Occlumency

You know what really grinds my gears? People who are close minded.

On a personal level, it's infuriating when people around you constantly give you flack for things you might like watching or listening to or reading or what have you.  I realize not everybody likes everything, and that when in a relationship - whether it be familial or platonic or romantic - you aren't subjected into a contract where you need to share everything in common.  I love Lady Gaga, but I'm a minority among my friends; likewise, my bleeding heart friends (haha I kid) might love indie-ish music or Grey's Anatomy or Taylor Lautner, but I don't.  On that basis, we aren't NOT friends - I haven't ditched them because they aren't keen on the Gaga; on that basis, whenever I talk about Lady Gaga they don't go "shut up, stop talking, I hate her, etc," and so on and so forth.  You get the gist.  Similarly, I don't shove Lady Gaga down their throats; I don't tie them to a chair in a locked room playing Bad Romance for 48 hours until they convert.  I respect what they enjoy, they respect what I enjoy, and while we may talk about the things that don't quite overlap on the enjoyment spectrum, we don't force them upon each other nor do we talk down on each other for liking the things we might not.

Kind of in a similar vein, it bothers me when people force their interests on you as if it's rule.  Like I said above: a relationship of any kind isn't based on sharing every single interest.  Opposites attract, don't they?  Cliche, cliche.  But yeah, I do agree that there are SOME similarities between party A and party B to lead them to WANT to stick around each other, and yeah, not all of your favourite musical artists or activities may line up with theirs.  Keeping with the contract idea: you aren't contracted to like all of the same things, nor are you contracted to HAVE to like the same things.  It's only natural; as I've already said, I may not like some of the things some of my friends do, but that doesn't give me the right to constantly talk about how much I may dislike them.  I respect what they enjoy, as much as I would hope they respect what I enjoy/Gaga.  (fuck, everything comes back to her)

Of course, it's in our fibers to want to share the things we love.  I try my hardest to sneak in a Gaga song here and there on a party playlist; on those lazy summer days I consent to watching a few hours of the Family channel after finishing a movie that was chosen by a vote that wasn't unanimous.  That being said, I don't share these things (whatever they may be, I'm tired of using Lady Gaga as my example, since half of the things I've said I really don't do, but it helps to make my point clearest) with effort to force them upon others.  I respectfully note their indifference or what have you to the matter at hand, and truthfully, I stop if I'm told that really, Bad Romance is just really, really offending them or inappropriate or (more seriously, as those weren't really) annoying.  (okay see Gaga crept back in)

On a society level, of course, the close minded things like racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, this, that, they all truly bother me.  I feel like if I were to launch into that type of discussion I'd be opening a whole different can of worms, and truthfully, it would just look stupid only one or two paragraph breaks away from my previous, more superficial ramblings.  Same philosophy, though; it frustrates me knowing that people force their opinions as if they were set in stone.

Anyways.  That's enough of you looking into my mind.  PROTEGO!