Dries My Sack: "Stupid" is Not a Protected Group

Welcome to the next entry in my, ongoing, op-ed. This series is titled "Dries My Sack" and can be compared to the Grinds My Gears segment in Family Guy Presents - Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. As I find things in life that piss me off, they'll become part of this series. The title for the series comes from a joke my father made while kayaking. I have a "Dry Sack" for keeping things dry during water sports and he made the joke that I should see a doctor. There you go...

Not even with duct tape

You know what really dries my sack?

Stupidity.

Most of the people I work with wear safety pins.  For those that don't know, wearing a safety pin indicates to those groups that are being discriminated against under a Trump Presidency that you are a safe person.  They can come to you for help without fear of persecution because by wearing that safety pin, you are telling the world that you are not homophobic, sexist, racist, xenophobic, or, in general, douchey.  In other words, you're a good person that didn't vote for the immediate removal of rights from those protected groups.

Now, like I said, most of us wear safety pins because we're human beings with an ounce of compassion towards groups actively being targeted.  At the same time, we're also friends and colleagues that actively poke fun at each other.  Since the evolution of the safety pin, these jab sessions often include one of us pointing to our safety pin in a mocking way to indicate that we're in a safe space.  It's fun and it does not harm as we all know we're friends.

I know what you're thinking...

"What the Hell does that have to do with the Blog Title?"

I will get there.

Back to work...

My boss occasionally hires someone and I question if she was drunk when she did so.  I forget that she often tries to see the absolute best in people.  She gives them the benefit of the doubt.  She gives them the opportunity to prove to her that she made the right choice.  I am the opposite.  I automatically assume you're an idiot incapable of a coherent thought and I give you the chance to prove me wrong.  The end result is the same.  You either stick around or you disappear from our life. See, most of us that work at the venue consider it our day-off job.  It's our safe place to go be creative and have fun.  We all know we are not there for the money.  We are there to make great theatre and have fun with one another. Because we all don't HAVE to be there, my boss has one simple rule if she hires you...

Play nice with the other kids in the sandbox or you don't get to play.

We don't handle stupidity very well so if you show up spouting about how you once dropped a brick from a loading bridge, you're going to get kicked out of the sandbox pretty quickly.  If you can't show up on time for a call and we have to pick up your slack, you're out.  See?  These are stupid things to do.  Life is not that hard.  It's really not.  If you are too stupid to show up to work (even when volunteering) on time, then you're too stupid to enjoy my company.  If you're too stupid to know that voting for Trump was a bad idea and you still don't see that, even given his Tweets from the last week, then you're too stupid to take up my time.

Now a lot of students that half-ass their commitment to a show will claim that they're not being paid so why should they care?  Well, school exists to prepare you for life.  So yes, when you commit to a show, you must go all in as you are learning a work ethic to prepare you for tomorrow and we are there to show you what the real world is like.

The Trump supporters have been crying that we Democrats like to preach about equality for all but call them stupid regularly.  There is a big difference between wanting my Muslim cousins to feel safe at the store and you wanting to not be called out on your bullshit.

Your stupidity does not deserve my empathy.  You can choose to educate yourself.  A gay man IS gay.  A woman IS a woman.  A Muslim IS a Muslim.  You're just stupid and Stupid is not a protected group.

Let's say for a moment that I have a Muslim, gay, female friend.  I will do everything in my power to protect her rights and make her feel safe.

Let's say for a moment that I have a Muslim, gay, female friend that showed up 3 minutes late for a show call.  I will do everything in my power to protect her rights and make her feel safe after yelling at her for making the rest of the crew pick up her slack.

Stupid is  not a protected group and that's what really dries my sack.