I Like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. You Like Strawberry. Cool.
I have noticed something weird with society lately. Well actually I have noticed about 77 million weird things with society lately but for now I’ll just focus on one.
Back in my day (remember I’m very old compared to most of you whippersnappers on here) everyone had a “type” or a “taste” and that was cool.
You like things that taste like feet. I don't like things that taste like feet. Cool. More for you then.
I like chocolate chip ice cream and you like strawberry. Cool. Your enjoyment of strawberry will do absolutely nothing to diminish my love for chocolate chip. You like the Cubs and I like the Sox. Cool. I may joke around with you about it but I certainly don’t want your life to be miserable because you like a different team. You’re a Republican and I’m an Independent. Cool. You think government should be smaller, provide fewer services and charge less taxes and I think that might be true for some things but I think the government should provide more services in other areas and taxes need to be increased to cover those services. Alright, we have different options, let’s go play basketball. I like Industrial music and you like Country. Cool. I even found an artist that mixes the two. You like guys and I like girls. Cool. Your love of guys has no impact on my love of girls… in fact it means less competition and I need all the help I can get. You are on the autism spectrum and need some help with understanding sarcasm and I need some help understanding logic. Cool.
Back in my day, we finally started to also swing toward another radical concept (insert sarcasm here) the idea that EQUAL RIGHTS ARE NOT PIE! You can’t run out of rights! Giving someone the same rights that I have does not take away a single one of my rights. This may sound crazy, but we can BOTH have rights. And we can BOTH be treated with dignity and respect. You being treated with dignity and respect has absolutely zero impact on me being treated that way.
These basic ideas are part of the reason I became a special education teacher. While we had made a lot of progress, I still saw a gap in some people’s thinking and more importantly in the treatment of people with disabilities. But I had a knack for very easily being able to say “different is not less”. And that is what all of these things come down to: Different is not less.
Different tastes in ice cream, baseball teams, non-extreme political ideology, music, sexual orientation, disability status, doesn’t make anyone less. As long as we aren't talking about having a taste for mistreating living things, it just makes them different!
But we seem to have lost the plot as a society. Now different is not only less, it may actually be evil.
If you are wondering what inspired this harangue, it is that super controversial (insert sarcasm here) Super Bowl Halftime Show. Oh boy. Did I just open a can of worms or what (more sarcasm please)?
I have watched every Super Bowl since Super Bowl X (yes just one “X”). Do you know how many Super Bowl halftime shows I have liked? Four. Those were Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, and the Rap Legends. Now to be fair, the halftime shows were just marching bands and stuff like that until around 1991 so I’m really only counting about 35 shows. But that means there were 31 shows that were not my cup of tea. They just weren’t for me. They did meet my taste. They were different from what I liked, but they were not less. In fact, I know I am in the minority for many, many, many of those shows. But that is ok. I didn’t get my chocolate chip ice cream but that does not mean I’m angry at all of the people who got their strawberry. Not everyone has the same taste. You can’t have 140 million different halftime shows. So instead of being bitter about what I did not get, I am happy for the millions of people who were brought joy by the performance.
Another thing us old people have been forced to do is to learn to make the best of things. Perhaps it is from growing up with only four television channels, a radio and limited record albums. We could not simply click on a device and instantly get something that meets our exact tastes. Sometimes you had to make the best of watching Love American Style while you waited for Batman to come on. Sometimes you had to listen to a song on the radio you only kind of liked. Whoa. What a concept. But now we are spoiled. “This is not my exact taste. Click to one of the other 500 channels or hit skip on Spotify.” Poof. Instant gratification.
So for me, instead of whining about the 31 halftime shows I did not like, I found something to enjoy in them… or I went to the bathroom and skipped it. I did not ruin someone else’s enjoyment just because it wasn’t in my wheelhouse.
You like to get married on the halftime show. Cool. Wishing the new couple years of happiness!
So what did I enjoy about this year’s halftime show? Well the music is not for me. I like Industrial music. This was not Industrial music. But I have to admit, a lot of the music also had some cool beats to sway my hips to but that’s another story. But damn did it look freaking cool. I can’t believe all of the different sets and props they used in just fifteen minutes. There was also a cool story throughout that culminated in an actual marriage (yes that couple were actually married during the performance). Also, as a history teacher, I was super impressed that it taught a history lesson of Puerto Rico that even included the current problems with power outages across the island. But what I liked most was that it celebrated unity and showed how “America” is not just The U.S. We often abbreviate The United States of America to just “America” but that leaves out a hell of a lot of people. And there were some really attractive women who would fit right in Banshee Pennsylvania… but really it was the sets, costumes and message that were my favorite… I swear.
I like chocolate chip ice cream. You like strawberry. Cool.
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First of all, we are all different, with the capacity to reason and choose what we like. Given that, in modern times, we see all sorts of things young people do. It's best not to comment on things that aren't our own; we should simply be tolerant. And well, I agree with you, chocolate ice cream is my favorite. Regards and blessed weekend
Because we can curate our lives to be 100% our taste now, we’ve lost the muscle for tolerating things that aren't for us.
This is such a powerful reminder. “Different is not less” should be basic common sense, yet it feels revolutionary again. We don’t lose anything by letting others live, love, think, and exist differently we only gain empathy and a healthier society. If more people truly understood that rights aren’t a competition, the world would be a much kinder place.
America has been used as long as I have been alive ( and probably much longer) to refer to the United States of America. Of course there are also the continents of North and South America that are sometimes collectively referred to as The Americas. But if someone asks you what country you are from, if you are from Brazil (for example) you are going to say Brazil, not America. However, if you are from the U.S.A., chances are you are shortening that to America and everybody is going to know you mean the U.S.A., not Canada. So maybe it's nitpicking but to me America is definitely just the U.S. The Americas, North America, and South America aren't. I mean I'm an American, not a United Statesian.
As far as the halftime show, I haven't liked most of them either, especially recently. Having said that, I thought the choice of a primarily Spanish show an odd one. I realize of course that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. and there are plenty of Spanish speakers. However, most Spanish speakers in the U.S. also know English. The reverse isn't true. To me that makes it feel more divisive than unifying but I'm not going to go rage about something so trivial and the alternative halftime show bordered on ridiculous.
I use “American” too. I mean it’s so ubiquitous you kind of have to. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with reminding people there are lots of parts of America. And this was seen from a different point of view. Cool.
The NFL is all about money. Bad Bunny is the most streamed artist world wide and the Super Bowl attracts an international audience and the NFL is trying to expand internationally. So I’d guess this show was targeting an international audience. Cool.
I was saying it was internationally unifying. Far too many people (not saying you) forget that the U.S. isn’t the center of the world. I bet the NFL loved the message of “the whole world is welcome under the NFL tent… now but some jerseys!”
Also the show was celebrating a part of America (see I do use it) that speaks Spanish.
The truth is, being different is no less valuable; we all agree on that. We are all different from one another, but the important thing is learning to accept ourselves as we are. Society is incredible at judging without knowing other people's stories, but well, let's hope to see a change very soon and learn to live without judging those who aren't the same or don't think like us.
We certainly cannot dismiss something simply because it is not to our liking; we must learn to live in a world with very different points of view. Furthermore, this diversity is always a good thing, unlike in times past when there were hardly any options to choose from.
I thought it was great. I've never listened to Bad Bunny before but the production was great and the references to their heritage was awesome. I told another guy on Facebook I feel like if you didn't like it you just move on. If you take to Facebook to complain about it that tells me a lot more about you than you think it does. Like your basically throwing a tantrum because you are racist. You can claim you just don't like the music, or your turning point trash is more American, but we all know...
If someone does not agree with us or has something in common with us, it does not mean that that person is inferior or at a disadvantage compared to us. It is not about agreeing on something, but rather understanding that each person, from their own particular perspective, can also be as successful as we are. We are not a mold that everyone must fit into, and in diversity, we perceive different approaches to our own good 😊
im not american so i don't see the super bowl or the half time show, nor i bothered to watch it later, i know it has been very controversial
as you say i remember back in the days on tv if you wanted something you had to wait, wait the news program to end, wait advertises to end, wait and wait, there was no 'on demand' to have everything you want
I swear the number of people who are desperate for everyone else to conform with/validate their extremely narrow world views has been on the increase since I was at uni -_-
I have a lot of patience for a lot of things but that's not one of them.
One person's rights or pleasures do not diminish another's opportunities. I think the world would be a much more livable place if we simply learned to accept our differences without hating the choices of others.
It is absolutely true that all people have different preferences and what each person likes remains the same throughout their life. Their preferences do not change based on what another person likes
That BuzzFeed graphic nails the nostalgia bit, funny how tastes define us
Now you say this I'm wondering if this could be a contributing reason for why we're seeing a lot more entitled and divisive behaviour lately. Back when I was growing up (the UK for me) there was a programme where people could send in complaint letters about what was broadcast that week, I'm guessing on the BBC. We rarely watched it and usually switched channels after a brief viewing, but concluded that while sometimes it was conceded that maybe certain programmes shouldn't have been aired so early in the day most of the complaints were frivolous and they should just change the channel or switch the TV off if they didn't like it. No-one was forcing them to watch it after all. Thankfully I have retained that ability to just change channels, which has morphed into scrolling on by in today's world, so while I've seen things on the Bad Bunny half time show, I'm still as disinterested in it as before and am not sure what all the fuss is about because I just scroll on by.
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