What’s your major
cultural blind spot?
As smart as even you may be, there simply isn’t enough time in the day for any one person to be completely knowledgeable about everything. We all have our cultural blind spots (CBS) where we simply have to shut up and smile when they’re brought up in conversation (or–if we’re feeling rather jerky that day–instead of smiling we become snarky & dismissive).
Now a lot of people who know me would assume that my biggest CBS would be sports, but the truth is that while I find the actual watching of sports to be nigh impossible, I often find the behind the scenes stories to be interesting, which means I can still participate in the occasional macro conversation, even if the micro ones are beyond me.
No, my major CBS is definitely cars. At 38, I’ve still yet to get my driver’s license and have no interest in doing so. This disinterest extends to the vehicles themselves, which means that when people start talking about their cars and the ones they like, I have no choice but to sit there and tilt my head like a confused dog being shown a Luis Bunuel. In fact, my inability to sum up any enthusiasm for the subject is such that I suffer from what can only be described as a kind of mental block that doesn’t allow me to recognize them based on anything other than shape and colour. Many, many times I’ve found myself walking past the car of a friend or family member who’s picking me up–even if its a car I’ve been in dozens and dozens of times.
What’s your cultural blind spot? The big hole in your conversational canvas that requires you to step out and go to the washroom when it inevitably comes up?
It used to be cars, but now I tolerate them out of necessity, and it makes me feel like a hypocrite. My area is not bike friendly at all, and I would probably die if I ever try to bicycle commute again. I don’t care for team sports, so I don’t follow or understand them. Even more so, as a parent of 3 daughters, I don’t get out much, or see a lot of movies that don’t have musical numbers, so I am no longer well-versed on “dude movies”. I tried to watch The Avengers on Netflix and couldn’t make… Read more »
It’s definitely gotta be sports. I really don’t care about watching sports on TV, though I do usually end up watching the Superbowl for the party atmosphere. I work from home now, but when I was working in an office, this was the biggest hurdle to participating in conversations. Now I’m blissfully unaware of anything sports related that isn’t my daughter’s soccer team.
Music. I lost interest in contemporary music years ago.
Steven, I’d agree with you about POPULAR contemporary music, but if you look behind the scenes, there’s a lot of really great stuff going on. I was at the beach recently and there was a group of kids there – maybe mid-teens – and they were performing a mix of songs including some Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, etc. along with some stuff I didn’t recognize, but in the same vein. After the show, I asked them about those tracks I didn’t recognize. They were originals the kids had written themselves, and they were great tunes. I’m not saying… Read more »
My CBS is beanie wear. However, I’m researching this issue right now. It seems it’s more style and personal statement then a practical solution to cold weather. I think the Russians are on to something with their soviet army trooper hats. Do you think we can get Under Armour to give us a style upgrade to this classic and practical look? The downside is Putin will probably invade Holland as UA’s European headquarters is in Amsterdam. On a side note, Under Armour is now the official sportswear for Notre Dame which is telecast on NBC. See the connection here? We’ve… Read more »