Got your GET OUT OF EVERYTHING FREE card handy?
Shut up. Thank you. If I ever had the opportunity to speak with everyone in the world who I wanted to, the two phrases I would most likely use are those two: "Thank you" and "Shut up". Since this is a rant page, I'll let you guess which one we'll be discussing here...
"Poor Little Ol' Me"s, or PLOMs as I like to call them, are the utterances we hear every day from people who are too spineless to be accountable for their actions. Some would lump President Clinton into that category. Others would include Bill Gates, who seems to cry "foul" every time an agency questions his business practices. Whether it is because of our sex, age, stupidity, skin color, childhood, parents, TV programs, or music, there is always someone or something we can blame for our own stupid actions.
Or we can simply take responsibility for our actions, and face the consequences like adults.
A whole industry has sprouted around this mentality, and in the center stand the personal injury lawyers: "If you have been involved in a slip-and-fall because you didn't see that broken jar of mayonaise on the floor, or that 'DANGER: WET FLOOR' sign was too small to read, or you didn't expect ice and snow to be on the ground after that blizzard, we can help you collect!" Next comes that 'satisfied customer' with an actual testimony: "I was greatful to the paramedics for pulling me from the burning wreckage of my car, but they didn't have to dislocate my shoulder. Attourney Rea Lsleezeball helped me collect five million dollars!"
That's a pretty blatant example of the victim mentality, but here are a couple of "softer" PLOM statements: "I need to work late because my PITA boss gave me this terrible project to do by the end of the day! That stinking bastard! Sure, it's been sitting on my desk for a week now, and I did leave early yesterday to go play golf..." or "...So she suddenly hits the brakes and I have no choice but to slide right into the back of her car! What the hell did she hit the brakes for? [although I KNEW the road conditions were icy and I was following too closely]"
What can we do about this plight? First off, we need to take responsibility for our own actions. 'I already do that, Carsten' you might say. If so, that's great. I hope it's true. If so, you might be wondering how you can keep people from taking advantage of you when they "play the victim". Unfortunately, that's not so simple. We can only hope that this mentality goes the way of Bell-bottom pants and Disco (I know, I know...)
In the meantime, keep telling these "victims" to shut up.
Here are some examples of PLOM
- A woman just won a $51 Million lawsuit suing a tobacco company because she smoked 3 packs of Marlboros a day for thirty years. Not her fault, of course.
- A woman wins $8 Million from MacDonald's because she spilled hot coffee in her lap while driving.
- The governor of the State of Michigan wants to dissolve Detroit's school board and give the mayor of Detroit control over the schools. Legislators call the Governer a racist, although the mayor of Detroit is black (crying racism has become more popular recently for the victim mentality).
- Added February 18,1999: A man is on trial for the premeditated murder of a young girl. His defense? He was taunted in his younger years because of a physical deformity- his ears stuck out! I don't see Prince Charles up in the tower of London with a rifle taking out members of parliament, do you?
- Added June 25, 1999: An Arizona man stabs and then drowns his wife. His explanation? He was sleepwalking so it's not his fault!
- [Add yours here! Email me!]
- [Add yours here! Email me!]
- [Add yours here! Email me!]
- [Add yours here! Email me!]
- [Add yours here! Email me!]
Email: cramcke@email.msn.com
