There's something about self-improvement blogs that I can't stop loving, but sometimes there are methods that bother me. For example, an extreme diet and exercise plan would definitely work to reduce weight, but for how long? At what cost? It seems like a stupid, obvious way to avoid the hard work over the long term.
My speck of sand du jour: This blog by Chris Guillebeau. Full disclosure: I've only been following him for about 6 months. I haven't read the book. (Maybe I don't have to!)
His general proposal is that there a gatekeepers that can keep you from achieving your "dreams". In this blog entry, he states that "unnecessary" traffic lights are one of them, and you should just blow through them (after checking both ways, natch). "It's a great decision," he claims. I suppose he eventually brings it down to flexibility, and life is short, YOLO! whatever.
Horrifyingly, the comments are primarily supportive. You're right, Chris, how did I waste all my life sitting at stoplights until now? My time is valuable! Your safety - well, you should have thought of that before you got in the way of MY no-holds-barred success wagon. As an omnipotent non-conformist, I will ALWAYS be able to see any danger (to MYself or vehicle, naturally), so this is literally awesome, to mis-use all words.
Why am I so pissy about this? Well, because it bothers me that no one has addressed why there is a stoplight there in the first place. Believe it or not, there are standards for installing those things, and you can appeal to Department of Transportation to have them removed or installed. But yes, it's harder work than blowing through it at your convenience. You might have enlist the help of a congressman, get the residents to sign a petition, etc. But, if it's truly unnecessary, it would be a benefit to all, right?!
(Even then, it seems like that would be very rare to find a stoplight that needed to be removed. Slower traffic is better for communities, pedestrians, pets, bikes, etc., which are all things I would rather see around town than some ass-face in an Audi who thinks the laws don't apply to him/her. I can't think of ONE stoplight in my town that is not necessary. There are usually stop signs there. Are those unnecessary too?)
Or how about the valuable, valuable time that is wasted? Where do I have to be that I can't sit for 2 minutes and take a deep breath? I, personally, have no where that time-sensitive to be. I don't need to be in the operating room. I am not into NASCAR. I'm actually more anxious being early for appointments. I can't see how the "entrepreneurs" following this blog would need to race to their "start-up company" (aka, living room) to open more credit cards for frequent flyer miles or something.
If I totally stretch it into a very thin metaphor, I can follow it. Yes. Sometimes you are just doing things because it is society's expectation. You always have the option to consider whether these expectations further your goals or hold you back.
But I am Literal Liz. The metaphor bothers me. Apparently, I am not a non-conformist. If we are are talking about stoplights, I am not down with this. It reminds me of college, when I tried to convince my brother it was not punk to dress like a punk, and that it was, in fact, punker to look like a preppy dork and still be "punk". I still like this argument - it allows me to believe that I am the non-conformist that can't conform to the non-conformist hegemony.
Which is kind of true, in that I rejected that metaphor but accept the overall truth. Right? I'm still cool? PUNK!!!
