Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
There are Two Kinds of People . . .

There are Two Kinds of People . . .

Last updated on: July 11, 2024 at 6:00 am by Vance Morgan

0 Comments

There are Two Kinds of People . . . 2024-07-10T16:27:55-04:00 Vance Morgan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I ran an informal experiment on Facebook the other day, the point of which was to see how quickly it would take people to get upset and defensive over something that, arguably, is not worth getting upset or defensive about. I posted

There are two kinds of people. People who back into parking spots and normal people.

That’s it. I could, of course, have posed the issue more neutrally: Do you back into a parking spot or do you pull into it front first? But I have an opinion on this issue, as revealed by the way I presented it, and I wanted in true social media fashion to be provocative. The answer to how long it would take people to get upset or defensive? About fifteen minutes.

Early responses revealed not only that many people agree with me but that they are as judgmental about their preference as I am. Examples:

All the people who think it’s cool to park backwards are just like the people who come to a complete stop before making a right turn, and sit on a green light like they’re incubating it.

I always think it’s some ego driven display of hand eye coordination.

But before long, different points of view accompanied by attitude started showing up.

For instance, I had this exchange with a friend and former colleague who never misses a chance to chime in on the superiority of those from Europe to parochial Americans.

Her: If you grew up in Rome and have spots that are only a few centimeters wider than your car, you will quickly realize that survival depends strictly on your ability to park in reverse gear.

Me: But I didn’t grow up in Rome! When in Rome do as the Romans do . . . So how does one get out of the car after one backs into the spot?

Her: Yes, growing up where car size does not matter and huge asphalt laden parking lots dominate the strip-mall shopping landscape makes one virtually unable to drive in any urban setting in the rest of the world that is older than 300 years.

I chose not to escalate this further by mentioning that as a privileged American who enjoys unlimited parking space I managed to do okay a few summers ago while on vacation in Scotland maneuvering the narrow streets and parking spaces of Edinburgh and Glasgow all while driving on the wrong side of the road. I never did get an answer to how one gets out of one’s car after backing into a parking spot that is only a few centimeters wider than one’s car.

My primary complaint about people who back in rather than pull in front first, other than the obvious pretentiousness, is that the jockeying around usually involved with backing into a parking spot or one’s driveway invariably wastes many seconds of my valuable time. This led to an escalating exchange with a Facebook acquaintance who also happens to be a fellow alum of St. John’s College (we call ourselves “Johnnies”). I am Facebook friends with many Johnnies whom I’ve never met in person. We share an education via a Great Books curriculum that is set in stone and has not changed for decades, so a Johnnie who graduated last year read the exact same texts and had the same classes as I did in the seventies. It’s a wonderful shared experience.

Another thing that Johnnies share is an incurable desire to debate, to belittle one’s debate opponent, and to act on the conviction that one is always right, all on display in this exchange with a Johnnie roughly my age:

Her: do you discard other safety precautions did the sake of speed?

Me: I don’t agree that it is safer to back in rather than pull in front first. If you believe that, then back in. Simple.

Her: it’s not a matter of belief or opinion. More crashes and pedestrian collisions occur when backing out. That’s a fact, sir. Sorry to have avoided hitting pedestrians and slowed you down.

Me: Calm down. This is not worth having an argument about–the original post was in jest. Amazing how quickly that turns. Have a wonderful afternoon.

Her: I’m perfectly calm. I just wish you’d examine the evidence. Sometimes when people behave in a way you don’t understand, they know something you don’t.

Me: Other than your say so, you’ve provided no evidence that you are right. But that’s fine–I’m not continuing the debate with you.

Well that was productive, reminiscent of any number of conversations in seminar fifty years ago.

The next morning the returns were still coming in (a few hundred by the time things died down). Another Facebook acquaintance whom I’ve never met took it to the next level;

Him: Those who back into parking spots have eschewed the social contract. They inconvenience the entire World for an inconsequential “safety” advantage. If you really need to head out of a parking space, park far away where there is room to maneuver and waste your own time.

My fellow Johnnie from the day before, obviously annoyed because I wouldn’t argue with her anymore, couldn’t help herself.

Her: and THIS is why I know I should back in but don’t. Because there’s always some impatient jackass on my butt.

“Now wait just a damn minute!” I thought (but didn’t write). You spent a bunch of time pontificating yesterday on my site about how much better and safer backing in is but don’t do it yourself?? I call hypocrite!!

As noted, this was not a serious attempt to get a discussion going about which way is better to park so much as a foray into the nature of social media. Highly educated and usually thoughtful people can get very riled up about relatively unimportant things when they aren’t face to face. Of further interest, my only Facebook post that ever generated more heated debate than this one was when several years ago I noted that I do not understand people who claim that their lives are seriously disrupted for weeks because of semi-annual time changes. Parking lots and time changes—I’m glad we know what issues really matter!

Previous Post

July 9, 2024

Where to Find Me

Next Post

July 14, 2024 The Head of John the Baptist

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Mary did have a choice. And she was able to make it before the Holy ..."

madalyn baumstark

Mary Got To Choose

"i cannot read beyond your recommendations for the books since i like to have a ..."

madalyn baumstark

A Doubting Faith

"AI will never be able to utter with honesty, feeling, or humility, the greeting: "Namaste".It ..."

madalyn baumstark

AI and Human Dignity

"They do. I'm sure you could find discussions of the same topic from any of ..."

Vance Morgan

AI and the Life of Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Advent AI Angels Artificial intelligence atheism attention baptism Baptists beauty belief Benedictines Bible bicycling Big Bird books Bovina Camaldoli hermitage Canada Catholicism cats certainty change Christianity Christmas Collegeville Covid-19 creativity Development of Western Civilization dogs doubt Easter Enneagram Epiphany Episcopal ethics Eucharist evil extroverts Facebook faith family fear flowers forgiveness freedom friends God goodness grace happiness heaven hell history Holy Spirit Holy Week hope human nature humility humor idolatry incarnation introverts irreverence Islam Jeanne Jesus Joe Biden joy Judaism justice Kamala Harris knowledge Lent listen literature liturgy love Marsue Memorial Day miracles movies music mystery mythology NPR Old Testament optimism paradox peace Penguins philosophy piano podcast politics power prayer Protestantism Providence College Religion Rhode Island sabbatical sacrament science seeing silence Simone Weil Socrates soul sports St. John's College stories suffering tattoo teaching technology television theology thinking time tolerance transcendence travel trees trust truth Uncategorized Vermont wisdom wonder writing

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz