Pretentiousness is something I think the world can do without. This holds true in large part for almost every aspect of life, and it seems like this would be a fairly obvious idea to even the most basely educated people. However, it seems even the most brilliant of people have a hard time understanding this simple concept.
I'm speaking from a personal experience I had last year with a professor outside of class. We were talking as we walked out of the building we were in, when suddenly he noticed the graphic on the T-shirt I was wearing.
It was a black shirt with a green skull and crossbones in the middle of the chest, with its hollow eye sockets and the glistening white teeth of its dead smile only recently beginning to fade from wear. The skull had a sharp, pointed crown on top of its head as well.
Some of you out there already know what the graphic is for, but my professor did not. Being of an inquisitive mind, as academics often are, he asked me what the graphic was. I explained to him that it was the "Riot Act" skull. I told him "Riot Act" was an album released by perhaps the greatest band of our time, Pearl Jam.
However, it was his reply to my rant about early 1990s Seattle goodness which has stuck with me most. Though I can't remember his exact phrasing, he said something to the effect that classical or old jazz were far better forms of music.
Now, this professor is far and away one of the best professors I've had since I started at Ball State University, and in no way do I consider him pretentious in the least. He has a musical preference, and though it does not align with mine, it is perfectly valid. However, for a long time, I did not realize that.
My taste in music is a bit peculiar from your run-of-the-mill musical inclination. To me, there really is no difference between Alice in Chains and Fernando Sor, no difference in genre between Deicide and Mother Love Bone and sometimes I even find myself listening to Miles Davis and the Pixies back-to-back. To me, there are no genres, subcategories or distinctions between things I will and won't listen to. To me, there is just music.
I had a hard time grasping the fact that my professor, this brilliant man whom I pay tuition in order to learn from, was able to lump so much music into categories, and then discard so much of it as being inferior because it didn't fit into a certain category.
I was downright irate, livid and I even had the slightest hint of anger.
All right, so that was a lie. Truth be told, I'm a pretty passive guy. I don't really get angry, and certainly not over something like this. However, it bothered me for a long time that he would be so pretentious as to do something like that.
It was only recently, on rethinking the situation, I realized it was me being the pretentious one. He had never said grunge was a bad form of music. He had only said that he would rather listen to something else. I had put him into a category, one I considered inferior to myself, and in doing so became someone I didn't want to be.
The way we look at people can have much bigger implications than we realize. It can affect not only who our friends are, but who we are ourselves.
I've tried since my sudden epiphany to keep my thoughts in order, to fully understand a situation and then, only if necessary, to pass judgment. However, I've also become more aware that it is not for people to judge others. There are far too many hidden sides to everything. It's best just to live your life the best you can and let everyone else do the same.
Write to Jason at bob.the.orange.monkey.warrior@gmail.com
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