Why The Common Vuvuzela Apology is Stupid

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, @AndyDisco on Twitter

Every conversation about the vuvezela I've heard from World Cup talking heads goes like this:

"Boy, those vuvuzela horns sure are annoying. But I guess that's the custom here in South Africa and we are guests to this host nation so we may as well get used to their customs. When in Rome..."

That rationale forgets what the word "host" at least SHOULD imply: graciousness and empathy. I live alone and I will be honest with you, when I am home alone I burp out loud. Have I ever audibly passed gas while no one was around? No comment. Sometimes When when I get home after a long day I take my shoes off right in my entry way and don't put them away until hours later when I feel like. It isn't unheard of for me to watch television in only my underpants. A lot of times when I shower I don't bring my change of clothes into the shower with me, but instead I walk from my shower to my room nude to find some clean clothes.

But I never do any of those things when a guest is over. That's part of being a host. If I were like South Africa, I would do all of those annoying things when I had guests over and when they look perturbed I would simply say, "You are in MY apartment, after all."

It reminds me of a story my cousin told me. He was at a Stop n Shop grocery store in Connecticut where he lived and several people there witnessed a grubby-lookin dude reaching into the fruit salad bar, taking out lemon wedges, sucking the juice from them, and putting them back in the container. When someone tracked down an employee to complain about this the response from the employee was, "Oh, he does that all the time.".






That's how I roll.