So Open Minded

A while back, I was dating The Persian (or TP for short). We had met through an online dating site, and while messaging back and forth, he had told me how one of the characteristics that he seeks out is open-mindedness to others.

I sensed that he had met with quite a few people who did not think particularly well of Persians and Iran in general, and therefore treated him poorly.

He seemed like a great guy. He held doors open, he always made sure to pay for drinks or meals even if I offered, and he preferred to pick me up and drive places. He was a bit traditional in gender roles, but growing up with a stay-at-home mom, I was used to that and his stance was not extreme.

What did bother me, however, was after going on and on about how people should be open-minded, he decided to start saying how horrible Asian drivers were. This turned into a rant against Asians in general. I was a bit miffed, but perhaps he'd had first-hand experience with a large enough sampling of Asians to make this a fair statement? I let it slide.

Then he brought up my faith. I had clearly stated on my profile that I was a Christian. So of course normal polite conversation took a turn toward religion and how in the world could an intelligent girl like me truly believe all the stuff in the Bible?? Seriously.

Well, this guy must have sensed he was on a roll, because he did not stop there. We began by discussing different places we would love to visit one day. Toward the top of my list was Israel. He asked me why I would want to go there, given the violence. I countered that there will always be issues in the Middle East, so anytime is as good as any other. This is where it gets really good. He asked, rhetorically, why are they even fighting? Why didn't the Israelis just leave? Yeah. That happened.

So, to recap, the open-minded Persian doesn't like Asians, thinks Christians are stupid, and has decided that an entire country has no right to their land.

In case you were wondering, I'm not pining away for this one.

Closed-minded to stupidity,

~K