Friday 7 September 2012

More Things That Annoy Mitten

I've done a couple of these before. Lists of things that drive me up the wall. Things that just make me say, "How the hell can that even happen?!" and things that just generally grind my gears. Things that, if it wasn't against the law, I would murder to get rid of. Is that going too far...?

Football Fans

Not all of them, no. Seriously, the fans that complain no end about their manager's decisions or decisions not going their way when it comes to penalties. Fans who complain that the referee hasn't sent off an opposition player, yet when their own player does the same thing, it's fine because its on Luis Suarez, and he's a racist tw*t. It's as if these ridiculous excuses for human beings feel they should be employed as manager because they can do a better job than Sir Alex, Mancini, Wenger and co. I mean, come on? Winning La Liga with Barcelona on Football Manager doesn't qualify you to take charge of any football club in the world. Not even Brickhill Wanderers U12's.

And another thing. Why, at any stadium in England, is there a ridiculous obsession to call the opposition fans "f***ing c**ts" at 5-minute intervals? Have you spotted one in the crowd that murdered your brother? Has the 18-year old lad on the front row, who reckons he should be the star of a Football Factory sequel, slept with your wife? Knowing football fans, it might well be an obscenity shouted out more than you'd think...

And then there's the ones who just want to fight. The hooligans. The self-confessed "best fans" who would like to smash up their opponents with the seat they paid a fair amount of money for, simply because they only bought 135 to The Kassam Stadium. As if they're in 1975 or something. Get a grip.

Music Enthusiasts

Again, not all of them. In fact, I am aiming this at one group in particular. The music enthusiasts who force their preferred genre of music on to others. The notion that everyone should like the same music as you is nonsensical. I am quite diverse in my choice of music. The top 5 artists on my long playlist of varied music are Coldplay, Kenny Rogers, David Guetta, Fleetwood Mac and Maroon 5. I like most types of music unless you count dubstep and "screaming".

But these sorts of people insist you must like these sounds in your ear and NOTHING ELSE.

"Two Door Cinema Club's new album is amazing, how can you not like it?!"

"You clearly have no music knowledge if you don't like Oasis!"
 

"You're just following the crowd by liking Adele!"

So what if I know nothing of the back catalogues of Oasis? I know 'Wonderwall' and frankly, who should care? And if I followed the crowd, I wouldn't like a bit of Kenny Rogers would I? I think Adele has a marvellous voice and despite Heart FM playing her songs after every advert, her songs actually have a message. Unlike... most other modern stuff.

Ok, I do have no knowledge on music. I'll move on.

Fussy Eaters

The sort of people who claim that they don't like something yet have never tried it. Have some people got the power to decipher if they like a certain food without trying it?

I used to be a fussy eater. When I was 10 years old. Mother Mitten would constantly say, "How do you know you don't like it when you've never tried it?" and every single time, I would sit there, completely stumped. It's because she has a point.

A few weeks backs, I went to a restaurant that served all sorts of exotic meat. You might have read about it on here, and when I told others that I had eaten animals such as wildebeest and zebra, springbok and camel, some people looked at me as though I had just digested their Grandmother. I asked them if they had ever seen a cooked zebra and they shook their head. If they have never even seen cooked meat like this, then how do they know how it tastes?

Frankly, some people need to broaden their horizons from pizza, chips and the occasional dabble in the exotic and exciting "hamburger".

People with no Knowledge of World Events

This has been the worst thing of all recently. It winds me up something fierce. I pride myself on having a brief knowledge of current affairs. If I asked people, right now, who the new Health Secretary in the government was, I can guarantee about 2 out of 10 people would know. Why? These are the people running our country, so why does no one want to know who they are? I rang a friend the other day to talk about cricket issues, and started off the conversation aimed at the cabinet reshuffle as his new boss, I believe, is Maria Miller. How many people would know who she was? It's huge news!

How many people would know what is happening in Chevaline, France at the moment? How many people know that there is a huge debate over a 3rd runway at Britain's biggest airport? How many people even know, even a few details, about the UK's largest recession in decades? I'm prepared to guess, very few, and it's so annoying! 

A large proportion of the British public would rather know more about how Arg is getting on in the atrocity that is 'The Only Way Is Essex' rather than how the country is fighting from the leftovers of arguably the UK's largest banking crisis in ages. And that is the main problem. Vast amounts of people have no idea what is going on, simply because they think it's boring. And then have the audacity to claim that the government is useless.


And last, but by no means least...


Twitter



I like Twitter. In fact, I love it. The idea that you can keep in touch with how footballers and actors and politicians and cricketers and anyone else in the world is doing, writing down thoughts and ideas on to a massive timeline is a superb one. At one time, the Twitter world was full of intelligent, educational and inspiring ideas, and it was a great thing to be a part of.


But now? Every day, there are trending topics to do with Justin Bieber or One Direction, people making new accounts based on their "idols". Human beings should not idolise people who do not deserve it. Sure, these musicians are making music and good for them, but they should not be treated as Gods by millions. Twitter only fuels that.


Then there are idiots who hide behind a computer screen and abuse people without a care in the world of the impact their words are having. There was recently a story of a troubled 17-year old, abusing GB diver Tom Daley about his dead Father. It's just gross. But that's just the extreme. There are now bucket loads of people on there, exposing personal arguments over a computer screen, letting the whole world know of their closest secrets. The internet is a harsh, harsh place and it is very unforgiving. If you say one thing out of turn, one small typo that is read incorrectly, it has the ability to spread in seconds. There are so many examples of how one out-of-the-blue comment can escalate into a world of unwanted attention.


I have been there myself on a much smaller scale. Twitter, whichever way you look at it, cost me my refereeing career. (Don't worry. I won't start.)


But, just today, I have read so many examples where friendships have potentially been destroyed, relationships scuppered and acquaintances destroyed because of someone who thought they would be clever and type a comment on to a screen. Twitter has the potential to be a wonderful tool, and although I spend a ridiculous amount of time on the site, I do feel that sometimes it can just be an obstacle to good old-fashioned socialising.
 

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