Warning: if your name starts with L, and you’re a guy, and you know who I am, you should probably just close this blog post. I just needed to rant.

This is a big pet peeve of mine. When someone startsdebating their opinions, they had better have a better argument than, “Oh, well, I’m right because it just depends on your values.” This is just a cheap, lazy, and immature excuse to justify their actions.

I recently had a conversation where the fellow had broken his phone. He had some important business meeting in several days. His decision, which he himself admitted was based on a whim, was to instantly purchase a replacement BlackBerry on eBay. He also attempted to get his broken phone repaired, for $40. The results have not yet come in. However, he will know by tomorrow.

To me, this is just plain stupid. Now, I didn’t want to get into it with him, but if his objective was to ensure that he would have a functional form of communication for the least amount of wasted money, there were many ways he could’ve gone about this.

Why on earth would you try to get your phone repaired in addition to purchasing a new phone? Never mind that you can sell/resell/etc. It does not make sense in the context of the objective stated.There are other effective alternatives. He could’ve borrowed a friend’s phone, or bought a disposable phone. Here’s the thing: if he was so worried about getting the phone in time to do business, then he most certainly should not buy it on eBay. No matter what the seller’s feedback is, I would never trust time sensitive purchases to an eBay seller. It’s just not a smart decision.So as it stands right now, this fellow has got a replacement BlackBerry coming in from eBay, and his broken BlackBerry is in the shop, awaiting repairs. If it does get repaired, than he will have to ship back the new BlackBerry. This will incur shipping costs, which is unnecessary. Additionally, the seller may not accept the return: the seller did sell a perfectly functioning item, and it does not differ from the description in the auction. Anyway, if his broken phone does not get repaired, then he will have wasted $40 on the failed repairs (I don’tassumethat most shops will just provide free labor despite the outcome). In addition, the lack of foresight in purchasing something on eBay could’ve been a rather detrimental mistake.

In my very opinionated opinion, the most ideal solution would’ve gone like this:

1) See if you can get your phone repaired.
2) If not, purchase a disposable cell phone in a physical brick-and-mortar store.
3) If you absolutely must have your cellphone number, purchase a cheap phone that uses SIM cards.
4) Now that you have a working phone, you can take your time and purchase your replacement BlackBerry where ever you please, at your leisure.

That is the most efficient, non-wasteful way to go about replacing your phone. Of course, this fellow does not agree that there is anything wrong with this decisions. In fact, he goes so far as to say that you cannot really judge a decision on right or wrong because it depends on opinions.

That to me reeks of liberal bullshit that’s been sitting in the sun for weeks. I could very well justify the bloody dismemberment of a newborn infant. I really can. You should see me try. It’s horrific, but hey, to me, in my mind, I was right for doing it. Any decision can be made to be “logical” in the sense that it is justified and “right” from a certain point of view.

So yes, you can justify his actions and explain away that he solved his problem efficiently using various opinions and systems of values. But in reality, it was a hasty decision made on a whim, with lots of points of failure and potential for waste. This isn’t some big life-changing decision that weighs heavily upon ones opinions and values: it’s just simple math involving the replacement of one’s cellphone.

It’s not like I haven’t wasted money or done things on a whim, but I certainly don’t go around deceiving myself that I’ve been justified in all my mistakes. I own up to my errors and accept the fact that I made bad decisions: that’s life, and I’ll just have to deal with it. But please, take out a white glove and fill it with bricks if you hear me start pulling out the values card: you have every right to slap me across the face and challenge me to a duel.