When I was a younger man, I would be offended and appalled if people didn’t know anything about the Beatles. As far as I was concerned, knowing the Beatles was an important part of our human experience, and if you didn’t have a basic knowledge of the Beatles, I felt you were an idiot. If you could breath, you should be able to name all four Beatles. I hassled anyone who didn’t have a basic knowledge of the Beatles mercilessly. I could be a real dick about it.
A while back, when discovering that a friend’s son didn’t know what Sgt. Pepper was, instead of even explaining, I told him “Don’t worry about it. Either you’ll eventually find out, or you won’t, and if you don’t you don’t need to know that bad.” I recognized that this young man was brilliant in so many ways, and the knowledge he had on so many other things in life outweighed basic Beatles knowledge. In that moment I realized I have evolved. I have grown up. My values have matured.
I also remember when I was a young man I would be offended and appaled when people said they didn’t like David Bowie. I still get angry about that. I just don’t have time for that kind of toxic bullshit small minded type of thinking.
