Whoops I put it in the wrong blog apparently.

It's probably happened to you. Hell you've probably even done it yourself. You're in a heated debate with someone, and you get one up on them. The only thing they can manage to come up with is, "It IS that way just...because."

I was at a party on Saturday, and I was talking about my sister going to Paris for the month to my mate and this chick (I think her name was Kayla...or something) and I was saying how great it would be for her (and me - she's getting me a funny hat). She then says, "Oh, she's going to Paris..." like it's a terrible thing, almost like my sister is taking a vacation to go tanning in Afghanistan. I told her, "Well it's supposed to be a great place to have a holiday." "Nah, it's not," she tells me. I pause and ask her, "Oh so you've been to Paris?" she shakes her head and I ask her, "Then how do you know if it's bad?" She averts her eyes and says quietly, "Well, just...because. It's full of French people." I smile and nod politely.

I shouldn't have to! Why do people feel the need to argue a point they know nothing about and feel free to pass judgement? It boggles my tiny little mind. We recently had a discussion about this in a music unit at univeristy, where we were discussing Muse - well not so much the band as the fans. I am guilty of knowing a LOT about all facits of music, band history, backgrounds, lyrics etc. So yes I do know a lot about Muse. A friend of mine (who coincidently got me onto the band) was the topic of debate. I mentioned that he was a huge fan and that when I was at a Muse concert and I failed to recite every Muse song that fans adored, I was almost immediatly shunned. Pretentious fans (all wearing Muse shirts by the by) are fun.

Anyways, a girl started talking about how she encountered an avid Muse fan and that she had told him that she was a fan of the band herself. The guy then asked her what her favourite songs were, and she mentioned one of the most popular songs of their most recent album - Supermassive Black Hole. The guys reaction was remarkably similar to...Kaylee? Kira?

The guy looked at her and said, "...Oh. You like THAT stuff. I only like stuff off their first album (Showbiz)" After a little digging, I discovered that most of that album was done trying to emulate Radiohead and that most of the other albums tried to be a little more innovative. That's beside the point. This chick apparently wasn't content to be looked down at by some random Muse flunky and so she engaged him in a debate about the pros and cons of the songs she likes and that he did not. Now, most of our tutorials are based on discussions we have between eachother about the state of music today so I knew this chick was pretty intelligent. However, apparently most of the time, all he could come up with was, "Just because."

I think that the urge to connect and talk with people is too strong to overrule the person's common sense, despite the fact that they know nothing about brain surgery when they're hitting on a nurse (not me...I made a crack about the lunch menu that didn't go over well - but at least I didn't sound like a ignorant jackass). As a journalism student, I think that you shouldn't pretend to know about these things when in reality you have the jist but not the PHD because you could end up doing more harm then good. Not being an expert on something doesn't mean you have to be ashamed of that. If I go to a function, told a rocket scientist I didn't like the shape of his space ship (that sounded more hetro in my head) or I went to a cheerleading rally and told the team I don't like the shape of their human pyramid (...) then I deserve to get shunned and mocked.