My father watches a lot of TV comedy. He always has. Mostly his tastes run the gamut between
Bernard Manning and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Chubby_Brown"Roy 'Chubby' Brown</a>. Occasionally, he watches something more challenging, as long as it doesn't contain anyone too intelligent to make him resentful.
Ripping Yarns was one of those.
One episode in particular (along with the more typical spoofs of public school, sport, colonialism and the Second World War) was titled 'The Testing of Eric Olthwaite'. This was the tale of a young man who talked ceaselessly about one or two subjects to the exclusion of all else. Eric was so boring, his parents ran away from home.
I wish mine had.
I was, and probably still am, someone who can talk endlessly about things that interest me. My father is the same, but since he does not share my interests to him I am boring. Throughout my childhood he mocked me because of this. I once bought a comic that said
Sol Brodsky was dead. I thought my father, a 1960s comics fan would be interested. No. For years afterwards he recounted the tale in an 'Eric Olthwaite' voice saying "Sol Brodsky's dead today, mother". I was 13 years old at the time.
I learned a hard lesson here. Whether it has standed me in good stead is another matter. I learned not to say anything if I had any doubt about how what I said would be received. I learned that if I was enthusiastic about something, people would ridicule me for it. I learned that if something is enjoyable, then it's sad and pathetic.
Now I live an entirely enclosed life. I stay in this room and indulge my pursuits. And I don't tell anyone. They won't understand. I think they'd understand more if I was viewing porn and 'extreme' action videos rather than looking up
Royal Geneologies and
Adam Curtis documentaries. But sex and violence (and combinations of both) are not sad and pathetic.
Discovered enthusiasm is ridicule. You will be destroyed for liking things others don't.
And now, my parents complain I stay in my room and never talk to them. I'm sorry, but some things are hard to forgive.