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Mar. 21st, 2005 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
molly_o Climbing up to the cafe at Schonbrunn palace, CGU and I noticed a gangly man wearing nothing but for the sake of the anecdote I'd love to say a speedo, but it was actually trunks standing on the grass (which is verboten, in both English and German), flinging his naked limbs in some fairly indiscreet exercises and stretches. And, you know, there's not much you can do with an opportunity like that but make with the snark. And a minute or so later we pass two women coming down the path from the cafe, and despite the language barrier, we can tell they're making the exact same comments in German. So I thought I had this epiphany: People may say it's peace or love or Esperanto, but what *really* transcends national boundaries is Making Fun of Others.
But then on the plane home we sat behind a couple of (Austrian? definitely not American, at any rate) teenagers. And the movie on the plane was Ray, which I hadn't seen yet, so I watched it, and Jamie Foxx is amazing, and it's a really tragic movie, and a couple times I even almost cried (sniff!), but then I also felt really *proud* of him, this musical genius who transcended poverty and blindness to become a philandering junkie beloved by America.
And then Teenager A started doing this thing where he'd kinda twitch and lurch forward in his chair with his mouth open, and then both he and Teenager B would die laughing -- and I realized he was imitating Ray Charles! And I was outraged! Because you know, I thought Eddie Murphy doing Stevie Wonder in the '80s was hilarious, but Eddie Murphy seemed like he actually *liked* Stevie Wonder. Who the f%&k were these ignorant adolescents from some other country to make fun of an American icon! And also, every time Teenager A did the thrashing move, the screen on the back of his seat, on which I was playing solitaire, shook violently.
So I learned that when it's not mutual, Making Fun of Others doesn't transcend anything, it just makes me a really cranky, jingoistic old lady.
currently listening to: Franz Ferdinand, because I'd been meaning to buy their CD anyway, and buying it in *Austria* made me get all happy, because the real Franz Ferdinand was an Austrian arch-duke, and I'm a Huge Dork.
But then on the plane home we sat behind a couple of (Austrian? definitely not American, at any rate) teenagers. And the movie on the plane was Ray, which I hadn't seen yet, so I watched it, and Jamie Foxx is amazing, and it's a really tragic movie, and a couple times I even almost cried (sniff!), but then I also felt really *proud* of him, this musical genius who transcended poverty and blindness to become a philandering junkie beloved by America.
And then Teenager A started doing this thing where he'd kinda twitch and lurch forward in his chair with his mouth open, and then both he and Teenager B would die laughing -- and I realized he was imitating Ray Charles! And I was outraged! Because you know, I thought Eddie Murphy doing Stevie Wonder in the '80s was hilarious, but Eddie Murphy seemed like he actually *liked* Stevie Wonder. Who the f%&k were these ignorant adolescents from some other country to make fun of an American icon! And also, every time Teenager A did the thrashing move, the screen on the back of his seat, on which I was playing solitaire, shook violently.
So I learned that when it's not mutual, Making Fun of Others doesn't transcend anything, it just makes me a really cranky, jingoistic old lady.
currently listening to: Franz Ferdinand, because I'd been meaning to buy their CD anyway, and buying it in *Austria* made me get all happy, because the real Franz Ferdinand was an Austrian arch-duke, and I'm a Huge Dork.