Great at Parties

Have I created a passive aggressive workaround? It’s about time I suppose. Let’s get started. 

During regular conversation I have trouble expressing thoughts on important issues. Either I struggle to make a point or I stay silent. I try to stay informed about things that interest or concern me. This leads to strong opinions on subjects to which many are unaware or indifferent. When speaking with friends, acquaintances, or family members, most often the response is positive. They trust I have reasonable and well informed views. They also know getting to the point might take me a while. 

This leads us to another challenge. Many of my opinions are viewed as negative. This stems from my awareness of problematic elements all over the world. I recognize many dimensions of society in which things are moving in the wrong direction. There is war, injustice, consumerism, poverty, corruption, environmental degradation, the list goes on. Evidence of these problems presents itself in numerous ways, from a seemingly innocuous ad, to reports of harm done by government policy. It's understandable that talking about such subjects can come across as negative. The subjects are negative. I would argue however that talking about them is a positive act. It is a positive act to oppose the negative condition. We must learn about and discuss the negative conditions to develop ways to approach them. We can’t solve most of these problems on our own. I do feel strongly however that by learning to recognize the evidence we’ll be better positioned to address any harm or waste to the best of our ability. 

Many seemingly simple subjects of discussion are in fact multi layered and complex. It’s hard for me to consider anything in isolation. Even though I take great pleasure in a many things I can come across as a bit of a downer sometimes. Hence the eventual refrain, “You must be great at parties!”

Filmmaker and activist Peter Joseph may have heard the same. He has deeply explored the foundations of society’s ills. Below is an excerpt from his podcast Revolution Now! 

MARKET INCENTIVE DISORDERS & THE MYTH OF COMPETITIVE BENEFIT

“… people that go out of their way to try to be healthy are often looked at as weirdos. Have you noticed this? As if it’s abnormal to try and actually better your nutrition as opposed to just microwaving something—you’re a “health nut” or some other derisive term. In the same way, like a kid goes to school and really wants to learn and succeed, and someone looks at them and decides they are a nerd or a geek, another derisive term in this sort of patheticness that we see where people acquiesce to this sort of unhealthy mediocrity, right?”

This quote was made in the context of a much wider discussion, but it’s applicable here because that’s pretty much the point. Almost everything we do and discuss is part of a wider context which we ignore to our detriment. For that reason I’m happy to be a tree hugger, health nut, nerd, or “great at parties” sometimes. To me it means I value my fellow human beings and the world we inhabit.