Imaginary Conversations and Random Thoughts

Where to begin? Ok. Miss Tori has informed me from time to time that I misinterpret, or get the wrong message, from things. Other people apparently get the right message, but I do not. Case in point:

One Indian casino sort of in this area is is Jackson Rancheria. Like many casinos, and other places with frequent regular customers, Jackson Rancheria has what we might call a frequent buyer club. Or, in this case, a frequent gambler club. They don't call it that, of course. In the spirit of the noble Native American, Jackson Rancheria's frequent gamblers are in the Dreamcatcher club. That alone tells me two things.

First, they know gambling can be a bad thing, and they don't quite want to use that word in association with their customers, especially since there's a need for a group called Gamblers Anonymous. Second, that some Native Americans, like some Black Americans with the word "nigger", think that some words are ok for some people to say, but off limits for other people to say, this distinction based solely on race, which seems to me like a form of racism. I'm referring here to protests against some sports treams and mascots named after assorted Native American tribes. I've never understood that complaint. You don't name your team, the group you're going to root for, the group you want to win and be champions, the group you think is the best, after some sort of loser image. You pick an image of strength and power and pride. That's why you pick names like the Chiefs or the Braves rather than names like the Retards or the Slap-Fighting Wussies. Apparently that's not good enough for the agitating Native Americans. Thus when it's ok for Jackson Rancheria to use a Native American term like Dreamcatchers, the message I get is that they're racist. I guess that would be the first wrong message I get.

They also run commercials on TV, one of which I just saw recently. Hubby is asleep in the recliner in front of the TV. Wifey finishes the dishes, checks to make sure he's still asleep, and tiptoes over to her purse. Hubby drops the remote, which clatters to the floor. Wifey freezes! What if he wakes up? Fortunately, he only snorts and settles deeper into the chair. Wifey tiptoes over to the door, and puts on her heels on her way to the waiting car, filled with other wives who perhaps have sneaked out as well. They all cackle with glee as the car drives off and the Dreamcatcher logo comes up on the screen.

Now for more wrong messages I get. If I sneak food, that's bad. If I sneak alcohol, that's bad. If I sneak drugs, that's bad. These sneaking behaviors are supposed to be signs of not good stuff, like uncontrollable behavior or addiction or overindulgence. So sneak gambling tells me she has a problem. She can't control it, and she has to sneak out of the house to do it. I suppose this must be one message I get wrong. Then the fact that Jackson Rancheria glorifies this behavior in their commercial sends me the message that Jackson Rancheria thinks that uncontrolled sneak gambling is the sort of behavior they seek in their best customers. After all, they have their own club devoted to the sneak gamblers. Another wrong message on my part, I'm sure. Then there's the message that the woman is clever and smart, and the man is, in the words of Bill Maher, "a dumb fuck lucky to have found her." He's obviously too stupid to figure out what his wife is doing. He gets home from a hard day of work, falls asleep, and his wife runs off to spend the paycheck. What a lovely family. Poor bastard.

That's what I get out of the commercial. But as Miss Tori says, I seem to have a habit of getting wrong messages. After all, I'm the one who noted that Dr. Seuss has at least one book that attempts to convert beginning readers to Satanism