Flying

The past few days I have kept close to the dorm. I enjoy having a small room of my own. Still, it doesn't leave much privacy. I know everyone can hear me talking in here, so it's hard to discuss roommates. Not that I have problems with them. I just feel that some of them are very consistent in their ethnic choices for friends. That is to say, they hang out with people who are like them. But as I write that I realize I'm hanging out almost exclusively with Canadians, Americans, and Germans. We all look the same. So it's really the pot calling the kettle black.

Are we naturally drawn to people who look similar to us? Is that comforting, on some level? Perhaps we're too conscious of offending people. For example, I wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant one time with an Asian friend of mine back in high school, but I didn't want to recommend it because, well, she's Asian. All the people I've met here are very much a dichotomy of being very free and open about everything and also being extremely sensitive about other races and physical capabilities. It's interesting. We went to a comedy night last night. Frankly, I am not expecting clean jokes at a comedy tour specializing in university's freshmen orientations. And the girl next to me kept scoffing or saying things like "Oh my gosh" throughout the night. If you have a problem with jokes about people with deformities and anything that might be considered sexually explicit, don't go to a college comedy show! It seems like common sense to me. Unless she just likes to be shocked. Maybe she likes being the offended one. Perhaps there are people out there who really enjoy showing off how P.C. they are. And I'm not sure where I fit into all this. I mean, if someone makes a joke about poop, I'll probably still laugh. We all have our immaturity. But at the same time, racist jokes aren't appropriate. But... I don't think society should be constantly holding it's breath, freaking out about who's going to be offended by what.

If you have time, please enjoy this song from Avenue Q, a very irreverent musical involving puppets. DO NOT LET CHILDREN WATCH THIS! In fact, this may not be an appropriate blog entry for my boys at all. But I think it's something I wanted to discuss, I feel it's important. The song is called "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA