ChrisMaverick dotcom

on silly things you hear on the radio…

so I was driving home from work today listening to the local negro radio station and I heard the oddest commercial. It was the voice of a 13-year-old white boy (odd in and of itself, because commercials on black radio stations generally strive to have very obviously “black voices” do their advertising) talking about a local technical school. You see the young lad, lets call him Jimmy Pez, wants to be a video game programmer when he grows up. Unfortunately, Jimmy’s mother “doesn’t know what a video game programmer is.” Young Jimmy explains to his mother that one day he wants to make a video game that all kids just have to have, but in order to do that, he’s going to have to go to technical school to learn how to program computers. Mrs. Pez is horrified and dead set against the idea because (I shit you not) “no one in the family has ever gone to college or technical school before.” The commercial goes on to explain how young Jimmy tried to explain to his mother how important going to college was to him, and finally enlisted the aid of the school counselor who convinces Mother Pez that maybe college isn’t that bad an idea after all.

What the hell!?!?!

Ok, I acknowledge that maybe my upbringing wasn’t standard Americana fair. But I don’t think the fact that my mother wanted me to go to college was that weird. Of course, seeing as how mamarayne has an IQ over 12 and would be able to piece together what the term “video game programmer” meant, maybe I am assuming too much. Of the people who read this journal, I know that at the very least, fromlust2dust, jazzyjess and jasongory are all still in high school. Most of the rest of you have gone to college for something or another at least for a little bit, even if you didn’t graduate. But I’ve known a lot of people who didn’t go over the years, or who were the first people in their families to go. I grew up with a ton of people who couldn’t afford to send their kids away to college (hell, my mom couldn’t afford to send me). I’ve even known parents who had kids who were high school dropouts but held onto the hope that some day they go back and go to college. But, I’ve never known of any parents who didn’t want their kids to go because no one else in the family ever went. Does anyone know of anything like this ever happening? For that matter does anyone have parents who wouldn’t be able to figure out what “video game programmer” meant? I mean, my grandfather never did anything more technical than programming his answering machine in his entire life, but he liked playing video game poker up til the day he died, and I think he could have pieced together the concept that somebody made that. And when I told him I was going to college he was *gasp* proud of me. He didn’t say, what the hell is wrong with you boy? Why can’t you just go off to war and then come back and work in the steel mill like I did.

Am I just way off base here? Maybe I just don’t understand white people.

om

76 comments for “on silly things you hear on the radio…

  1. October 11, 2004 at 2:55 pm

    yeah um…that’s kind of ridiculous. i’ve only heard parents bitch about their kids NOT going to college. =/

    1. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

      yep… pretty much. Though I think that’s wrong too. But at least I sort of understand that. This commercial was just stupid.

    2. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

      yep… pretty much. Though I think that’s wrong too. But at least I sort of understand that. This commercial was just stupid.

  2. October 11, 2004 at 2:55 pm

    yeah um…that’s kind of ridiculous. i’ve only heard parents bitch about their kids NOT going to college. =/

  3. October 11, 2004 at 2:59 pm

    I think I should start a campaign to discourage people from going into this lien of work.

    “Here, Jimmy: Sit still for 70 hours a week. Stop sleeping. Gain 20 pounds. Lose your girlfriend. Have no friends. Learn to live with havign a constant headache. Now, Jimmy, after you do that for a few months, imagine that your thanks for all of this is thousands of 15 year olds telling you how much you suck.”*

    Now, still want to make games, Jimmy? Sucker.

    *I kid, but I’m having a bad day, so I’m going to complain.

    1. October 11, 2004 at 3:09 pm

      Yes, and live with the constant reminder that if you aren’t happy with your job and your pay and all of their crap, they’ll hire one of those countless 15 year olds to take your place.

      Oh, and then they’ll post embarassing videos of you to Gamespot, just to top things off.

      Where do I sign up for the campaign? 😉

      (Yes, I kid too. Sort of.)

      1. October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

        I don’t have any embarassing videos on gamespot! Where do I sign up for those?

        This is hilarious, if you haven’t seen it.

      2. October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

        I don’t have any embarassing videos on gamespot! Where do I sign up for those?

        This is hilarious, if you haven’t seen it.

      3. mav
        October 11, 2004 at 3:20 pm

        you have not gained 20 pounds, or lost your girlfriend, and gamespot doesn’t even have the video of you with the diaper and the rubber chicken. 😛

      4. mav
        October 11, 2004 at 3:20 pm

        you have not gained 20 pounds, or lost your girlfriend, and gamespot doesn’t even have the video of you with the diaper and the rubber chicken. 😛

      5. October 11, 2004 at 6:24 pm

        I saw what you’re talking about. The porn music is by far the best part. I’m glad I don’t ever talk to the public. There was someone from EGM in my office the other day. I hid.

      6. October 11, 2004 at 6:24 pm

        I saw what you’re talking about. The porn music is by far the best part. I’m glad I don’t ever talk to the public. There was someone from EGM in my office the other day. I hid.

    2. October 11, 2004 at 3:09 pm

      Yes, and live with the constant reminder that if you aren’t happy with your job and your pay and all of their crap, they’ll hire one of those countless 15 year olds to take your place.

      Oh, and then they’ll post embarassing videos of you to Gamespot, just to top things off.

      Where do I sign up for the campaign? 😉

      (Yes, I kid too. Sort of.)

    3. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:16 pm

      gee uncle erik! you make it sound so glamorous!

      1. October 11, 2004 at 3:17 pm

        And on top of that, it’s a total sausage fest. 🙂

        1. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 3:24 pm

          sausage is yummy! is there bacon too?

          and for the record, is a girl and she’s very much the hot and sexy and she’s a “video game programmer” so its not a total sausage fest… there is at least one girl for every 66535 boys.

          1. October 11, 2004 at 3:32 pm

            Well then, I amend to say that it’s a neigh total sausage fest.

            Of course, any girl that dosen’t have tenticles or dysentary is generally swarmed with guys trying to “help her out” and “make her feel welcome”. It’s funny how no matter where you go, there you are.

          2. October 11, 2004 at 3:32 pm

            Well then, I amend to say that it’s a neigh total sausage fest.

            Of course, any girl that dosen’t have tenticles or dysentary is generally swarmed with guys trying to “help her out” and “make her feel welcome”. It’s funny how no matter where you go, there you are.

        2. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 3:24 pm

          sausage is yummy! is there bacon too?

          and for the record, is a girl and she’s very much the hot and sexy and she’s a “video game programmer” so its not a total sausage fest… there is at least one girl for every 66535 boys.

      2. October 11, 2004 at 3:17 pm

        And on top of that, it’s a total sausage fest. 🙂

    4. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:16 pm

      gee uncle erik! you make it sound so glamorous!

  4. October 11, 2004 at 2:59 pm

    I think I should start a campaign to discourage people from going into this lien of work.

    “Here, Jimmy: Sit still for 70 hours a week. Stop sleeping. Gain 20 pounds. Lose your girlfriend. Have no friends. Learn to live with havign a constant headache. Now, Jimmy, after you do that for a few months, imagine that your thanks for all of this is thousands of 15 year olds telling you how much you suck.”*

    Now, still want to make games, Jimmy? Sucker.

    *I kid, but I’m having a bad day, so I’m going to complain.

  5. October 11, 2004 at 3:12 pm

    That was far short of 1000 words…

    1. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:13 pm

      I’m actually working on 1000 words on something else right this very minute…

      1. October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

        Thats it, I will officially get no work done today.

        1. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 3:25 pm

          wow… then my life is not in vain…

        2. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 3:25 pm

          wow… then my life is not in vain…

      2. October 11, 2004 at 3:14 pm

        Thats it, I will officially get no work done today.

    2. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:13 pm

      I’m actually working on 1000 words on something else right this very minute…

  6. October 11, 2004 at 3:12 pm

    That was far short of 1000 words…

  7. October 11, 2004 at 3:16 pm

    I’m too lazy to dig up any sources, but I think there is a common conception of a problem in poor families that are somehow culturally biassed against advanced education. Whether it is because no one in the family has gone to college or they think the prospect of paying for advanced education as “obviously too expensive”, somehow they explicitly or inadvertantly wind up giving kids the impression that they shouldn’t or couldn’t go. Now, I have no idea if this is simplistic pattern is at all statistically significant, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

    It’s not easy to pony up the money for an post-secondary education and I can imagine that there are folks who aren’t lucky enough to have a mom who is passionate about education. Who knows.

    1. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:29 pm

      yeah, I can definitely see thinking college is too expensive. Hell, I want to go back to college and I KNOW college is too expensive. But this commercial definitely seemed to be aiming towards the idea that college was “bad” because no one else from the family went or something like that. And I’ve just never heard that one before. At least not that I remember. I haven’t been a poor 13 year old kid in a while. And I was never actually a poor white 13 year old kid. I guess that’s kinda why I mentioned it here.

      1. October 11, 2004 at 3:40 pm

        Believe it or not, I have heard of this. One of my fellow Fellow teachers is white and grew up in a poor. Her mom constantly told her that “the world is not in books” and discouraged her from going to college. Well, needless to say she went and then became a teacher because, as she says, teachers were the only people she saw during her childhood who had any money.

        I had a lot of fairly smart female friends in high school who also did not go to college. I was surprised that they went the military-marriage-kids route. But that was what their parents had done as well.

        1. October 11, 2004 at 3:41 pm

          that would be…”in a poor family.”

        2. October 11, 2004 at 3:41 pm

          that would be…”in a poor family.”

        3. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 5:54 pm

          hmmm…well I guess there are some out there then. I guess I just thought that it wasn’t enough to be worth advertising to in this day and age.

        4. mav
          October 11, 2004 at 5:54 pm

          hmmm…well I guess there are some out there then. I guess I just thought that it wasn’t enough to be worth advertising to in this day and age.

      2. October 11, 2004 at 3:40 pm

        Believe it or not, I have heard of this. One of my fellow Fellow teachers is white and grew up in a poor. Her mom constantly told her that “the world is not in books” and discouraged her from going to college. Well, needless to say she went and then became a teacher because, as she says, teachers were the only people she saw during her childhood who had any money.

        I had a lot of fairly smart female friends in high school who also did not go to college. I was surprised that they went the military-marriage-kids route. But that was what their parents had done as well.

    2. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 3:29 pm

      yeah, I can definitely see thinking college is too expensive. Hell, I want to go back to college and I KNOW college is too expensive. But this commercial definitely seemed to be aiming towards the idea that college was “bad” because no one else from the family went or something like that. And I’ve just never heard that one before. At least not that I remember. I haven’t been a poor 13 year old kid in a while. And I was never actually a poor white 13 year old kid. I guess that’s kinda why I mentioned it here.

  8. October 11, 2004 at 3:16 pm

    I’m too lazy to dig up any sources, but I think there is a common conception of a problem in poor families that are somehow culturally biassed against advanced education. Whether it is because no one in the family has gone to college or they think the prospect of paying for advanced education as “obviously too expensive”, somehow they explicitly or inadvertantly wind up giving kids the impression that they shouldn’t or couldn’t go. Now, I have no idea if this is simplistic pattern is at all statistically significant, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

    It’s not easy to pony up the money for an post-secondary education and I can imagine that there are folks who aren’t lucky enough to have a mom who is passionate about education. Who knows.

  9. October 11, 2004 at 3:59 pm

    I’m the first person in my family (immediate and their ancestors) to go to college. My mom thought I should get a job out of high school, or, if I MUST go to college, go to CCAC. If my dad had an opinion, he never expressed it. But somehow I got the idea that I wanted to be a psychologist (maybe to understand people I didn’t, like my parents :).

    Also, my ex, who’s a physicist, had a grandfather who couldn’t understand why he needed an edumacation when he could get a good job working in the mines.

    Some people are just stuck at the concrete level.

    1. October 11, 2004 at 4:23 pm

      Some people are just stuck at the concrete level.

      That would be construction, not in the mines.

    2. October 11, 2004 at 4:23 pm

      Some people are just stuck at the concrete level.

      That would be construction, not in the mines.

    3. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 5:58 pm

      well, that was a financial consideration, right? Hence her suggestion of CCAC? It wasn’t a college is a bad idea thing, right? Or was it?

      1. October 12, 2004 at 4:03 pm

        College was a bad idea because it’s expensive and I should start making money as soon as possible.

        1. mav
          October 12, 2004 at 7:13 pm

          yeah, that’s more what I thought. A financial/practical consideration as opposed to a class based decision. At least that’s what it sounds like to me.

        2. mav
          October 12, 2004 at 7:13 pm

          yeah, that’s more what I thought. A financial/practical consideration as opposed to a class based decision. At least that’s what it sounds like to me.

      2. October 12, 2004 at 4:03 pm

        College was a bad idea because it’s expensive and I should start making money as soon as possible.

    4. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 5:58 pm

      well, that was a financial consideration, right? Hence her suggestion of CCAC? It wasn’t a college is a bad idea thing, right? Or was it?

  10. October 11, 2004 at 3:59 pm

    I’m the first person in my family (immediate and their ancestors) to go to college. My mom thought I should get a job out of high school, or, if I MUST go to college, go to CCAC. If my dad had an opinion, he never expressed it. But somehow I got the idea that I wanted to be a psychologist (maybe to understand people I didn’t, like my parents :).

    Also, my ex, who’s a physicist, had a grandfather who couldn’t understand why he needed an edumacation when he could get a good job working in the mines.

    Some people are just stuck at the concrete level.

  11. October 11, 2004 at 6:38 pm

    You just don’t understand white folk.

    Or, any rate, dumb as fuck white folk, who have some kind of retarded asshole thing about how if your family historically has not gone to college then you are just being snooty and above yourself and you hate your family etc etc if you want to go to college.

    It is INCREDIBLY FUCKING DUMB. Just like a lot of those people.

    1. October 11, 2004 at 6:41 pm

      I should note that I have a massive hate on for some specific dumb as fuck white folk what treat good friends of mine badly for going to college. So if you tone down my cussing a lot, you have something close to the truth.

    2. October 11, 2004 at 6:41 pm

      I should note that I have a massive hate on for some specific dumb as fuck white folk what treat good friends of mine badly for going to college. So if you tone down my cussing a lot, you have something close to the truth.

    3. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 8:31 pm

      yeah, I expect that was the basic idea behind who they were aiming at, and like I said to other people, I guess I realized that those people who felt that way did exist: “Jimmy, if the coal mines was good enoughs for yo daddy then they is goods enough for you!”

      I just didn’t think they were common enough to justify advertising towards. Ah well.

    4. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 8:31 pm

      yeah, I expect that was the basic idea behind who they were aiming at, and like I said to other people, I guess I realized that those people who felt that way did exist: “Jimmy, if the coal mines was good enoughs for yo daddy then they is goods enough for you!”

      I just didn’t think they were common enough to justify advertising towards. Ah well.

  12. October 11, 2004 at 6:38 pm

    You just don’t understand white folk.

    Or, any rate, dumb as fuck white folk, who have some kind of retarded asshole thing about how if your family historically has not gone to college then you are just being snooty and above yourself and you hate your family etc etc if you want to go to college.

    It is INCREDIBLY FUCKING DUMB. Just like a lot of those people.

  13. October 11, 2004 at 7:43 pm

    Well, who did you think all of those people voting for Bush were? There’s the 1% of the population who are rich enough to actually benefit from his policies, a small percentage who honestly believe that some day they will be rich enough to benefit, too, and a bunch of dumbfucks. A really, really, scary amount of them.

    And not having heard the commercial, I’m not in a position to say whether the kid really sounded white or not, but anti-intellectualism is pretty rampant across the board in low-income families, I think, and if the commercial was on WAMO it probably wasn’t intended for white kids per se.

    1. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 8:33 pm

      well, I’ve only heard the commercial once. This evening. I didn’t mention it, but this morning, I actually heard the corresponding commercial, starring the mother, this morning on K-ROCK during Howard Stern. So I don’t think they are specifically targetting blacks so much as just stupid people. But who knows.

    2. mav
      October 11, 2004 at 8:33 pm

      well, I’ve only heard the commercial once. This evening. I didn’t mention it, but this morning, I actually heard the corresponding commercial, starring the mother, this morning on K-ROCK during Howard Stern. So I don’t think they are specifically targetting blacks so much as just stupid people. But who knows.

  14. October 11, 2004 at 7:43 pm

    Well, who did you think all of those people voting for Bush were? There’s the 1% of the population who are rich enough to actually benefit from his policies, a small percentage who honestly believe that some day they will be rich enough to benefit, too, and a bunch of dumbfucks. A really, really, scary amount of them.

    And not having heard the commercial, I’m not in a position to say whether the kid really sounded white or not, but anti-intellectualism is pretty rampant across the board in low-income families, I think, and if the commercial was on WAMO it probably wasn’t intended for white kids per se.

  15. October 11, 2004 at 10:35 pm

    I’ve actually seen a lot of this lately. Just as many parents worry about children moving too far away, or marrying someone who will make them ashamed of their parents, it is a common fear among families where no one has gone to college that the child will be torn away from them, and be unable to relate to them/ashamed of them/just not part of the family anymore if he/she goes to college. I have some friends working in various low-income areas in NYC and in Buffalo, and they encounter many children who are VERY negative towards college because their parents have always discouraged it.

    And the thing is, I can sort of see their point. Or rather, their fear. When you come right down to it, the parents are right- if that kid is a super genius and is suddenly off at college becoming a neuroscientist, they are going to be pushed away a bit from the family they knew, and they are going to have this whole life the family cannot relate to. And it does push people apart, in the same way that moving far away or marrying someone in a very different socio-economic level would.

    But there is a distinct difference between having that fear, and stopping the child from doing something based on that fear.

    1. mav
      October 12, 2004 at 6:33 am

      this is an interesting point. I do agree that college has a way of pushing families apart. Colleges tend to encourage, I dunno, more intellectual thinking, and as such tend to breed radical, promiscuous, libertarian, polyamorous, drug using, bisexual, wiccan, tattooed, vegetarian atheists. That’s kind of one of the cool things about college. You go there to find your self and become a unique individual just like all your friends. It never surprises me when I see a nice white boy from a well to do suburban who goes into CMU resembling Ricky or David Nelson and goes home for Thanksgiving with a mohawk a tongue ring and his boyfriend Gerald that he met at the Beehive. I guess I just don’t expect the families to be worried about such a thing. Like I said, I knew a lot more families who were convinced that their not pothead, failure of a son was going to just skate by in high school, get into Lorain County Community College and someday be president of the United States.

    2. mav
      October 12, 2004 at 6:33 am

      this is an interesting point. I do agree that college has a way of pushing families apart. Colleges tend to encourage, I dunno, more intellectual thinking, and as such tend to breed radical, promiscuous, libertarian, polyamorous, drug using, bisexual, wiccan, tattooed, vegetarian atheists. That’s kind of one of the cool things about college. You go there to find your self and become a unique individual just like all your friends. It never surprises me when I see a nice white boy from a well to do suburban who goes into CMU resembling Ricky or David Nelson and goes home for Thanksgiving with a mohawk a tongue ring and his boyfriend Gerald that he met at the Beehive. I guess I just don’t expect the families to be worried about such a thing. Like I said, I knew a lot more families who were convinced that their not pothead, failure of a son was going to just skate by in high school, get into Lorain County Community College and someday be president of the United States.

  16. October 11, 2004 at 10:35 pm

    I’ve actually seen a lot of this lately. Just as many parents worry about children moving too far away, or marrying someone who will make them ashamed of their parents, it is a common fear among families where no one has gone to college that the child will be torn away from them, and be unable to relate to them/ashamed of them/just not part of the family anymore if he/she goes to college. I have some friends working in various low-income areas in NYC and in Buffalo, and they encounter many children who are VERY negative towards college because their parents have always discouraged it.

    And the thing is, I can sort of see their point. Or rather, their fear. When you come right down to it, the parents are right- if that kid is a super genius and is suddenly off at college becoming a neuroscientist, they are going to be pushed away a bit from the family they knew, and they are going to have this whole life the family cannot relate to. And it does push people apart, in the same way that moving far away or marrying someone in a very different socio-economic level would.

    But there is a distinct difference between having that fear, and stopping the child from doing something based on that fear.

  17. October 12, 2004 at 11:18 am

    Maybe I just don’t understand white people.

    Me neither. Word.

    1. mav
      October 12, 2004 at 12:48 pm

      A salaam alaykum, my nubian brother…

      1. October 12, 2004 at 11:15 pm

        There you go forsaking your Chinese heritage again.

        When will you just accept it and represent?

        1. mav
          October 13, 2004 at 6:10 am

          hey… just because I’m chinese that doesn’t mean that I can’t except the young african lad’s heritage. Just the kind of thing one might expect from a spic like you. 😉

        2. mav
          October 13, 2004 at 6:10 am

          hey… just because I’m chinese that doesn’t mean that I can’t except the young african lad’s heritage. Just the kind of thing one might expect from a spic like you. 😉

      2. October 12, 2004 at 11:15 pm

        There you go forsaking your Chinese heritage again.

        When will you just accept it and represent?

    2. mav
      October 12, 2004 at 12:48 pm

      A salaam alaykum, my nubian brother…

  18. October 12, 2004 at 11:18 am

    Maybe I just don’t understand white people.

    Me neither. Word.

  19. October 12, 2004 at 11:18 pm

    I haven’t heard of “don’t go to college,” but I have heard of “we are not going to pay for you to study (theater/art/literature/etc) because it’s not a “real” course of study.” I have also heard of well to do families threatening to pull their kids out of prestigious universities because of them not being in an approved major, or dropping below a certain GPA.

    I don’t pretend to understand it, but I have heard of it.

    1. mav
      October 13, 2004 at 6:12 am

      oh yeah, I know plenty of people like that. doubled in music and ece because her parents didn’t consider music to be a real major and that’s the only way they’d pay for school. And there was a really cute girl who went to junior high with me who used to get grounded if she ever got a B.

      Some people just suck.

    2. mav
      October 13, 2004 at 6:12 am

      oh yeah, I know plenty of people like that. doubled in music and ece because her parents didn’t consider music to be a real major and that’s the only way they’d pay for school. And there was a really cute girl who went to junior high with me who used to get grounded if she ever got a B.

      Some people just suck.

  20. October 12, 2004 at 11:18 pm

    I haven’t heard of “don’t go to college,” but I have heard of “we are not going to pay for you to study (theater/art/literature/etc) because it’s not a “real” course of study.” I have also heard of well to do families threatening to pull their kids out of prestigious universities because of them not being in an approved major, or dropping below a certain GPA.

    I don’t pretend to understand it, but I have heard of it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.