am I a clueless jerk?

"Vacuums aren't magic."


~~  Customer Review on Amazon


______________________





I read a Customer Review of a Shark vacuum, on Amazon, and I liked it because of how it struck such a pleasantly reasonable tone, and sort of wanted to correct other reviewers who seemed to only want to find something to criticize:


"I read complaints about the dust container being too small.  All I can offer on that is:  1) If you want a light vacuum, small is key. 


It's a trade-off. 


Vacuums aren't magic. 


2) Emptying out the container is incredibly easy and fast, so I have to scratch my head in confusion as to why this is an issue. 


3) Also, it isn't teeny tiny."


And later in the same review, he writes:


"The head of the vacuum has a see-through window so that you can see the beater bar.  This is more of a 'plus' than one might automatically consider it to be, especially if you have long hair. 


Hair WILL get tangled around any beater bar. 


Vacuums aren't magical. 


Please don't blame the vacuum for this occurring. 


Being able to see when it's time to quickly snip the hair free has been more helpful than I thought it would be."




And in closing:


"It's so light and easy to use that I vacuum more often.  We're satisfied customers."




---------------------- These "Customer Observations" made me remember remarks I heard several years ago from some drivers of a taxi service that was then operating in a midwestern town -- they said some customers would call them to be picked up, and seemed to think the taxi should just appear suddenly -- immediately -- in front of their house, or wherever they wanted to be picked up from.  They believed it was "Instant-Taxi."


Vacuums:  not magic.


Taxi cabs:  also not magic.





These anecdotes bring us to the question -- Are people becoming more unreasonable, demanding, and rageful in modern life? 


("I want my taxi NOW!!"  "The dust cup on my vacuum is FULL!!  AGAIN!!!!!") 


And if so, what are the reasons for this?  Or does it look that way in every generation -- "Oh boy, people are more terrible and things are Getting Worse."  Is that just a natural belief sometimes because of psychological reasons? 


(As President Obama mentioned in the interview -- for him, reading "provided context, countering the tendency to think 'that whatever's going on right now is uniquely disastrous or amazing or difficult.'")  We can thus get "context," and perspective. ...








Without the perspective, the stepping-back -- things can look bad, and like what I read yesterday, where a Washington Post reader Commented that "Republicans...know perfectly well that (most) people are clueless jerks." 


("Am I a clueless jerk?" I wondered. 


Does the Republican Party proceed, and communicate, as if I were one?) 




The Commenter said the Republicans "ditched" logic and appeals to people's better nature "decades ago" and now just use "rage, greed, selfishness and gullibility" to get votes and support. ...


------------------------------


Headlines today


"Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th US president"
\\  Channel NewsAsia







"White House's LGBT rights web page just disappeared"
\\  CBS News




"Police Taser their own race relations adviser in Bristol"
\\  The Guardian - UK




"Matt Damon:  Trump has 'a lot of work cut out for him' but we have to root for him"
\\  CNBC   


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