1. People who automatically assume other people's motives are different from what their own would be in the same situation. Fake but representative example:
"OMG, that bitch has her office door closed! She's totally snubbing me!"
"Does this mean you're snubbing us when you close your door?"
"No, of course not, I just close my door when I need to make private phone calls. But she's totally snubbing me!"
I don't understand how people can do that. And I'm not saying this in a lamenting-humanity's-lack-of-empathy way, I'm saying that my brain simply does not do that and I totally don't grok how people can. My brain always defaults to assuming others' motives are the same as my own, and it's actual work to move away from that and land on something else. But some people seem to do that rather often. I'd love to dissect their brains.
2. People who are surprised that Kids Today are familiar with music that isn't from their era. Nearly all the music we consume is recorded! Of course people are familiar with things that aren't of this very moment. I am certain that you personally, anyone at all who is reading this, have at least passing familiarity with some music by Beethoven, Louis Armstrong, The Rolling Stones, and Beyonce, even though most of those are probably not of your era. And I'm sure you don't think it's any big deal at all. It's just walking around and living in the world. But a surprising number of times I've encountered adults who are surprised and impressed when a teenager has a passing familiarith with The Beatles.
1 comment:
I think sometimes # 1 is dishonest. Like the person would be snubbing you with the closed door, but doesn't want to admit it. They think of that motive because it is their own, or close to.
Also, a corollary to #2: people who are surprised that, after not paying attention to pop music for 25 years, they don't know any of the bands on the Top 40 list. Boomers seem especially vulnerable to this, since their generation supposedly has the corner on music.
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