The Art of Appreciating Straightforward Opinions

It's 1 a.m. on a Saturday night. I'm supposed to get up early tomorrow for a 7 a.m. road trip with my colleagues, which means heading to bed right now is probably a good idea. But I'm known for making bad decisions, so here comes my midnight rant instead.

So today, this 2050 SAT high-school friend of mine, author of a hilariously stupid blog that I've personally been requested to write a review on, decided to change things up a bit on his page. Instead of bragging about yet another encounter with some random chick at the bar/in the gym/on the phone/in his wet dream, the guy chose to be a freaking gossip and wrote a rather lengthy and, to borrow a word from one of his critics, incoherent rant.

In 1000 words of unnecessary capitalization, awkward references, and horrific transitions, he basically called out a guy, who happens to be a HEDGE FUND MANAGER (HFM - capitalization my friend's), for being "pussified". If you don't know what that word means, Urban Dictionary is your friend, as it was mine just a few hours ago.

Anyway, my 2050 SAT friend was told by a 770 GMAT friend of his that this HFM guy has been a total slave to his wife, who, from what my friend was told, wasn't nearly as accomplished. The HFM would do anything to please his wife, from cooking for her to rubbing her feet. When he made her sad, she would post pictures of him crying for forgiveness on Facebook.

My friend, being the "gentleman" that he is, or at least claims to be, proceeds to have a few choice words for this HFM guy, while morphing into a defender-of-manliness version of Martin Luther King and calling everyone with a set of balls on this planet to step it up.

(Note: I've probably used more profanities a quarter-of-the-way through this entry than all of my previous ones combined, but only by doing so am I able to reflect the true spirit of my friend's blog post. So if you feel my language here is too vulgar, you're right and I apologize. That won't happen again).

Unsurprisingly, my friend's blog post drew the ire of anti-sexists, feminists, and generally those who have despised his blog for a long time and couldn't wait for a better opportunity to pounce.

These critics, the majority of whom understandably girls/women, felt that they've been offended by my friend's view of women, not just from this very entry but also from the general idea behind his blog. It clearly doesn't help that towards the end of this entry, he was promoting a book with a not-so-appealing-to-feminists title of "The Way of the Superior Man". The casual language he uses in this entry in particular and the blog as a whole isn't exactly feminism-friendly either. All of these, like a perfect storm, added up to some pretty harsh comments on his entry.

To me, though, I don't see a problem with the content of his entry as much as the way he receives and delivers it (gossiping, stalking the girl's Facebook photos, calling people names, etc..). I also don't see how the entry can offend those critics as much as they're making it out to be. Maybe because I'm a guy. But I thought my friend made it pretty clear in the entry that he doesn't look down on "stay-home husbands" as a whole, he's merely frustrated after being told that somehow a guy who made it to HFM level can let himself be controlled by his wife in such disrespectful manners.

It's perfectly fine for the critics to disagree with my friend, but getting that emotional over a harmless blog post? A bit too much.  

Let's be clear, even though it may sound like one, this is by no means an attempt to defend this 2050 SAT friend of mine. In fact, I, too, have so many issues with his entry that I don't even know where to start. His concept of a "gentleman" also greatly differs from mine, even moreso after his recent entry, But that doesn't change the fact that I really appreciate how he's never shy of expressing his thoughts.

For a guy who works in the media industry making money by reporting politicians' bullshit, it's safe to say that by this point I've begun to group people who aren't afraid to speak their minds into a list of endangered species that needs to be taken care of. For all his and his blog's flaws, this 2050 SAT friend of mine certainly belongs to that exclusive list. He's earned my respect, regardless of how different our viewpoints are.

Which is exactly why I decided to do what I'm doing, even though lying in bed is by far the much better alternative.

Keep up the hilariously bad yet refreshingly straightforward work, "gent".

April Fools and the Art of Learning to Take a Joke

Give me a few minutes and, as you wait, listen to this song by one of my favorite bands, Bee Gees, while I blow off the dust on this blog. It's been more than a month since my last entry, and by no means am I proud of that "record".

To spare you the lame excuses, the main reason behind my absence is, obviously, my laziness. There would be days when I woke up in the morning determined that I'd update my blog, only to snooze through the night without any new content.

Coming up with the right topic was not that easy either. I could have just written an update on my previous post about my so-called little crush, as many of my dear readers have suggested. But then again, I don't want this blog to turn into a chronicle of my miserable romantic adventures.

Anyway, let's get back to the focus of this post. According to sources familiar with a functional calendar, today is April 1st, also known as April Fools, also known as the day you can mess with folks, make stuff up, and pretty much turn into a clown without, for the most part, consequences.

Which leads me to wondering: why can't every day be April Fools day?

Obviously I'm not advocating for legalization of year-round bullshit - this planet already houses more than enough governments and politicians. What I'm focusing on here is the "without consequences" part. Yes, I do believe that you should be able to crack jokes without consequences.

I'm sure many of you at this point are thinking to yourself: that's not how it should work. But allow me to clarify, a joke is different from an insult. Insults often, as they should, come with consequences. But a joke, by its very definition, means no harm to the receiver.

Of course it's difficult to draw a clear line between a joke and an insult. A clowny guy by nature, I've crossed that line more than a few times and paid dear prices, but the frequency of such instances is low enough for me to continue cracking jokes at my friends' expense. The majority of my American friends in college, those who have talked to me more than five times, have said stuff along the lines of "Huy, you're the funniest Asian guy I've ever met."

Not that having the best sense of humor among a group of stereotypical nerds is something to be proud of... Actually forget about it, I take that as a compliment. Thanks guys.

Anyway, my point is: a joke is harmless, and should be taken that way.

But that doesn't mean you should go out and poke fun at every person in your field of vision. From my personal experience, there are three types of people whom I identify as non joke-takers: people whom I've just met, people who don't know me well enough, and people whom I know can't take a joke to save their life.

The first two categories are pretty self-explanatory. As for the third, honestly, I do feel bad for them. It's perfectly fine to not have a sense of humor, as each individual is born with different traits. But if you take offense to every little joke thrown at you, I'm sorry, your life must be pretty sad.

That said, even if I disagree with their approach, I can at least tolerate this type of people. They don't like jokes, I'll let them be. But the worst are those who feel it's perfectly fine for them to make fun of other people, but when the joke's on them, they would inexplicably throw the most ridiculous fit you can ever imagine.

Those are the people for whom I have absolutely zero respect, even if they somehow enjoy successful careers. As many of you can attest, it's borderline impossible to offend me. I'm not saying that gives me leeway to make inappropriate jokes, but at least I'm not being a freaking hypocrite like this type of people.    

I'm gonna put an end to my rant with a little advice for those who are frequent targets of jokes. Don't react. Because the more you react, the more incentive you're giving to the jokers to keep making fun of you. Stay cool, fire a few jokes back at them if you can. That's ten times more likely to shut them up than acting like a baby or throwing fits.

Happy April Fools!