4.13.2005
grrr!
Is it wrong to dislike phenomenally arrogant people? I sincerely hope not, as I really dislike two phenomenally arrogant people. They're both MCR members, and they have, in the past two terms, gotten really on my nerves.
Mark is a Scottish Australian, or an Australian Scotsman, but either way, he's got bits of both accents and a pretty solidly unimpeachable belief in his own abilities as a witty and erudite speaker / debater. One of our first conversations was how he viewed Americans as stupid and then proceeded to belittle my academic research interests as being unfeasable. One time over lunch, as I was sitting listening to my iPod and reading the New Yorker (a stance which should have screamed "leave me along and let me read") he sat down right across from me with a "you don't mind if I sit down, do you?" "No, of course not," I replied, and he immediately started in on me regarding how stupid American foreign policy is, as if it were my fault personally. The only thing I could do was to take the neo-conservative viewpoint on *everything* and to argue it vehemently under the guise of being devil's advocate. I think, honestly, I may have argued against the integration of schools. For the record, I was just messing with him - and it worked. At the end of lunch, he was freaked out and was a bit worried that I wasn't just being devil's advocate, but that I was really a conservative who felt that America worked better unilaterally, that the rest of the world was useless, and that interracial couples shouldn't have the right to marry. Again, for the record, that's not at all what I think. Mark was hauled into the dean's office last term for writing an anonymous newsletter in which he lampooned everyone he disliked in the college, including the warden. And then he complained about it bitterly to anyone who would hear. Argh. I dislike him.
Stephan is a German/French philosophy student who spent the better part of an hour whining about the lack of beautiful women in Oxford (not that I disagree, I just tend not to complain out in the open). Last week, as we were watching The Italian Job (the remake), he made several remarks along the lines of "this woman is smart and beautiful? that's so unrealistic!" And tonight, he came into the MCR as we were doing crossword puzzles and made fun of crosswords for being anti-intellectual drivel. And then he sat down and attempted to do one, failing rather miserably.
I realize that some people will think that I'm being mean or overly critical. To them, I would emulate House Majority Leader Tom Delay and dismiss all criticism immediately before it gets out of hand. Evidently, this is allowed.
On an entirely more positive note, I'm going to Salisbury tomorrow (mmm... steak...) to sing in the Salisbury cathedral. Back on Friday night / Saturday morning.
Mark is a Scottish Australian, or an Australian Scotsman, but either way, he's got bits of both accents and a pretty solidly unimpeachable belief in his own abilities as a witty and erudite speaker / debater. One of our first conversations was how he viewed Americans as stupid and then proceeded to belittle my academic research interests as being unfeasable. One time over lunch, as I was sitting listening to my iPod and reading the New Yorker (a stance which should have screamed "leave me along and let me read") he sat down right across from me with a "you don't mind if I sit down, do you?" "No, of course not," I replied, and he immediately started in on me regarding how stupid American foreign policy is, as if it were my fault personally. The only thing I could do was to take the neo-conservative viewpoint on *everything* and to argue it vehemently under the guise of being devil's advocate. I think, honestly, I may have argued against the integration of schools. For the record, I was just messing with him - and it worked. At the end of lunch, he was freaked out and was a bit worried that I wasn't just being devil's advocate, but that I was really a conservative who felt that America worked better unilaterally, that the rest of the world was useless, and that interracial couples shouldn't have the right to marry. Again, for the record, that's not at all what I think. Mark was hauled into the dean's office last term for writing an anonymous newsletter in which he lampooned everyone he disliked in the college, including the warden. And then he complained about it bitterly to anyone who would hear. Argh. I dislike him.
Stephan is a German/French philosophy student who spent the better part of an hour whining about the lack of beautiful women in Oxford (not that I disagree, I just tend not to complain out in the open). Last week, as we were watching The Italian Job (the remake), he made several remarks along the lines of "this woman is smart and beautiful? that's so unrealistic!" And tonight, he came into the MCR as we were doing crossword puzzles and made fun of crosswords for being anti-intellectual drivel. And then he sat down and attempted to do one, failing rather miserably.
I realize that some people will think that I'm being mean or overly critical. To them, I would emulate House Majority Leader Tom Delay and dismiss all criticism immediately before it gets out of hand. Evidently, this is allowed.
On an entirely more positive note, I'm going to Salisbury tomorrow (mmm... steak...) to sing in the Salisbury cathedral. Back on Friday night / Saturday morning.
