Well isn't that just like me. I started a new blog, post twice in three days, then go a week and a half without writing anything relevant. Oops. But in my defense, that includes Thanksgiving Break...
Also, this blog has a meaner tone than usual, even though I was my usual mixture of confused and amused at christians' reactions to different things. But my confusion seems to have manifested itself as snark. I can't figure out how to tell the same story "nicely" so read with caution. Also, spoiler warning for the Twilight "Saga" and Fifty Shades, little bits of each. Each is so notorious that I doubt these "spoilers" will surprise anyone, but I'm giving warning now in case anyone cares.
Anyways, since I go to a Christian school, lunch conversation turns into blog fodder. Today for instance. I ate with four friends. Two know I am dating a girl, AND that I'm atheist, which I very hesitantly share around here. Another is the subject of today's amusement (we will call this person Friend because any identifying information to go along with my teasing would be mean), and the last came in mid-conversation and didn't say much. (Yes, it is unusual that everyone at the table is someone I consider a friend. It's usually a diverse crowd with some of the same people in the mix.) For whatever reason, shortly after I sat down we wound up talking about books. Friend admitted to reading Twilight and commented on the social expectation of being teased for that, which actually none of us tried, though we weren't really left the time to do so. I shared what trivia I know about the series, and conversation continued. When the fourth book came up, which, in case you didn't know, includes a sex scene AFTER the marriage scene. For some reason, Friend freaked out that it included a sex scene at all and then started ranting about Fifty Shades of Grey. "I read the Wikipedia article..." After the first wave of detail-less fury (about how wrong and different it is) I tried to lighten the mood by mentioning that it was so different but it was just someone else's idea of how the world is, I got nearly wordless rage in return, with no more detail than before. I agreed that it was not worth reading, and stated that the only part I actually liked was that they broke up in the end. And I was agreeing with my friend! I was trying to agree and inspire Friend to act calmer, since I wasn't going to get any rational discussion out of the topic, but that agreement only provoked another outburst. One of the friends who knows me better tried to reassure me later that Friend was just very anti-secular and reacted that way to lots of things in the "world." I'm not upset at being basically shouted down, especially because of the reminder that Christians who can't handle anything worldly are honestly quite pathetic. They want to be "in the world, not of the world" but can't handle that people have different standards or priorities or "ethics" (I wouldn't usually classify BDSM or other kinks as defining a moral standard, but if you're referring to the ethic of not hating others for their interests, that does seem to be contrary to christian culture...) Good luck surviving in the world, Friend. Because if you can't handle that a book you will never have to read exists, life is going to be unnecessarily stressful in many ways.
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