Just a little different....

I once read a children's book that was about celebrating our differences. I do not mean to undermine or underestimate the universally important message of embracing what makes each of us unique and special, but there comes a point when we, as a society (or societies, whatever the case may be) have taken things too far. Now, I know what you are thinking to yourself. You are thinking, "Self, what is she talking about?" Have no fear. I am going to tell you. (Yes, I know. This is a shocking revelation and the in-depth insight that causes you to read this blog.)

You see, this evening I invited a few friends over to watch The Proposal. I wanted to have a "normal" evening, and this was the closest to normal social activities that I could come up with. Sure, The Proposal isn't going to win any Academy Awards but it is an entertaining movie, and the only one I currently possess. Preparing for the evening made me realize that it would probably be good to diversify my movie collection, and I was thinking that I should have some of my DVD's shipped over. Except there is one catch. US DVD's don't work in the UK. And the whole situation is just making me nutty. There comes a point at which we (and by we, I mean the accusatory but unspecific "you") are being difference just for kicks.

After all, if you, I mean we, are trying to prevent people from the US from developing a black market for DVD's that are released earlier and sold cheaper, I have news for you: THE INTERNET. If people want to watch movies earlier (like when they come out) and cheaper (read free) they would just stream them online. It is just another example (along with two/four hole-punched paper, blackberries that have to be unlocked, toilet flushers that are on the other side, and, oh yeah, driving on the other side of the road) of the arbitrary "uniqueness" that we have created.

As an aside, I would say something about different electrical plug-ins, but I suspect there may be a good reason, although that may be far too trusting. I won't say anything about the metric system, because--America, let's be realistic. The metric system makes far more sense. (Although, these systems create a frustrating kind of illiteracy for me. Trying to cook using measurements that I never really understood inuitively (like cups) without any measuring instruments is a grand challenge.)

Furthermore, they don't have eggplant here. That's not really a difference. It's just more of a comment.