Things That Make Little Sense To Me
I’m somewhat (and rather purposefully) removed from the mainstream. I only watch TV shows via DVDs from Netflix. I get all of my news from Internet sites like Reddit, and honestly I spend more time on highly specific sites about politics, comic books, and food than I spend actually gathering general audience news. Occasionally a massive story like this Paris Hilton nonsense will crack through my shell of non-awareness, but for the most part, I am slavishly devoted to my obsessions and blissfully unaware of most of humanity. This is why you people think that I’m so productive.
When I am confronted by surveys of public opinion or news stories about public outrage, I’m often left profoundly confused. As I become more and more removed from popular culture and social society, some shared societal beliefs just don’t seem like big deals to me anymore. I’m getting exposed to way more of such things in my current secretarial job because, in four years working as a computer programmer, I had been working only with alpha geeks who had pretty similar social values and mores. These days, I often come home and tell Allyson with disbelief in my voice the things that people think and believe. This of course isn’t really news to her because she continues to live in the general public.
In an effort to talk more about me and my solitary genius/depravity, I hereby present a list of things that make little sense to me.
Separate sex bathrooms. I have completely lost any sense of why we have sex-specific bathrooms in public places. At home, we all use shared toilet facilities, and we all know the physical differences between males and females. I no longer have any perspective on why this is such a big deal. People think nothing of taking their kids into the bathroom with whatever parent is most convenient. Why not just have the grownups share toilet facilities as well?
The American nakedness taboo. Why are Americans so uptight about the naked body? We think nothing of portraying violence and death on TV shows. Heck, we even have people with guns in cartoons for children. I don’t get the big deal in showing realistic portrayals of the parts that human beings all have. I’m not talking about graphic shots of people fornicating here, folks. I just don’t understand why it’s a big deal to see a woman’s breast or a man’s penis. It’s time to drop the effing cultural fig leaves.
Why Americans only vote for Democrats or Republicans. The American public is pretty sick of this whole Iraq war thing. In 2006, they voted a whole bunch of Democrats into Congress to try to get out of/fix the Iraq nightmare. What happened next is hardly surprising to those of us to tend to support third parties. The Democrats promptly rolled over and further funded the war against the wishes of the populace that elected them. They did it because they know that Americans will vote for them in 2008 anyway. After all, the only choices are either them or the Republicans.
Repulsion toward gay people. As many of you know, I’m a vegan. Since I stopped eating meat and animal products, the idea of eating meat is personally disgusting to me. I would genuinely have trouble swallowing if meat somehow made its way into my mouth. Nonetheless, when someone who does eat meat tells me about a non-vegan meal that they genuinely enjoyed, I don’t suddenly act disgusted and tell people how repulsed I feel thinking of eating such a meal. Nonetheless, this is exactly how a large number of people act when some talks about being homosexual. Why on earth is it so vexing to see two dudes or two chicks (gasp) holding hands or hugging in public?
Truth be told I don’t even understand anymore why being gay is such a big deal to people. We as a species are having no problems reproducing enough to increase our numbers. Gay people aren’t telling you that you’re not allowed to have and enjoy heterosexual sex. I completely fail to see why anyone even cares. Even if your religious beliefs consider homosexuality to be a sin, why would you care about homosexuals any more than, say, people who wear cotton/synthetic blends (Leviticus 19:19)?
Why people must be solely identified with their career. I’ve come to hate the question “What do you do?” I think this is, in part, because for the first part of my life, this question never actually came up. In small rural towns, it’s not uncommon for someone to have a job and then do something they’re truly passionate about in their spare time. I grew up around guys who worked in a prison or farmed but made cabinets or worked on cars on the side. I “do” pretty much whatever I want. I write. I draw. I read comic books. I play video games. Each of these things has far more to do with my identity than what I choose to do for money forty hours per week. I understand and appreciate that some people actually do get paid to do something they’re passionate about. I’m not there yet, and frankly, I might never be there. The comics I want to create right now seem to be more arty than superhero. The articles I write don’t seem to have much of an audience. I don’t intend to let lack of economic incentive stop me from doing what I love.