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The Crazy Lady Speaks

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Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#11

Post by corin_ »

jonhendry wrote: post #10
corin_ wrote: post #7

I actually had a similar experience on a flight from London to LA a couple of weeks ago. Was dreading speaking to a man next to me who was reading through some self-help guide for Christians and underlining and circling words and phrases on every page. I have no problem with religions (though I myself am an atheist), but I really can't stand the type of religious person who insists on never shutting up about that top…

Seems like he did mention religion.

No, he didn't. I only discovered that he became a Christian at that time in his life a few days later - we had swapped twitter usernames, and from that I found a few sites of his (personal page, facebook, myspace...)

Reading about him online and the book he had on the plane were the only things I had connecting him to religion.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#12

Post by jonhendry »

corin_ wrote: post #11
jonhendry wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like he did mention religion.

No, he didn't. I only discovered that he became a Christian at that time in his life a few days later - we had swapped twitter usernames, and from that I found a few sites of his (personal page, facebook, myspace...) Reading about him online and the book he had on the plane were the only things I had connecting him to religion.

Ah. You said you talked about your lives, and described his. It seemed as though that was what you talked about on the plane.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#13

Post by corin_ »

jonhendry wrote: post #12
corin_ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he didn't. I only discovered that he became a Christian at that time in his life a few days later - we had swapped twitter usernames, and from that I found a few sites of his (personal page, facebook, myspace...) Reading about him online and the book he had on the plane were the only things I had connecting him to religion.

Ah. You said you talked about your lives, and described his. It seemed as though that was what you talked about on the plane.

I should have been more specific in the first place :)

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#14

Post by elai »

jonhendry wrote: post #10
corin_ wrote: post #7

I actually had a similar experience on a flight from London to LA a couple of weeks ago. Was dreading speaking to a man next to me who was reading through some self-help guide for Christians and underlining and circling words and phrases on every page. I have no problem with religions (though I myself am an atheist), but I really can't stand the type of religious person who insists on never shutting up about that top…

Seems like he did mention religion.

He didn't talk about it constantly.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#15

Post by Lewisham »

You can have the same experience when it goes the other way: someone who is a good friend ends up with a startling revelation that makes your jaw drop.

My case in point was this week: I was hanging out with an academic friend of mine at a conference. He lives somewhat far away, and when I do roll through town, we usually just grab a beer rather than see his house. This week, however, he revealed something that hitherto I had not known. We were talking about how the town the conference was in was sort of shady (sorry Reno) and he mentioned "Yeah, I should have brought my Glock, just in case."

"Pardon?"

"Oh yeah. Did I not tell you? I have guns. Lots of guns."

As a leftie even in Britain, and someone who is scared of even the mention of guns, this was a bit of a surprise. The difficulty/trick, I guess, is to reconcile the person you have with the person you are now presented with, and realize that they are really one and the same, just with one minor change that makes no difference to your interactions.

This happens to me much more in the US than in the UK; UK people are much of a muchness. Americans run a full-spectrum. I guess this is why politics here is so polarized.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#16

Post by philwelch »

Udo wrote: post #4
filosofo wrote: post #2

What's crazy is thinking that someone necessarily agrees with the contents of a book she's reading.

Exactly. Last weekend I watched UFO conspiracy videos all day, just for the entertainment value. I see people reading Marx and sometimes even Hitler's stuff, and they're neither Commies nor Nazis obviously.

I wonder what people would think if I sat next to them on an airplane reading Mein Kampf, actually. Marx is academic-trendy enough that people won't look down on you for reading him, but Hitler's a different story.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#17

Post by narrator »

People who tend to accept things authority figures tell them without some sort of critical analysis I feel are the most threatened by unfamiliar ideas.

I'll listen to just about anybody talk about anything. I don't find other people's beliefs particularly threatening no matter what they are. I often have people open up to me and tell me all sorts of strange stuff that I don't think they'd mention to anyone else. I have certainly had some interesting plane conversations.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#18

Post by macrael »

Lewisham wrote: post #15

You can have the same experience when it goes the other way: someone who is a good friend ends up with a startling revelation that makes your jaw drop. My case in point was this week: I was hanging out with an academic friend of mine at a conference. He lives somewhat far away, and when I do roll through town, we usually just grab a beer rather than see his house. This week, however, he revealed something that hither…

This whole question of dealing with learning something surprising about a person you know and like is the subject of my favorite movie of all time: The Third Man. I highly recommend it.

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#19

Post by gaius »

Lewisham wrote: post #15

You can have the same experience when it goes the other way: someone who is a good friend ends up with a startling revelation that makes your jaw drop. My case in point was this week: I was hanging out with an academic friend of mine at a conference. He lives somewhat far away, and when I do roll through town, we usually just grab a beer rather than see his house. This week, however, he revealed something that hither…

UK people are much of a muchness. Americans run a full-spectrum

I suspect in the UK you've unconsciously constructed an echo chamber around yourself, it's easy to do, especially in London where you can easily fall into a demographic/subculture and never interact with anyone else. Whereas when traveling you are out of your "comfort zone" and interact with a greater range of people.

People are people, and the UK has a reputation for eccentricity for a reason...

Re: The Crazy Lady Speaks

#20

Post by qq66 »

philwelch wrote: post #16
Udo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Last weekend I watched UFO conspiracy videos all day, just for the entertainment value. I see people reading Marx and sometimes even Hitler's stuff, and they're neither Commies nor Nazis obviously.

I wonder what people would think if I sat next to them on an airplane reading Mein Kampf , actually. Marx is academic-trendy enough that people won't look down on you for reading him, but Hitler's a different story.

I would think that anyone reading Mein Kampf is an avid student of history, maybe WWII history in particular. It seems much more likely than them being a Nazi.
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