I've noticed a bit of "emotional scapegoating" being thrown in my direction recently. The main reason for this is that I, rather unfortunately, am in possession of the kinds of facial expression and general demeanour that betray exactly how I am feeling, even if I'm trying to hide it. This tends to mean that other people can 'use' me as a sort of conduit to disguise how similarly THEY are actually feeling themselves.
You're in need of amusing examples to highlight this? Well, no problem. The first one I can offer you is in Disneyland last week. As I have already successfully established, I was no fan of all the enforced Disney jolliness. This I couldn't hide, and even if I'd attempted to, my husband and my best friend know me well enough to be able to see through it. So I didn't hide it, and this gave them all the perfect excuse to deflect their own feelings of annoyance onto me. "Ha ha ha! Nina really hates the music! Hilarious!" "Look at Nina's face, she really can't STAND this parade we've seen about five times already; isn't it funny!" See what I mean? Another example is of our Australian friends talking to us about going to visit them in Sydney some time. My husband answered "Oh, we'll probably never get to come...Nina hates flying; she'll be scared to sit on a plane for that long". Nothing to do with his own lack of interest in going to Australia and the fact that he himself doesn't want to "spend twenty-four hours on a plane"! So there you go.
And now I have something a lot more grave to admit...there are some cultural "classics" I don't like. Recently I was talking to a friend and the conversation came round to 'Fawlty Towers' (as all conversations invariably do). "I've always hated Fawlty Towers" I said. My friend went a bit quiet, then spluttered in response "But it's a classic! How can you hate Fawlty Towers?!" "I don't know...I've just never found it funny. Actually, I've never found John Cleese very funny anyway"
This response nearly garnered a burst blood vessel in my friend's temple. But is it really so very wrong, that I've never found John Cleese very funny, and that I don't like 'Fawlty Towers'? Isn't it just a matter of personal taste? Just because the majority of people laugh at John Cleese, does that mean I have to? Isn't that what the Nazis wanted, for us all to be the same? (I'm aware this argument is maybe just a little flawed...but still, you get the point!) Here are a few more 'classics' I either don't understand or just don't like that have received a similar blood-vessel-bursting response in other people:
David Bowie. Is he really a genius? Or just someone who wrote songs whilst high on drugs, dressed up in a selection of wigs and make-up and got lucky? (See also: Bob Dylan, but without the wigs and make-up).
George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. I've read this book twice, and I'm a bit ashamed to say that I didn't really 'get' it. I'm the only one, apparently.
Benny Hill. Just why? Someone I previously respected once told me that their favourite ever comedy sketch was "that one where Benny Hill is sitting in an office, counting sheets in a pile of paper....he's up to about 149. A sexy girl walks past, he takes his eyes off the paper and stares at her, then he sighs and goes back to counting the paper, starting from one again. It's hilarious because it's so simple and so true to life!" Well, quite.
Monty Python. I know it's supposed to be the Mecca of British humour and surrealist comedy, and I can see how clever some of it is, but (whispers)...I just don't think it's very funny. (I know, I know!!)
I think I've made my point...and now I shall disappear, before I betray any more information that may be likely to get me lynched.
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