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All things considered, it’s safe to assume that Christopher Columbus was experiencing location bias when he arrived on this side of the world and ascribed the term “Indian” to the indigenous personnel.
Location Bias (n.) — A neurological GPS malfunction in which the brain insists that wherever you currently stand must be the place you were trying to go. Symptoms include confidently renaming continents, mistaking armadillos for elephants, and founding entire trade routes based on vibes.
I’m sure there’s more to the story to be prefaced by the phrase “Well, actually….”, but I’m not going to engage in that discussion on this post. It’s not germane to the assertion that Columbus’ assessment traffics in just as much absurdity as the notion of a “Pow Wow Chow” recipe in a family cookbook confirms the ethnicity of Elizabeth Warren.
Thank heaven human beings are born with an ability to laugh at absurdity. Otherwise, we might go stark raving mad from all the absurd things we encounter in life.
Sowell, Thomas. The Thomas Sowell Reader (p. 401). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Stark raving mad indeed.
Several years ago I attended a wedding in Dallas.
In retrospect, I think it could be counted as a wedding and a half.
You see there was the wedding I attended (since I was invited), and then there was the one going on in the hotel in which Wifey and I stayed.
Naturally, we weren’t aware that the additional celebration of a coupling based on either love or arrangement was on order for the weekend. When we arrived that Friday night to the hotel where a cluster of rooms had been reserved for those of us outta-towners, we immediately became aware that additional events were being planned.
As we navigated the hotel lobby to check in, we found the entire area was festooned with guests in garb which didn’t meet the stringent dress code guidelines that I personally follow.
Instead, the cultural differences between my Costco casuals and what these people were wearing was readily obvious.
It was Friday night, and Wifey and I weren’t properly dressed to crash the Mehndi night which was being held in the Prairie Sky Ballroom downstairs. Granted we didn’t know it was a Mehndi night, which in general is a casual welcome dinner for a Hindu wedding ceremony. As such, we left the hotel that night for moderately priced dining.
The next day we dressed inappropriately for the wedding we were invited to. It seems there was a mix-up and we didn’t pay attention to the language on the invitation about dress code. I would say we were more “professional casual” versus “wear a coat and tie”.
When we returned to the hotel after the day’s festivities, we found that the day’s festivities had barely begun.
It would seem that the Hindu wedding party was now in the Sangeet portion of the event where the light show could induce seizures, the fog machine had its knobs set on eleven, and the DJ was taking a moral stance with the volume.
Alas, we were still underdressed and possessed too much fuddy-duddy in our tired bones to crash the event.
So we went to bed.
The bridal party which had reserved a suite of rooms for us had also arranged for the hotel to provide us with a breakfast buffet that following day.
Sunday morning, 9 AM. I saw fire in the sky.
Okay, I didn’t see fire. My time bias wouldn’t let me resist quoting a song lyric.
As we made our way to the elevator we encountered more participants from the Hindu ceremony. One of them had a plate of breakfast. I wondered if last night’s rave had gone on all night and they were just taking a break.
I also wondered if that guy had raided our buffet.
As we walked down the hall from the lobby, we passed a conference room which was housing a Christian church service. After all, it was Sunday morning. I just didn’t expect that hotels host congregations without a permanent building.
Further down the hall from where we were having breakfast, we could see participants from last night’s festivities gathering for the next phase of what I was guessing was a $200K event.
As the next phase gathered down the hall, the final phase of our event proceeded at the chafing dishes and mimosa fountain. There was a window or two and we could see the back lot of the building. The other wedding party was gathering for the Baraat.
Baraat, parade, whatever.
The party attendees, still adorned in their traditional garb were dancing to the DJ’s continued morality display as they danced around the groom.
As several of us gathered around the window as it vibrated from the thump thump thump of the party outside, a fellow breafasteer made what they felt was a poignant observation and put their faith bias on full display.
“You know in that whole group out there, there’s probably not a Christian among them…”
A Christian at a Hindu wedding ceremony?
Don’t be absurd.
