(October 9, 2019 at 8:41 pm)EgoDeath Wrote: So due to a recent career opportunity I was flown out of state... Some issue at the hotel ended up having me room with another one of the job candidates, though he was going for a different position. No issue because the room was really nice and we essentially had our own rooms except for the common areas like the bathroom and kitchenette.
Overall, I have to be honest - the guy was an uptight asshole. A lot of his views were really concerning... he believed things like:
-One needs to be religious, specifically Christian, to be a good person
-Tattoos make someone immoral and are "against god"
-Violent games and music cause real life violence
-Sagging your pants makes you a thug or a hoodlum (apparently it's not just a fashion thing)
-Black people shouldn't like or listen to rap music
-Gospel music is the only acceptable music to listen to
-One should surround themselves with only religious thoughts, materials and people
The list goes on and on. Of course, he slowly eased me into a lot of these topics, and while I actually agreed with him on a lot of different topics at first (we talked a lot in those five days), but any time the subject approached anything concerning religion or morality it took a hard turn for the worst.
It makes me wonder how many religious individuals are just like this... He didn't really seem like a bad guy, but he was just a very weird, uptight individual with a lot of strange ideas. I didn't necessarily dislike him, but I can't say I'd care to sit down and have coffee with the guy.
Anyone else have experiences like this?
Well I don't think I was ever comfortable stereotyping to that degree -- I had enough sense to realize saggy pants or tattoos or rap music (well in my day it was rock music) weren't "of the devil" even if I felt they were of questionable utility or taste. And, I wouldn't have been that assertive concerning my views. But other than that, in my 20s I probably fit the "weird, uptight and full of strange ideas fundagelical" demographic pretty well.
He's sticking to an abstraction that renders life simple and comprehensible and orderly for him. Someday, it may no longer do that, and then the pain of facing reality will be less than the pain of barking his shins on reality while living contrary to it. I wouldn't let it disturb me too much. Guys like him abound in some parts of the country.
