Today's Apocalyse Sign: I is For "It Is What It Is"

"I wish this non-sensical saying banned from the societal vernacular immediately." (Vigorously rubbing magic genie lamp.)

I struggled with an idea for an "I" post today. Then in one spewing sentence, someone who I have repeatedly told I would stuff in the dumpster if they ever said it to me again...said it to me again. "Well Chuck, it is what it is." He never even realized he said it to me. That is how much THAT conversation was valued. It was quite sad.


Why? It means so friggin' little that it has become the conversation  filler on the level of those wretched "um's", "ah's" and "ya know's" that people with no continuous thought stream torture us with daily during speeches, interviews, and episodes of Cops while they think of their next thing to say.
 
I hate this saying. A lot. Some people think they are being analytical or mystical when they say it. They believe it makes them profound and worth listening to. It makes them a shallow fucking idiot. Nothing more.

Business gurus latched on these 5 words and now almost any business self-help book is laced with them from beginning to end.

In taking a look at this ridiculous mantra in the objective, it is almost always a lie. Very seldom is it what it is. Would MacGyver have lived past the first episode if he believe this, NO. Would Chuck Norris likely bitch-slap someone who said these words...Hell Yeah! Same with Rambo (or Rocky). And most importantly if the saying "it is what it is" were truely excuse worthy, would the Green Bay Packers ever have won the Super Bowl this year...NO.

Would most of our greatest inventions have come about if the brilliant minds had simply fallen back on, "it is what it is", I doubt it. In fact it is the exact opposite thinking that resulted in another well-worn saying, "think outside the box". People who believe "it is what it is" are STUCK in the box. With non-biodegradable packing peanuts, for all time.

You see, I view this as an expression of giving up, accepting ones fate of the moment (or their lives), and a cop-out for trying to find a solution. It is the lazy man's walk through life. In the purest sense it is anti-American. To the people who live in cardboard shacks across the Rio Grande from El Paso and the people in most Middle Eastern countries it is acceptance of their lives as they are. There is nothing to aspire to in their countries. It is mostly survival. Theirs is a generation to generation of "it is what it is". This is not to disparage anyone from these countries but frankly I doubt they would disagree with me.

Personally this saying has no place in the richest country on earth. With all of our political woes and economic issues, anyone with the will, stands the best chance of being whatever they want to be, with their feet planted on American soil. I say we change the saying starting today...not "it is what it is" but "it isn't now but it will be".

I really don't ever want to hear this again.

And that's what it is.

**I will try to make this my only rant during the A-Z Challenge, no promises though.