Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Yo quiero Taco Bell ....

The Taco Bell in the student center doesn't give you a number when you place your order. Instead, they ask your name. Then they yell it across the entire food court when your food is done. I've always wanted to give them a fake name. Someone ahead of me did that once. "Mickey Mouse! Crunchwrap Supreme!" Today the name called before mine was Ferris. I wanted to counter with "Bueller" but hesitated because what if it was actually the guy's name?

Today I wanted to be Shia.

Other days Emily or Rachel or something generic and believable so I would be the only one who knew and enjoyed my lame jab against conformity. Yesterday the name Ariel almost slipped out. Inevitably, though, I always chicken out because my real name is on the ID card I pay with, and for some reason I care about how much respect the Taco Bell cashier in a college student center has for me.

Wouldn't it be awesome if every day I gave the first name of a different U.S. Supreme Court Justice? So many rich choices: Ruth, Antonin, Clarence, Sonia.

Anyway, that's not really the point of this post. It's this: Socialism is not evil.

I don't necessarily think it's good economic policy, but it's not evil.

And reading letters to the editor in the campus paper equating socialism with communist dictatorships or supporting socialist policies with supporting the shredding the Constitution and appointing a monarch ruins a perfectly good Burrito Fresco with mild sauce.

6 comments:

Miranda said...

I've always wanted to write a letter to the editor complaining how "my tithing dollars are going to support and subsidize lazy students looking for a hand out" or something to that effect and watching the fall out from that, but I'm evil like that. Some of the responses to that editorial weren't bad.

Marie said...

Brooke,
I used to tell Arctic Circle different names all the time. Britney Spears seemed to be my favorite in high school. I am pretty sure you just need to try it out, at least once.

Cari said...

Thank you. I totally agree with the point of this post. Socialism is not evil, just different. People are happy in places that practice it, and people are happy in places that don't. Its not evil just different than what we are used to.

Sarah G said...

I do this all the time when I do out to eat I'll give the name Bambi or Ruffles. I love it keep doing it!

Kristen said...

Geeze. I hate to be mean to people when they make political comments, because that is what I stand for and all, but some people make such uninspired comments!

Isn't socialism practiced in Heaven? (If not, I call the mansion prepared with a pool.) I think it's great policy--so long as people aren't jerks about it--and therein lies the flaw.

My friend Sina said no one could get her name right. So she would give out fake names all the time. That's how she decided which ones she liked for her children, by testing them out. Give it a whirl. Pay with cash if you have to (do it off campus if you're pre-paid on). Try out some radical ones, try out some safe ones, see how they feel in practice. But for goodness sakes, leave the Justices out of it. They're already too involved in your life.

Brooke said...

Kristen -- Amen to that! I already know way more about the inner workings of Scalia's mind than I'd like.