"I'll take the one closest to the door..."

From one of my favorite songs, "Tune Out," by The Format:

It's your bed
Please choose a side
I’ll take the one closest to the door
And you start to speak
The words you try to justify
Do far more wrong than anything you do
So grab the coat, the keys
The tension speaks but we're singing it

...general message: When in a disagreement, pick the side that's going to get you out of trouble fastest.

I was at work late today eating dinner with some of my new coworkers (SIDEBAR: I realize that a few of my posts lately have discussed more than one job change, and I'm just going to bypass all the details of my morass of recent careers.) discussing college football. I find myself to be surrounded by an overwhelming number of Stanford grads at my new place of employment. I have been assured that there is a competitive critical mass of Berkeley alumni as well, but maybe the rest of the Golden Bears are just hiding due to the fact that it's football season. Incidentally, we were discussing the long-time rivalry at the dinner table when a comment arose that the office seemed to consist of a 1:1:1 ratio of Cal:Stanford:Other. Not really thinking, I characterized (out loud) the "Other" category as "Third World," a statement which was met not-surprisingly-but-nevertheless-to-my-chagrin with some raised eyebrows and whatever the verbal equivalent is of raised eyebrows. (Something like "oooohhhhhh." But with an edgy tone of being slightly offended.) Oops. This leads us to the Historical Misconception of the Day, or rather my commentary on biased history:

The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to refer to the countries that were neither Capitalist nor Communist, i.e., neutral countries. These countries were looked down upon because they did not choose sides in the war. Today, I find that the term "Third World" is more associated with the idea of developing or even largely impoverished countries, and it consequently has a negative ring to it. I learned the specifics of this distinction two or three years ago, and I find it very sad that when a party does not choose a side, it is necessarily marginalized (in the case of Third World countries, socially and ultimately economically marginalized).

To be fair, the term was originally developed by someone who meant it in a negative way, but when I hear it, I think more about how it is sad that neutral parties are often excluded. In the case of my earlier statement, I realize now that calling non-Cal/Stanford schools "Third World" was probably interpreted to mean they are "insignificant," but for the record (not that it matters, because none of my coworkers are subscribers to this blog -- as far as I know), I meant that it was sad that they are marginalized and excluded from the Cal vs. Stanford rivalry. Or at least excluded from the conversation. On the other hand, I have no desire to stand down from supporting the Golden Bears... and am similarly Proud to be an American.

Alas, I succeeded in putting my foot in my mouth on Day #3 at Job #(I'll never tell). At that point I could either go on to start some political discussion that is probably way over my head, or I could say nothing and look like an ass. Needless to say, I decided to keep my mouth shut. My foot was already stuck in it, anyway!