Saturday, March 8, 2014

Snarky Stephen Loves Discrimination

When I ask someone what kind of music they like, the answer I dread hearing is “I like all types!”  I dislike this answer because it tells me nothing, and does not answer my question. What do you like means what do you like more than other things. To say that you like all things more than other things means nothing, and actually is wasting the gesture of me wanting to get to know you.

Cue, Snarky Stephen 

Hearing this answer is a problem for me, because it immediately engages what I call “Snarky Stephen.”  This is the punk I attempt to keep controlled who corrects people’s grammar, tries to pass blatant passive aggressiveness off as politeness, and uses pretentious words like “snarky.” He’s annoying, even to me.

As soon as Snarky Stephen shows up, it’s hard to turn back. I find myself asking if you like Russian music, polka, bluegrass, salsa, opera, or death metal. Snarky Stephen hates the “I like all types of music” answer, because it shows no discrimination. It says you are trying to appear well-versed, but in reality, you have zero taste for music.

Two Types of Discrimination
There are two kinds of discrimination – a general kind and a specific kind. The specific kind almost always deals in showing preference to a certain kind of person, based on things they don’t control. This kind is the bad, racist, sexist, kind of discrimination, and for the record, I don’t like it. Not at all. Not even Snarky Stephen doesn’t like that.

The second kind of discrimination deals generally with seeing value between things and being able to make an informed choice. This is the kind of discrimination that says “I don’t enjoy that movie because…” and then gives an actual reason for the preference.

Conclusion 
This is the kind of discrimination I like. It’s the kind that cares, and has a preference, and knows what it likes. I like it when people have preferences about things, because it shows they care. No preference literally means you do not care. But it’s important to remember that preferences are things you prefer, not things you need. Snarky Stephen also doesn’t like people who discriminate too much. You don’t even what to see him get started on that…





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