Okay, so the other night I go to the Spazmatics show, a great '80s cover band that plays every week here in Austin, and I'm having a grand time and I meet this girl...because it's the kind of place that gets packed on Wednesday nights and you can either bump into people and apologize or bump into people and introduce yourself...and this is how our conversation goes.
Me: Hi, how's it going?
Girl: Pretty good.
Me: Have you been here before?
Girl: No, this is my first time.
Me: Cool, I haven't been here for awhile, I used to come when I lived here.
Girl: You just moved here?
Me: Yeah, from DC.
Girl: What'd you do there?
Me: Speechwriting, then some consulting.
Girl: For who?
Me: Who'd I write speeches for?
Girl: Yeah.
Me: The FEMA Director after Katrina, in the Administration.
GIrl: Oh, good, because seriously I would've stopped talking to you.
Me: (laughing)
Girl: Seriously, it's not funny...our president is a terrorist so I like wouldn't even talk to you if you worked for him.
Me: (sliding off into the distance...to myself thinking, "God, I hope I don't hear too much more of this just because I moved back to Texas")
The funny thing is, this was a girl who I gathered was a college-educated young professional. She probably had some entry-level job at a marketing firm or something after graduating from UT. She was from Dallas or something I think, because pretty much any girl in Austin who doesn't look like she just came back from Lilith Fair or the lake is from Dallas or Houston. And I thought to myself, "if college-educated girls can be this dumb, I don't know what's possible for people who aren't able to afford/attend college."
I thought one of the purposes of college was removing yourself from whatever ignorant place you came from - either your hometown or just your home life - and broadening your horizons. But from talking to that girl, I could tell that her horizons were about as broad as Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show and her daddy's mouth.
Next time I'll just say I just moved back to Austin after writing speeches for Obama so I can discover this ignorance much sooner.
Wow! I assumed these people would wise up after he won the election. I guess they think the rest of us are stupid for voting for the manchurian candidate. Oh Texas.
Posted by: Adam | Friday, February 20, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Haha! I like Drew's comments. She totally wasn't that into you and if you had been Obama she would have thrown a drink in your face. Our president is not the one I voted for, but now that he is in office I am supporting him because he is the leader of our country and he has earned that respect. It's ok that she doesn't like Obama, but who cares what she thinks when she can't even form an intelligent opinion of her own before opening her mouth. A terrorist? What an idiot. This was a good one Joah!
Posted by: Maggie | Friday, February 20, 2009 at 09:07 AM
maybe she wasn't that into you. i like you joah.
Posted by: drew | Friday, February 20, 2009 at 08:44 AM
Ahhh, Texas. Your reputation of blatant ignorance precedes you.
Posted by: Anonymous | Friday, February 20, 2009 at 07:56 AM