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Agree to Disagree

// January 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books, Comics, Current Affairs, Film, Food & Drink, Music, Religion, Science, Sports, Television

I have a question for you.ebertsiskel

Why exactly do you like the things you do? What makes your favorite music, movie, food, TV show, sports team, author, whatever it is… your favorite? And what do you do when someone tells you what you like is stupid?

Taste’s change. People grow up. I was a huge fan of the Monkees in third grade, but today I’d be hard pressed to listen to “Valerie” without rolling my eyes. Although to be fair, you all are now singing the chorus along with me. I know. It’s okay.

Interests usually get solidified early. For example, I grew up in a house full of awesome silver age comic books. So, of course, I love comics. I also grew up in a house knee deep in St. Louis Cardinals, James Bond soundtracks and Starlog magazine.

For example, I know when I fell in love with KISS. It was 1978 and I learned rock and roll super heroes existed. Come. On. How could I not love that? Especially since one of them looked like he belonged on the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland and another thought he was from some planet named Jindell. At the tender age of 10, I found something that I’ve enjoyed for 30 years. I bet you have a similar tale.

The real test is how you defend your likes when someone says what you like sucks. Likes and dislikes are all subjective. I may understand why some people like Radiohead, but I just can’t find myself enjoying much of their catalog. Isn’t there a T-shirt with the slogan, “Your favorite band sucks?”

I’ve never been a music, movie or television snob and I think my open-mindedness has allowed me to simultaneously enjoy a serious, well-made, Academy Award-winning film like The Departed along with a not-trying-to-be-anything-but-a-way-to-entertain-you-for-an-hour-and-a-half-movie like Rock Star starring that girl from Friends and Marky Mark doing his best Jeff Scott Soto by way of Judas Priest.

Another good example is how I can’t fathom why anyone is a fan of the Chicago Cubs. They haven’t won anything in years, yet Wrigley Field is filled each summer with fans hoping next year is this year. It would be easy to say (and I’ve said it more than once myself) that Wrigley Field is the biggest beer garden that also happens to have some guys throwing a baseball around in the middle of it all and that’s the real appeal. There’s some truth to it, but I would never tell a Cubs fan they’re stupid for enjoying their team. It is what it is.

Take it one giant step further with topics such as politics or religion and one can quickly see what kind of crazy intolerance is out there. Nobody is born Republican or Protestant at birth. It’s thrusted upon children from the moment they enter the world. In my view, if your religion gives you personal comfort more power to you, but don’t tell me I’m going to hell because I don’t believe quite the same thing you do.

I enjoy debating with my friends regarding political policy especially because my friends don’t treat being intellectually retarded as a virtue. One of my friends is deeply conservative but he would be the first to tell you he’s not a Republican and the Presidency of George W. Bush was a disaster. I’m way more progressive then he is, but neither one of us would slam the other for our points of view – especially if we find some common ground. We always simply agree to disagree and move on. Our whole lives are not wrapped up in finding the right wing or left wing POV of every little detail. How sad would that be?

My biggest pet peeve is willful ignorance. I get a bad feeling around people who are proud of being stupid. I’m no fan of talking heads and other “personalities” who relish in knocking down the intellectually elite because they graduated from an institution of higher learning and studied the world around them. More to the point, you can’t engage these mouth-breathing buffoons in conversation or, better yet, in debate because their “reality” seldom crosses over into my reality. There’s no agreeing to disagree with these people because it’s always their way or the highway, even when information comes along that destroys their tiny little world view. I avoid them.

In fact, it’s more fun debating with my friends whether or not Wolverine is the best post silver age character ever created. Now that’s a way to kill a Sunday afternoon.

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LINKY GOODNESS

SHOUTING AT THE SEA

“I have masturbated myself out of serious problems in my life. The phone doesn’t pick up because I’m masturbating. And I have excused myself at the oddest times so as to not make mistakes. If Tiger Woods only knew when to jerk off. It has a true market value, like gold bullion. [The reason is] because I want to take a brain bath. It’s like a hot whirlpool for my brain, in a brain space that is 100 percent agreeable with itself,” — John Mayer

COLOPHON

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