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gossip and pot stirrers
I like gossip as much as the next person. I think it is just natural curiosity and human nature. Why do you think I read this board.
This weekend after shows I was trapped in the bar talking with other Ren-Faire types when a "Booth girl" (for lack of a better name) brought up the subject of another stage act. Now this other act and I do not like each other, that is common knowledge. She said "so what about.." and like a fish on a hook I started in with my typical "well we don’t like each other because ..blagh blagh blagh." Not the whole kit and caboodle of our differences, just the basic reasons. I like to think I keep the high road on subjects like this, I try to say things like "that's my opinion you can make your own" or "maybe its different now, but that was my experience with "so and so". I try not to "talk shit" but on occasion get a little passionate and begin talking too much.
I cannot describe how her eyes lit up as I started in. She was literally bouncing up and down in her bar stool giddy with excitement, prompting me to tell more, regaling me with comments from the other act regarding me. "Well He said this", and the like. In a few minutes I found myself thoroughly pissed. I left grumpy, and have been stewing ever since. I bit hook line and sinker into her little web of Gossip Bliss.
I found I was not pissed at the other stage act. But pissed that the differences I have with these people have become an enthusiastic hobby to this girl. It was her excitement in being in the middle of the "stirring pot". Pot stirrers. We all know them well. Regular Audience members, Shop workers, other acts, sometimes even promoters. Pitting us against each other for their own selfish entertainment. If people want me to entertain, catch the show.
I have my reasons for not liking the people or acts I don’t like. I am a rational guy and build my opinions based on reasonable things. I like to think that even though I may think somebody is an ass that it is not my job to make sure EVERYBODY thinks the same. If they don’t like me, they likely have a good reason, and if we where put in a position where we needed to air it out I am sure we would. In the end, we don’t have to like each other. We don’t have to respect each other. It is not required.
It was the violation of my private dislike for somebody, which is what was upsetting. Yet did I keep it private? No. I contributed and that was my mistake. I'll take the blame. It's my disappointment in myself that has brought me to this revelation. It's my own damn fault. No matter how good my reasons are, the minute they leave my mouth or my keyboard they are out of context to my own thoughts. They are not him and they are certainly not me. Whatever I say becomes fodder for the gossip stirring cannon.
But no more. Just talking to "Booth Girl" made me feel sick so it must not have been the right thing to do. I may not respect somebody as an entertainer, I may not approve of their show or practices, I may not like them as an individual, but I will give them the smallest amount of respect as a person and in the future keep it to myself.
That is their business with me and mine with them and "Booth Girl" has neither the ability to understand nor the need to know.
I'll take this opportunity to apologize for filling the pot on occasion. I hope the "Booth Girls" of my immediate world can find a new hobby. Next time leave me out.
--B
This weekend after shows I was trapped in the bar talking with other Ren-Faire types when a "Booth girl" (for lack of a better name) brought up the subject of another stage act. Now this other act and I do not like each other, that is common knowledge. She said "so what about.." and like a fish on a hook I started in with my typical "well we don’t like each other because ..blagh blagh blagh." Not the whole kit and caboodle of our differences, just the basic reasons. I like to think I keep the high road on subjects like this, I try to say things like "that's my opinion you can make your own" or "maybe its different now, but that was my experience with "so and so". I try not to "talk shit" but on occasion get a little passionate and begin talking too much.
I cannot describe how her eyes lit up as I started in. She was literally bouncing up and down in her bar stool giddy with excitement, prompting me to tell more, regaling me with comments from the other act regarding me. "Well He said this", and the like. In a few minutes I found myself thoroughly pissed. I left grumpy, and have been stewing ever since. I bit hook line and sinker into her little web of Gossip Bliss.
I found I was not pissed at the other stage act. But pissed that the differences I have with these people have become an enthusiastic hobby to this girl. It was her excitement in being in the middle of the "stirring pot". Pot stirrers. We all know them well. Regular Audience members, Shop workers, other acts, sometimes even promoters. Pitting us against each other for their own selfish entertainment. If people want me to entertain, catch the show.
I have my reasons for not liking the people or acts I don’t like. I am a rational guy and build my opinions based on reasonable things. I like to think that even though I may think somebody is an ass that it is not my job to make sure EVERYBODY thinks the same. If they don’t like me, they likely have a good reason, and if we where put in a position where we needed to air it out I am sure we would. In the end, we don’t have to like each other. We don’t have to respect each other. It is not required.
It was the violation of my private dislike for somebody, which is what was upsetting. Yet did I keep it private? No. I contributed and that was my mistake. I'll take the blame. It's my disappointment in myself that has brought me to this revelation. It's my own damn fault. No matter how good my reasons are, the minute they leave my mouth or my keyboard they are out of context to my own thoughts. They are not him and they are certainly not me. Whatever I say becomes fodder for the gossip stirring cannon.
But no more. Just talking to "Booth Girl" made me feel sick so it must not have been the right thing to do. I may not respect somebody as an entertainer, I may not approve of their show or practices, I may not like them as an individual, but I will give them the smallest amount of respect as a person and in the future keep it to myself.
That is their business with me and mine with them and "Booth Girl" has neither the ability to understand nor the need to know.
I'll take this opportunity to apologize for filling the pot on occasion. I hope the "Booth Girls" of my immediate world can find a new hobby. Next time leave me out.
--B
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