Over the last 2 nights Jeff has engaged me in almost debates. While I love to debate, he has always hated it, so I have learned to take my debating skills elsewhere. The topics were not ones he cares much about, so it wasn't heated debate (except on my end a bit), it was more hilarious to see him arguing the topics. Jeff and I rarely fight anyway, so this wasn't something ominous, more entertaining.
Two nights ago Jeff was talking about the upcoming concert he is going to with a guy from work. It was his favorite band 10 years ago and they are having a reunion tour, so he is really looking forward to it. He made some goofy comment about how I used to be 'cool' and now I am part of the institution instead of fighting against it. He has a very sarcastic sense of humor, so this was not said in a mean way, it was just Jeff. Anyway, I replied that the band, by having a reunion tour undoubtedly to just make money, is actually showing that they are 'part of the problem'. I am about as counter-cultural as you can get. I stay at home with the kids, home school them in a style that shocks most people even more than the school-at-home style, take the kids to a Naturopath instead of a Pediatrician, have babies at home instead of a hospital, set my own immunization schedule and am an Independent politically. He feigned indignation that I would call his band sell-outs, and argued that you must be in the mainstream in order to swim against it. So that means our children cannot be 'cool' and counter-cultural because they are not fighting against 'the system' daily like the 'cool' kids are. I commented that there is always the risk that if you have kids in the 'mainstream' that they will like it and not retaliate, but Jeffrey said he has more confidence in the kids than that. It was very funny, and you know, I can live with being called 'part of the system' if it means I can keep doing things the way I am.
Then last night we were discussing whether we should fix his car or not (in addition to the front end damage, the alternator has now gone out), and I went online to check alternator prices at a few stores and the main page Explorer opened to had the headline "Madonna Jeered and Booed at Concert." Jeff asked why she was booed so I clicked the link and read the article about a concert in Romania where Madonna commented to the attendees something along the lines of "discrimination is bad, and the way the Romies and Gypsies have been treated here is wrong." This got her a lot of boos and jeers, so she went on to say something about Romanians that was less offensive which got her cheers, then she followed up with something like, "homosexuals are also discriminated against and that is bad." She was then booed and jeered more. A couple concert attendees commented afterward that Madonna had no business saying what she did and that she has no idea how people live in Romania (a really good point I think). Jeff threw out that people shouldn't criticize Madonna because she makes more money in a single night than they make in a month (they being everyone at the concert). I laughed and we went back and forth a little on it mostly tongue-in-cheek - it was definitely entertaining (though I got a bit upset in the beginning before I realized he was goofing off).
These were just two small scraps of conversation over two evenings, but it definitely lightened the mood. I love it when he reminds me to not take things too seriously, which I have a tendency to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment