rational debate with anyone who opposes my views. I am not above changing my opinion to accomodate a more correct one, and I expect nothing less from my readers (boy am I in for some disappointment!). I'm looking forward to reaching out to readers to share opinions and ideas. I guess, moving forward, th one thing I want my readers to do above all, is to THINK FOR YOUSELF and to QUESTION EVERYTHING (more to come on that).