Intolerance.
I mentioned on Evan’s blog that I wanted to blog about something that happened to me on X-mas. The truth of the matter is- I have a good size back log of blogs due to the whole computer crashing. While the computer was down, I mainly just gave y’all updates on the computer and the ‘kvetch of the moment’ so I’ve been storing this post for a month or two.
After having Christmas with my father, my brother and I went to my step sister’s house. My father is a good host to friends but not so great to family. Even though he has his own house and three sons (and a desire for grand kids), he has no ‘crash space’. There are no guest beds or sofa bed… So me and my bro went to my step sister’s house who had several beds for me, my brother, her brother( my step brother), and her mother and step father( her father is my step father…)
While having dinner with her- I forgot how it came up but I called the pope “The Nazi pope”. I did that because I think that’s a descriptive name for him, sort of like calling Jon Paul II, the polish pope. I also will admit that I call him the Nazi pope- because I have been told how ‘infallible’ the pope is( as an agent of god) and I have problems accepting an ex-Nazi as infallible.
My older brother called me stupid and got angry… while my step sister pointed out that her step father was catholic and that I should watch myself around him. My step sister AND her mom didn’t argue with me, they just wanted me to be civil around the catholic… I could accept that rule. I did NOT however like my brother calling me stupid. He also had a problem because when I eat at a table I often look forward and NOT at the speaker. It’s a bad habit I have, but there it is- I often don’t look people in the eyes when I talk to them.
So anyway my brother gets mad. He later “apologizes” by saying that he would expect a comment like that from our mom but expects better from me. This made me wonder WHY he expects better from me??? I mean I know my mom is a bit of a bigot, and I don’t consider myself one but that the same time, the older I get the more I end up disliking things and getting ‘set in my ways’.
I then earn negative points with my brother and perhaps the others there… when I say that I’ve been working on a catholic friend of mine to NOT go to church. My older brother again gets angry at me and accuses me of being intolerant. I basically defend myself by pointing out that living in Boston I’ve been reading- and seeing all about the priest pedophile scandal from the church THINKING about declaring bankruptcy so they don’t have pay, to the accusing the victims (as oft happens in rape cases), to the church accusing GAYS of being the problem (because you know all evil pedophiles are gay. Just ask all the girls that were molested by priests.)- So I’m tired of the Catholic Church.
This made me think that a) I made a bad impression on my step sister’s mom( this is only like the 5th time I’ve seen her…) and b) I found it interesting that my older brother is calling me intolerant.
I think I’m pretty opened minded… I think him and my father while they speak of being open minded have a more defined sense of what they consider RIGHT and WRONG. This is my opinion however- I just know I rarely have told someone they were wrong, unless it was a factual matter which I knew the answer… Whereas my older brother often takes the view that someone who disagrees with him is a) stupid b) wrong or c) both. Heck, being one who has a long memory of ‘people who done him wrong’- I still remember that on a college vacation I was going to see a movie with Alex (my step brother), my brother decided to ‘join’ us and then decided that HE wanted to see another movie… A movie I didn’t want to see. When I told him this, he told me that a) many reviewers liked the movie and b) his gf at the time liked the movie c) millions liked the movie. I responded that a) the reviewers might not have my tastes in movie b) ditto his gf and c) I wasn’t like millions of people- who also at one point believed the earth was flat( that’s bringing up the logic argument that 5 million people CAN be wrong). He countered my argument by physically threatening me. Now I recently reminded my mom of this disagreement with my brother to point out that I don’t trust him to allow me to have my own opinion( he wanted to “help” me clean up my apartment and I told her I didn’t trust him to let me decide how to do things), she countered that the movie incident was YEARS ago… but let it drop, my feeling is that yes it was over a decade ago- BUT he was an adult at the time and it helps shows what sort of adult he is.
So I thought about my brother calling me intolerant. I did this because while I first thought this was simple name calling- I am self aware enough to every so often check my views and see if they’re still valid. And I came to the conclusion that I am indeed intolerant of the Catholic Church in specific and Christians in general. However in my defense, I feel that the church and Catholics have earned my distrust and dislike of them… So it’s a thoughtful intolerance. I have also admitted to not taking a shine to organized Judaism at times--- so while I think there is more from Christians to dislike, I have said here before( and prolly will say again) I have a problem with organized religion in general.
And thus I will live with my brother calling me intolerant, I will continue to try to make sure my friend doesn’t give money to the Catholic church and I will try to behave myself around my step sister, her mother( and step father) and my nephew. And I will continue to not really give a crap what my older brother say- though it might take me a bit of time after some conversations to realize how much crap he is full of this time.
Oh… and almost forgot- as Evan implied- christens have been pretty intolerant of me and mine. Whether it’s the ass’t manager at Brookstones who told me that that Jews would be the chosen ones AGAIN- once they’ve accepted Jesus… to the Ass’t manager at Staples who asked me why Jews don’t accept Jesus as Christ to Bill O’Rielly who’s offended when you wish him a “Happy Holidays” but doesn’t think an Orthodox Jew should be offended by a “Merry X-mas”, to the fact that many of the laws in Ma. and the U.S. are about making people live in a ‘good Christian manner’ even if they’re not Christians and have no desire to be one in the future.
(note: word didn’t accept blog as a word but does accept y’all and kvetch)
After having Christmas with my father, my brother and I went to my step sister’s house. My father is a good host to friends but not so great to family. Even though he has his own house and three sons (and a desire for grand kids), he has no ‘crash space’. There are no guest beds or sofa bed… So me and my bro went to my step sister’s house who had several beds for me, my brother, her brother( my step brother), and her mother and step father( her father is my step father…)
While having dinner with her- I forgot how it came up but I called the pope “The Nazi pope”. I did that because I think that’s a descriptive name for him, sort of like calling Jon Paul II, the polish pope. I also will admit that I call him the Nazi pope- because I have been told how ‘infallible’ the pope is( as an agent of god) and I have problems accepting an ex-Nazi as infallible.
My older brother called me stupid and got angry… while my step sister pointed out that her step father was catholic and that I should watch myself around him. My step sister AND her mom didn’t argue with me, they just wanted me to be civil around the catholic… I could accept that rule. I did NOT however like my brother calling me stupid. He also had a problem because when I eat at a table I often look forward and NOT at the speaker. It’s a bad habit I have, but there it is- I often don’t look people in the eyes when I talk to them.
So anyway my brother gets mad. He later “apologizes” by saying that he would expect a comment like that from our mom but expects better from me. This made me wonder WHY he expects better from me??? I mean I know my mom is a bit of a bigot, and I don’t consider myself one but that the same time, the older I get the more I end up disliking things and getting ‘set in my ways’.
I then earn negative points with my brother and perhaps the others there… when I say that I’ve been working on a catholic friend of mine to NOT go to church. My older brother again gets angry at me and accuses me of being intolerant. I basically defend myself by pointing out that living in Boston I’ve been reading- and seeing all about the priest pedophile scandal from the church THINKING about declaring bankruptcy so they don’t have pay, to the accusing the victims (as oft happens in rape cases), to the church accusing GAYS of being the problem (because you know all evil pedophiles are gay. Just ask all the girls that were molested by priests.)- So I’m tired of the Catholic Church.
This made me think that a) I made a bad impression on my step sister’s mom( this is only like the 5th time I’ve seen her…) and b) I found it interesting that my older brother is calling me intolerant.
I think I’m pretty opened minded… I think him and my father while they speak of being open minded have a more defined sense of what they consider RIGHT and WRONG. This is my opinion however- I just know I rarely have told someone they were wrong, unless it was a factual matter which I knew the answer… Whereas my older brother often takes the view that someone who disagrees with him is a) stupid b) wrong or c) both. Heck, being one who has a long memory of ‘people who done him wrong’- I still remember that on a college vacation I was going to see a movie with Alex (my step brother), my brother decided to ‘join’ us and then decided that HE wanted to see another movie… A movie I didn’t want to see. When I told him this, he told me that a) many reviewers liked the movie and b) his gf at the time liked the movie c) millions liked the movie. I responded that a) the reviewers might not have my tastes in movie b) ditto his gf and c) I wasn’t like millions of people- who also at one point believed the earth was flat( that’s bringing up the logic argument that 5 million people CAN be wrong). He countered my argument by physically threatening me. Now I recently reminded my mom of this disagreement with my brother to point out that I don’t trust him to allow me to have my own opinion( he wanted to “help” me clean up my apartment and I told her I didn’t trust him to let me decide how to do things), she countered that the movie incident was YEARS ago… but let it drop, my feeling is that yes it was over a decade ago- BUT he was an adult at the time and it helps shows what sort of adult he is.
So I thought about my brother calling me intolerant. I did this because while I first thought this was simple name calling- I am self aware enough to every so often check my views and see if they’re still valid. And I came to the conclusion that I am indeed intolerant of the Catholic Church in specific and Christians in general. However in my defense, I feel that the church and Catholics have earned my distrust and dislike of them… So it’s a thoughtful intolerance. I have also admitted to not taking a shine to organized Judaism at times--- so while I think there is more from Christians to dislike, I have said here before( and prolly will say again) I have a problem with organized religion in general.
And thus I will live with my brother calling me intolerant, I will continue to try to make sure my friend doesn’t give money to the Catholic church and I will try to behave myself around my step sister, her mother( and step father) and my nephew. And I will continue to not really give a crap what my older brother say- though it might take me a bit of time after some conversations to realize how much crap he is full of this time.
Oh… and almost forgot- as Evan implied- christens have been pretty intolerant of me and mine. Whether it’s the ass’t manager at Brookstones who told me that that Jews would be the chosen ones AGAIN- once they’ve accepted Jesus… to the Ass’t manager at Staples who asked me why Jews don’t accept Jesus as Christ to Bill O’Rielly who’s offended when you wish him a “Happy Holidays” but doesn’t think an Orthodox Jew should be offended by a “Merry X-mas”, to the fact that many of the laws in Ma. and the U.S. are about making people live in a ‘good Christian manner’ even if they’re not Christians and have no desire to be one in the future.
(note: word didn’t accept blog as a word but does accept y’all and kvetch)
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