Today, I'd like to talk about people who are too proud to admit when they're wrong. All of us are guilty of this at one time or another but, eventually, we're forced to swallow our pride and admit our mistake(s).
Most of the time, it's when we're younger that we do this; especially when we were teenagers. Most of us grow out of it eventually, but some never do. It's these people I'd like to discuss today.
For example, a childhood friend of mine who I recently got back in contact with on Facebook. Now, before I continue, I have to mention the fact that he was always a troubled young man. He was picked on a lot and bullied rather intensely in elementary school; I'm not sure whether or not this played a factor in why he never, ever, admitted when he was wrong... even after being proven so. Even so, I felt sorry for him but it always pissed me off when he would never back down from cold hard facts.
I remember once we were discussing comic books. This was around 1992 or 1993 and the comic book industry was going through a huge boom at that time. We were talking about the X-Men, of all things, and he swore up and down that Iron Man was a member of the X-Men. Of course, we all know better, but this poor guy kept insisting until a mutual friend of ours, who was much more well versed in the world of comics, confirmed that Iron Man was, in fact, NOT a member of the X-Men. Even after this, he refused to bow down to the fact and continued to show his ignorance.
Flash forward (nearly) 20 years later to just a few days ago. This friend of mine posted this on Facebook (the following has not been corrected by me. All spelling mistakes are copied and pasted from the original post):
"Can anyone tell me the name of the movie where Mel Gibson punched McJagger in the face?"
So, besides screwing up the spelling of Mick Jagger's name, we have a problem here. Being very well versed in cinematic knowledge, I was dumbfounded at first, until I realized that he had confused character actor Bruce Spence with Mick Jagger... and he was either talking about The Road Warrior or Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. So, I replied to his wall post with the following:
"I believe you're talking
about either The Road Warrior or Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, but that
wasn't Mick Jagger; it was Bruce Spence. They DO look a lot alike
though. Mel Gibson and Mick Jagger have never appeared together in a
film."
My friend, apparently still not very receptive to being corrected, responded with the following (again, all spelling and grammar mistakes have NOT been corrected by me and are copied and pasted from the original post):
"Eh Tomatoe, Tomatoe."
I refused to acknowledge this last post with a response.
I'm a bit confused here. Miraculously, I know what he meant by that, (you say tow-MAY-tow, but I say tow-MAH-tow, for those of you who can't decipher the language of idiots) but how is this THAT type of situation? That's certainly not the way I see it. I guess, to him, it's okay to say that Bruce Spence is Mick Jagger if he chooses? Does that mean I can randomly place Dolph Lundgren in any film, regardless of who actually starred in it? How juvenile.
In closing:
First: If you're going to attempt to get into a pissing contest, especially with me, use correct punctuation and spelling or, at least, use a spellchecker.
Second: Please, for the love of God, grow up and learn to admit when you're wrong and maintain some dignity. In the long run, you'll be MUCH better off.
Last thing: I have refused to mention my childhood friend by name to save him from any embarrassment. If anyone reading this has me as a friend on Facebook and somehow manages to figure out who this is, please leave him be.
Subject: Pats Weekly Rant 
Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:36 pm
