Stranger Talk

This isn't so much a random street scene as it is one of those random moments of surreal interactions with a stranger.

The elderly man sitting next to me on the train started complaining as soon as we left 30th St station about traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday and how he was staying home.

This led him to the topic of terrorism, where he claimed (loudly) that "No one is going to get ME to hit a prayer rug 5 times a day! I don't even go to church once a week. I go to the church of 'CBS Sunday Edition'. You're not going to get me to bang my head on the floor 5 times a day! It's no wonder they're all nuts! Stop banging your head on the floor!"

Before he could get completely wound up, I pointed out that extremists in any religion are dangerous - look at the fundamentalist Christians.

He replied (loudly), "But they're not burning people at the stake or crucifying people! Haven't done anything like that for over 500 years!!"

He kept this rant up for a little bit. I was trying very hard not to stir him up even more, so I wasn't giving him much ammunition and limiting myself to some head nods and no eye contact.

He was quiet for a while. Then he said, "You want to hear an example of political correctness gone too far?"

"You only have one?"

"I called my bank this morning. Wachovia. And you know what their recorded message said?! 'We'll be closed for the federal holiday.' Can you believe it?! They can't say we'll be closed for Thanksgiving! They have to say "federal" holiday?! Now it's wrong to say Happy Thanksgiving?!??! Who's going to be offended by that - a bunch of turkeys?!!!"

I paused as I debated should I/shouldn't I and finally decided I could not let this go.

I turned to him and said, "Well, I don't know think it's an example of political correctness gone wrong so much as it's an example of a cheap bank. A lot of places have recordings like that so they don't have to keep re-recording the message each holiday. It doesn't matter if it's President's Day or Veteran's Day or Thanksgiving. They can run the same tape saying they'll be closed for the federal holiday, whichever holiday it might be."

His face was priceless. He started out with a quizzical look that quickly dissolved into astonishment and after a moment of digesting this possibility, he said, "Oh. I never thought of that. So you mean that angry e-mail I sent to Wachovia's CEO this morning....."

I nodded at him. Yes, sir. They will have noooooo idea what you were so upset about.

I thought this was a good place to end the conversation except he then said, "Well, I called Glenn Beck about it this morning. Do you ever listen to Glenn Beck?"

"No. I know who he is, but I don't listen to him."

"I called him this morning and told them this story and they put me on the air! And Glenn said he would let the last line - the part about turkeys being offended - speak for itself. And you know they have that delay, so with the delay, I got hear myself on the radio!"

With this he sat up a little straighter in his seat, beamed at me very proudly and said in a half-joking manner, "Now I'm a radio star."

I could analyze this incident all day. I can't make presumptions about the man's life. I'm not going to assume that because he's elderly, that must mean he's lonely. Now that my mother is hitting her mid-70's, I'm very sensitive about making snap judgments about the elderly. My mother is not lonely, not feeble, not disoriented, or suffering from any of the other problems senior citizens are often saddled with by younger generations.

I don't think age has anything to do with it. I do think, however, that this man was a prime example of how people have lost their ability to critically think through anything - even something as minor as the recorded message at their bank.

This lack of critical thinking skill is precisely what politicians and talk show hosts everywhere have learned to exploit. No one stops to ask if it makes any sense. All the talking heads want is the emotional gut reaction.