25 September 2001 ~ Stubborn as a jackass...

A frustrated question: why the hell do people have to start arguments on topics they know absolutely nothing about?

Asking stupid questions about topics one knows nothing about seems a little more acceptable to me. Maybe because I do it all the time. But this argumentative thing is really beginning to piss me off. And since the entire month of September in this journal has pissed-off content, I'm going to spell out a little rant to keep the little custom going...

The scenario:

I'm hanging out on the street with this kid. We're talking. He points to my discman and says, "what're you listening to?"

Me: "R.E.M. One of their earlier ones." He says, "I hate R.E.M. All that stupid 'what's the deal Kenneth' stuff?"

Me: "Um, yeah, but that song was from their album 'Monster,' which was pretty recent, compared to what I'm listening to now. It's a lot different."

Him: "No, all their stuff sounds exactly the same." He lists three R.E.M. songs, all released within the past five years.

Me: "Um, no, really dude, their new stuff is a lot different than their old stuff. Here, take a listen. This is their album 'Life's Rich Pageant.'"

He listens. He says, "This isn't R.E.M."

ENH?

Me: "Who is it then?"

Him: "It's Radiohead."

Oh COME on! I pull out the CD. It's R.E.M.'s "Life's Rich Pageant."

Me: "This is the CD that was just playing. It's R.E.M."

Him: "Well, I guess your discman must have been tuned to the radio or something instead of the CD."

Me: "My discman doesn't GET the radio. It only plays CDs."

Him: "Sure it does. There's probably a little trick button someplace that you haven't found yet."

And so on and so forth. Situations similar to this have happened to me SEVERAL times in the past week. I mean, I'm not an expert on anything at all, really, although I'm pretty versed in all things dealing with Tom Robbins and David Lynch. I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. I'm not any supergenius. But I'm not stupid either. DAMN, you'd think I'd know a little bit about the music I listen to! And gahd knows, I KNOW my discman does not play the radio.

So WHY would somebody argue with me about something like that?

Why would someone go way out of their way to start a fight that's so pathetically uninformed that it makes them just laughable?

I DO know a few things about this world. Honestly, I do. I do NOT like it when people try to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, when it's pretty damned obvious that I do, and it's also pretty obvious that they DON'T.

Okay, so the discman thing was just an example. It didn't really happen. I didn't want bother telling the exact stories because I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. But you know, when have I cared all that much about whether or not I'm hurting people's feelings when I'm just telling the freaking truth? Okay, so here's a true story...

I'm talking to this guy. He's essentially a stranger to me, but he's a friend of a friend, so he's hanging out at my house. Okay, fine. I don't really know what to talk about, and there are no munchies in the house to break the silence, so I say, "wanna see my Seattle pictures?"

The guy looks at them, telling me about somebody he knows who lives in Seattle, or something to that effect, like he's really some sort of expert. I'm already getting the impression that he's talking out his ass.

He holds one of the pictures in his hands. It's a photograph of me standing on the deck of a ferryboat. He says, "Ohhhh! I've been on that bridge!"

Me: "Oh, that's not a bridge. That's a ferryboat."

He says -- and I'm QUITE serious -- "No, that's a bridge. I've been there!"

I wanted to choke him. What a DUMBASSED thing to say! What a completely freaking DUMB thing to say! I mean, I myself, Helena, am IN the picture. I was present when the picture was taken. The picture was taken approximately a month and a half ago, and it's NOT like I've developed complete amnesia in that month and a half. I DO remember being on that ferryboat, and I remember the woman who took the picture, and I remember... shit, I remember everything about it! I was there after all...

Me (trying not to choke this kid): "Um, no, it's REALLY a ferryboat. See? I'm in the picture. I was there. I was on a ferryboat when this picture was taken."

The kid starts telling me about this mythical bridge that crosses the Puget Sound to get to Bainbridge Island from Seattle. He says the bridge is "right near there someplace." He assures me he's talking about the Sound, and not Lake Washington. He's SURE of it. He's been there.

I want to choke him even NOW for being such a dumbass!

Okay, so first of all, the kid made a mistake. He thought this picture was of a bridge. Fine. It's not a stupid mistake. It kind of does look like a bridge.

But then to try to tell me I am wrong? When I am obviously more informed on the subject, based on being IN the photograph in question?

And THEN to try to prove that I am wrong, and he is right, by pulling "facts" out of his ass that are so completely wrong it's not even funny?

I mean, I wasn't arguing. I was making a polite correction to a little error. I wasn't being belligerent. I wasn't antagonizing. I was just making a small correction. Why the hyper-defensive line of bullshit? Why try to make me look like an asshole by being one yourself? That's just so pathetic to me. I just have NO respect for that.

(Later, this same kid tried to give my friend Eva a lecture about drugs and alcohol, and she spent a good ten minutes laughing over THAT later; the general gist of her comment was: "does that kid have ANY idea who he was talking to?" Heh.)

Oh, and by the way, there is NO bridge from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. There's one that goes across Lake Washington, maybe more than one that goes across Lake Washington, but building a bridge across the Puget Sound all the way from Seattle to Banbridge Island would be pretty damned impractical. A 20-mile bridge suspended above ocean water? Please! If you've been there, you know it's just about impossible. I doubt that kid has ever been to Seattle in his life. Obviously, he was making up lies to look important about EVERY other thing he said that night, so it's not like I have any reason to believe he's any sort of Seattle expert.

Why is it so important to make other people look dumb?

Why are people such blatant liars in order to make themselves look important?

This is NOT the only example of such a phenomenon that I've seen in recent history, and frankly, it's getting a little disgusting. More than a little disgusting.

And another question that's been bothering me: How on EARTH do such people expect to be taken seriously?

All right, now that THAT rant is out of the way, I'm going to bed.

~Helena*