[milwaukee-electric] The Aginners.

[mrcooby]

On Sat, 18 Jul 2009, johngalthouston wrote:

"Sometime, come to Houston and ask people on the street (not your friends or special interest group advocates, just the basic guy-on-the-street. I do, I did, the opinions found there are overwhelmingly against trolley cars in the streets.

 Have a nice say all."
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Ah, yes, the "Aginners".  Where would we be if everything went smoothly?

We've all met our share of Aginners.  They fit a pattern. They talk loud and poke your chest. Sometimes they spray saliva on you.  They talk in extremes, i.e, "nobody will ride it, everybody is against it, nobody wants it", etcetera.

Ask them what their specific objection is, and suddenly they quit being specific.  After a stunned silence while they collect their, uh, thoughts, they blurt out either a generality, i.e., "Waste of money!" (the old Aginner favorite), or a vague question, i.e. "Who's gonna ride it?"

Naturally, if you take the bait, ten words into your reply they'll interrupt and change the subject. Aginners don't want answers, aginners want a sounding board to vent their frustrations over never doing anything with their lives except maybe building birdhouses with Popsicle sticks and a glue gun. Am I right-on?

Now the good news: aginners are all talk. They hardly ever show at the meetings where the decisions are made ("Wouldn't do no good!") and when they do, their arguments probably do their "anti-cause" more harm than good.

As Groucho Marx sang:
"I don't care what you have to say, it makes no difference anyway, whatever it is, I'm against it.  

"Your proposition may be good, but let's have one thing understood, whatever it is, I'm against it.

"No matter wo proposed it or commenced it, I'm against it.

"For months before my son was born, I used to yell from night till morn, 'Whatever it is, I'm against it!' And I've been yelling since I first commenced it:"'I'm against it!' "