My horsie has something to say about homosexuals, racism, vaccines, circumcision, autism, sexism, and weed.

Last updated on: April 29, 2015 at 10:28 am by Simcha Fisher

My horsie has something to say about homosexuals, racism, vaccines, circumcision, autism, sexism, and weed. 2015-04-29T10:28:03-05:00 Simcha Fisher

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.

Oh lord, there he goes again!

You know this teacher. He’s the one who can turn any topic, no matter how thrilling or challenging, into something tiresome and predictable. Over years of repetition, he’s succumbed to his own droning voice, and no matter where he begins, he will eventually, inevitably work his way around to that same old, tired old pet theory or phrase.

You can lay bets on who can be the first to make him drag in Sartre, nativism, or Nikita Khrushchev’s shoe. If you’re really unscrupulous, you know you can get a solid B just by making even the most dubious mention of that key phrase, whether it’s “the sacred feminine” or “hermeneutic of continuity” or “fallacy of relative privation” or whatever impressed your teacher when he was in college. He has fallen prey to that most deadly intellectual predator: the hobby horse.

Hobby horses are toys, for children to play with. And yet so many adults ride them every day. And there is nothing more dreary than having a conversation that you think is actually going somewhere, only to spy the other person trotting out that ratty old hobby horse once again. It’s not welcome. It’s not relevant. But it’s so familiar, so reliable, so docile and easy to steer, how can we resist? Giddyup!

We all repeat ourselves sometimes. And some ideas are worth repeating! But a good idea becomes a hobby horse when it not only turns up all the time, but it becomes the answer to all questions. It’s not just that your favorite issue keeps coming up; it’s that it seems to you like nobody is really saying anything at all until that issue has been raised. Is something bad happening? It’s all due to [bad thing that you hate]. Is something good happening? Oh, just wait until it all gets ruined by [same bad thing that you hate]. Cloppity, cloppity, clop.

A few examples of popular hobby horses:

illegal immigration
Communion in the hand
rape culture
divorce culture
princess culture
feminism
misogyny
pedophilia
failure to heed Our Lady of Fatima
failure to heed Noam Chomsky
failure to heed Ron Paul
men, and how everything is their fault
women, and how everything is their fault
this one particular woman, and how everything is her fault, and here is her address
failure to include homosexuals
failure to exclude homosexuals
abortion access/graphic abortion pictures/abortion shaming
food stamps
obesity
essential oils
circumcision
autism
the evils of NFP/the wonders of NFP
Hillary Clinton/Dick Cheney/Benedict Cumberbatch
weed, man, weed

and so on. And guess what? If you read this list and thought, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe she put such-and-such incredibly important topic on the list with all those other trivial issues!” . . . then, my friend, you are the proud and devoted owner of a bona fide hobby horse. These are all important issues. They are, however, not the only issues. They are not always relevant.

So, listen up, everybody — and I’m including myself. If you spend a lot of time yacking online, ask yourself this: could I reasonably be known as “That [something] Guy” or “That [something] Lady”? Do I often find myself saying, “If you’d just open your eyes, you’d see that everything always stems from . . . “? Have you noticed that people can finish your sentences for you, and they don’t seem especially happy about it?

Try this: stop it. Just for 48 hours, conduct all conversations without hauling out your threadbare little pet. If it’s difficult to refrain for even that long, then you have a problem.

The truth is, there are a few occasions when one answer suffices for every question. “Why are bad things bad?” — “Original sin.” “Why are good things good?” — “God.” Everything that is bad is due to a turning away from God; everything that is good is due to God’s goodness. True, true, true.

But if you are interested in better understanding people you disagree with — or if you are interested in solving a problem, rather than being right about how awful the problem it is — then you are going to have to admit that your hobby horse is not actually going to take you anywhere. You might be able to work up a fine sweat charging around on it, but it’s only your own leg power that’s making you go. And that means that you can only go so far.

***
A version of this post originally ran at the National Catholic Register in 2013.
Image via Wikimedia Commons: [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 28, 2015

We've tried nothing, Lord.

Next Post

April 29, 2015 New to me: the wonderful Samatha Crain

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month 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 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which apostle did Jesus say, "Get thee behind me, Satan…"

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter John Judas James