COMensarations
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
What Little Brothers Could Teach Muslim Extremists
If someone’s making smart remarks about you, it’s extremely important not to prove their point with your response.
I was blessed with a little brother. Little brothers are put into our lives to teach us how to react to name calling, teasing, and smart-alecky remarks. And if we don’t figure it out, some of us are blessed with moms who teach us how to react very bluntly: “Ignore him. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t give him the satisfaction of seeing you react.”
Learning this lesson stood me in good stead when coworkers, even one or two of my college professors, would try to distract me with some smart remark as I was doing a presentation. On the other hand I had friends, usually feminists, who stepped in the trap every time, shrilling like wounded harpies every time someone made a sexist crack, which usually just illustrated their tormenter’s point. Occasionally one of my hecklers would say, “Didn’t you understand what I said?” To which I would reply, “Yes, I understood what you said. But that doesn’t mean I find it worthy of response.” At that point most of the other people in the room would mentally give me a brownie point and smile, and the heckler would realize he was just making himself look bad.
Apparently Muslims do not have little brothers or moms who teach them how to handle the brats.