Was I wrong?
Posted: 20 Jun 2005, 02:34
I have just spent a week at my parents', wandering down memory lane with various old school friends whom I have not seen for approximately two decades, culminating in the obligatory curry night organised by a guy who lived in Germany for 8 years, married a native and then moved to the States. Should be OK, I thought, as long as no-one mentions the war. Alas, as the Cobra and Kingfisher flowed, it reared its ugly head. My old-friend defended his adoptive nation's stance, much to the derision of the rest of our company, so I felt obliged to stand up and be counted. As you may or may not be aware I supported the war in Iraq on the basis of an appropriate response to an idiot waving a replica gun around. Even excuses such as slapping the twit who tried to kill your father, securing a free flow of oil, suckering terrorists into their own backyard and finding a less sensitive middle eastern base than Saudi Arabia all got my approval. It's all just an exploded view of the basic human instinct to protect and provide for your kith and kin as far as I'm concerned.
But my friend's invited guest from his University days, now computing in London, jumped on me with a vengeance, armed to the teeth with a stunning arsenal of facts and statistics gleaned from the Independent. You may have noticed that informed debate is not my forte, so after I'd picked my ego up off the floor and given it a good dusting down, we settled on agreeing that he was fortunate to be able to minimise his carbon monoxide emissions by virtue of the all-pervasive public transport system in our fine capital city.
The conversation moved on and he gripped the table with an account of a high-profile lawsuit for sexual discrimination at the US-based financial institution for which he works. Unfortunately, I cannot divulge any juicy gossip as the dropping of the name of his employer gave rise to an unerring impression that he was hypocrisy personified and led to an internal struggle over whether I should disrupt the ambience and pull his chair from beneath him. I resisted, settling for a more subtle approach in enquiring whether said firm were "ethical". This was met with raucous laughter, a pejorative glance and the affirmation "I shouldn't think so, they're American". But I reckon he got the point.
I rarely judge people by their political stances, preferring a more catholic approach of weighing them on their treatment of myself and those I care for. But if you're gonna preach to me from the moral high ground, you better be walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
Was I wrong to avoid a confrontation?
Was I wrong to disagree in the first place?
Was I wrong to think you would even give a damn?
But my friend's invited guest from his University days, now computing in London, jumped on me with a vengeance, armed to the teeth with a stunning arsenal of facts and statistics gleaned from the Independent. You may have noticed that informed debate is not my forte, so after I'd picked my ego up off the floor and given it a good dusting down, we settled on agreeing that he was fortunate to be able to minimise his carbon monoxide emissions by virtue of the all-pervasive public transport system in our fine capital city.
The conversation moved on and he gripped the table with an account of a high-profile lawsuit for sexual discrimination at the US-based financial institution for which he works. Unfortunately, I cannot divulge any juicy gossip as the dropping of the name of his employer gave rise to an unerring impression that he was hypocrisy personified and led to an internal struggle over whether I should disrupt the ambience and pull his chair from beneath him. I resisted, settling for a more subtle approach in enquiring whether said firm were "ethical". This was met with raucous laughter, a pejorative glance and the affirmation "I shouldn't think so, they're American". But I reckon he got the point.
I rarely judge people by their political stances, preferring a more catholic approach of weighing them on their treatment of myself and those I care for. But if you're gonna preach to me from the moral high ground, you better be walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
Was I wrong to avoid a confrontation?
Was I wrong to disagree in the first place?
Was I wrong to think you would even give a damn?
