Don’t See The Contradiction

Diary, Reflections 3 Minutes

After reading Herb’s blog about Walmart protester who is eager to buy Walmart merchandise, I can think of people in my life who are unaware of the contradiction in their behavior. Even if one points it out to them, they still don’t see it.

The Crazy Lovers Or Haters

This happened many years ago among my friends. Let’s say the woman’s name is W and the man’s name is M. W and M practically hated each other. Not only that, W and M spoke ill of each other to their mutual acquaintances, me included. And I was the stupid one who believed everything W told me and joined in W’s criticism–M didn’t have good manners when eating noodles; M often looked sulky etc. Then to our utter surprise, one day the two announced that they planned to get married. Everybody was astonished at such a development. Several of us felt quite betrayed since we believed W when she told us that she disliked M so much. When one of us pointed this out to W and M, they thought we were making too big a fuss about trivial gossips and casual talks. They didn’t see the contradiction at all.

Photo by Intricate Explorer on Unsplash

The Products Of Japan

I know people who complain about Japan, but love Japanese movies, cartoons, rice cookers, hot water machines, tatami mats etc. And one woman in particular is the most conspicuous of all. She is quite vocal about her opinion. Then one year, she traveled back home–one of the Southeast Asian countries. Her relatives planned a trip to Japan and she went with them. She bought a rice cooker, a hot water machine, and a Japanese toilet seat. I can understand the rice cooker and hot water machine, since they are the standard items a family uses daily and Japanese products are more durable. However toilet seat? That’s just too much. So I asked her why she complains about Japan while she buys these things. She didn’t feel there’s any controversy at all and she thought my question is weird.

The Edison School

Let’s just call her D. Five years ago, D tried to get her son enrolled in Edison Township’s local middle school. As you know, schools in America are funded by the property taxes collected from the township the family lives in. Good schools usually locate in towns with higher property taxes. In the Middlesex County here, there are only two towns with good schools–Edison and East Brunswick. There is also Plainsboro, but it is too far away, on the edge of the county, almost as far away as Princeton. There’s also Highland Park, but the school is too small and the available houses are limited. D couldn’t afford to live in Edison, but she wanted her son to get a better education. So she pretended that she’s a tenant, renting the house from one of her friends. The school district didn’t believe her and inspectors were sent to check out whether she lived in Edison or not. She and her son tried to evade detection, but despite their efforts, one month into the semester, she and her son were caught. She had to pay fines and her son had to suffer a humiliating transfer to the school he should be attending.

When D’s son was about to attend high school, D finally made up her mind to rent an apartment in Edison so that her son can legitimately go to school in Edison. Now as the rightful member of the township, D becomes an avid opponent to the proposal of adding low income housing and the expanding of education benefit to low income families. One would think D should be the supporter of such a plan. She could have benefited from it if it was in place five years ago when she didn’t have the money to live in a good school district. I’ve never pointed out to D that she should be the supporter rather than the opponent to such a plan. I know her reasoning.

Published by haoyando

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20 thoughts on “Don’t See The Contradiction”

    1. That is so true. You think you know somebody and then one day you find that you don’t know this person at all. Life’s vicissitude and fluidity is sometimes beyond what our mind’s categorical perception. LOL.

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  5. Wow! This reminds me what a hypocritical world we live in! I enjoyed all the stories thoroughly and in the last story, I really cannot understand why anyone would OPPOSE a movement that supports low income families. Not only because she’s been there before, but because I haven’t seen people who oppose a good cause. That’s too hypocritical. I found the first story of W and M rather funny.

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    1. The school is already over crowded and all the parents are against low income housing in the township. Actually I am going to write my next post on this local political issue since it is very common here. Thank you for pointing this out. I am glad you like W and M–they are weird, but relationships are the wild card in life and often it goes the way we don’t expect it to go. LOL.

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  6. Really good examples. It is so easy to say what you think others want to hear or what you think will be well received by people around you. Actions with consequences unmask much more of the truth.

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    1. Yes, I totally agree with you. I wonder if this is because people harbor ambivalent subconscious feelings about things. Or just a deliberate action of saying something that is acceptable in her circle while doing something in contradiction. LOL.

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