I think I met a member of the mothball navy today.
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I was making my usual thrift store rounds today. I was at one store looking at the dvd/cd players in case there was an ld player of some sort in the mix.
This ancient fossil (bear in mind I am old geezer myself) asks me why I thought there were so many players there and I replied that technology changes and so do peoples' needs. He then said he didn't have time for that sort of crap anyway (not sure exaclty what he meant there). I said that before I retired that I thought i would have more time to do things but that hadn't turned out to be the case. He looks at me and says that I obviously had time to eat (I am a large person but still). He then said he didn't understand why people would eat too much since it would shorten their life. I said (I have terrible problem with trying to be polite even if people are rude) it all comes off the end in event and being of Scandinavian descent I had an inherently fatalist view of life anyway. He asked what fatalism was and I tried to briefly explain it to him - mentioning that it was inherent in the old norse religion. He then said what did a bunch of dead people's views have to do with anything? I said that culture defines a lot of what one is. He then goes on a long tirade about how he raised his kids not to be fat and asked if I saw a drunk driver I would report it. (Makes no sense but I am just reporting what happened.) I told him he was applying micro situations to a macro philosophy. I told him the fatalism was more in line with my walking down the road and getting killed by an erratic driver. He replied it would somehow be my fault since I wasn't watching. I pointed out I don't have 360 degree vision and in any event I should reasonably expect to be able to walk down a sidewalk in the normal course of event.
I managed to extract myself and headed for another part of the store.
I then bought a few things and as I was leaving he comes up to me for round two. He asks if I believe that God was the creator of everything. I said I did not know and couldn't know any such thing since I am an agnostic. He gets this weird look on his face and then asks what an agnostic was. I tried briefly to explain it with (apparently) no success. He then says that if I was born in this country I should know that it was founded as a Christian nation. I said it actually wasn't and cited the treaty of Tripoli. He said he didn't care about any treaties (not knowing/caring apparently that treaties carry the force of law) - mispronouncing Tripoli in the process. I asked him if he even knew where Tripoli was. He mumbled incoherently and wandered off last statement asking me if I knew who George Washington was. I said yes and that I also knew who Thomas Jefferson was. I then suggested that he take some remedial history, philosophy and comparative religion courses.
I really hope I don't run into him next week. (Although I would like to ask him why the Constitution makes no mention of God (except in one brief reference for conventional dating purposes) if the country was indeed founded as a Christian one.) I doubt the point would sink in though.
This isn't a rant about Christians or old people. Just about this instance - goes to verify my long held suspicion that stupid young people generally just grow up to be stupid (and really rude) old people.
There are 8 million stories in the Naked City - this was one of the more bizarre ones.
This ancient fossil (bear in mind I am old geezer myself) asks me why I thought there were so many players there and I replied that technology changes and so do peoples' needs. He then said he didn't have time for that sort of crap anyway (not sure exaclty what he meant there). I said that before I retired that I thought i would have more time to do things but that hadn't turned out to be the case. He looks at me and says that I obviously had time to eat (I am a large person but still). He then said he didn't understand why people would eat too much since it would shorten their life. I said (I have terrible problem with trying to be polite even if people are rude) it all comes off the end in event and being of Scandinavian descent I had an inherently fatalist view of life anyway. He asked what fatalism was and I tried to briefly explain it to him - mentioning that it was inherent in the old norse religion. He then said what did a bunch of dead people's views have to do with anything? I said that culture defines a lot of what one is. He then goes on a long tirade about how he raised his kids not to be fat and asked if I saw a drunk driver I would report it. (Makes no sense but I am just reporting what happened.) I told him he was applying micro situations to a macro philosophy. I told him the fatalism was more in line with my walking down the road and getting killed by an erratic driver. He replied it would somehow be my fault since I wasn't watching. I pointed out I don't have 360 degree vision and in any event I should reasonably expect to be able to walk down a sidewalk in the normal course of event.
I managed to extract myself and headed for another part of the store.
I then bought a few things and as I was leaving he comes up to me for round two. He asks if I believe that God was the creator of everything. I said I did not know and couldn't know any such thing since I am an agnostic. He gets this weird look on his face and then asks what an agnostic was. I tried briefly to explain it with (apparently) no success. He then says that if I was born in this country I should know that it was founded as a Christian nation. I said it actually wasn't and cited the treaty of Tripoli. He said he didn't care about any treaties (not knowing/caring apparently that treaties carry the force of law) - mispronouncing Tripoli in the process. I asked him if he even knew where Tripoli was. He mumbled incoherently and wandered off last statement asking me if I knew who George Washington was. I said yes and that I also knew who Thomas Jefferson was. I then suggested that he take some remedial history, philosophy and comparative religion courses.
I really hope I don't run into him next week. (Although I would like to ask him why the Constitution makes no mention of God (except in one brief reference for conventional dating purposes) if the country was indeed founded as a Christian one.) I doubt the point would sink in though.
This isn't a rant about Christians or old people. Just about this instance - goes to verify my long held suspicion that stupid young people generally just grow up to be stupid (and really rude) old people.
There are 8 million stories in the Naked City - this was one of the more bizarre ones.
Comments
Sounds like you had a fun time. I try to avoid talk of religion and things with those types of people.
I try to avoid it also* - this happened in such a weird way that I was in the middle of it before I knew what happened. And since it caught me off guard I missed a few of the trickier arguments I use to tie such ninnies in knots.
*Never wrestle with a pig - just makes the pig angry and you get dirty in the process.
I work at a financial institution and come across people like that almost every day. It definitely helps with building thick skin.
I had some friends who once closed on a house. The sellers were constantly yelling "praise the lord" and such things - literally every time they opened their mouths. They finally had to have each group in a separate room whilst the realtors shuttled papers back and forth.
But what did you buy?
Well I didn't buy whatever load of road apples the guy was trying to offload on me!
I did buy two board games there though.
I would have ended the convo and walked away.
young stupid people turn into old stupid people. smh. but its the old man who is rude. not the person talking shit about him behind his back. lol nice.
Heh - he asked me at one point how I could say such a thing (don't remember exactly what I said) - I pointed out to him that he was the one who initiated things in the first place. He just ignored what I said and went on rambling.
Sounds like the dude needs medicated.
young stupid people turn into old stupid people. smh. but its the old man who is rude. not the person talking shit about him behind his back. lol nice.
I wouldn't think he was "talking shit about him behind his back" as there's no derogatory remarks in his story, maybe a little fun jab in the title but that's about it. It sounds like just a story shared with us about an odd or potentially frustrating encounter that was brought to the OP, he didn't go looking for it so yeah the other guy was rude. It also sounds like Natty handled it pretty well, yes only one side to the story but unless Natty has a history of "talking shit about him behind his back" then it would be fair to accept it as what likely went down.