Who’s Pushing Your Buttons?
Videos of tech journalist Leo Laporte has become quite the memes lately on Youtube. First, his ball burst, then he ends up in a fight with Mike Arrington on a live feed of the Gillmor Gang.
See it here; NSFW language.
Now if you follow Leo on any of his shows, you know that he is the most polite mild mannered talk show host there is on the internet. Even if people are rude, he’ll go out of his way to draw them back into civility. So when he lost it, there must have been a button pushed that brought out the wrath. For him, it went right to how he makes his living. The unbiased review of technology. When someone comes along to question that, the claws come out.
When I was in college, my future wife and I, along with a male friend of hers, were watching TV together one night. Now this guy rubbed me the wrong way. He would always make snide comments about her in my presence and I would always deflect them or try to change the subject to keep the peace. Well this night was different. My future wife was talking and he interrupted her by saying, “Shut up little girl” while looking directly at me.
That was it. I leaped off of the couch and reached down under the recliner he was sitting on and flipped both him and the chair over. Now this guy was twice my size, so it’s amazing what adrenalin can do. I got him into a choke hold and only let go when she jumped in between us. I’ll have to say, it felt pretty good, even though he would have killed me had it gone on any longer.
I learned that night what my button was.
Jesus is shown in the gospels as a pretty mild mannered man. Sure he got into it with the Pharisees sometimes, but for the most part, he kept his cool. Except for that one time;
“Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
‘My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.’”
You could spit in his face and humiliate him in every way, but his button was people disrespecting his father’s house.
For some reason it’s all about the disrespect when it comes to pushing buttons; at least for men.
Disrespect of your livelyhood. Disprespect of your wife or family members. Disrespect of your father or mother.
So what is your button? Has anyone ever pushed it?
Tags: Christianity, Family, Leo Laporte, Life, Love, Marriage, Random, Relationships, Religion, Technology, Thoughts
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June 12, 2009 at 10:44 am
you nailed it- disresect. I am also what you would call very easy going/ takes a lot – I mean a lot to get me riled- dis me as your employer and you’ll see a side of me you haven’t seen before. (when I thought of situations, most of them have revolved around work) I am a big believer in treating people the way I want to be treated…so I really work @ respecting the people who work for me, or whom I have to deal with on a regular basis.
the other area where I get hot is w/ my daughters and hearing things guys have said/done that are over the top disrespectful.
June 12, 2009 at 2:13 pm
My family, especially my daughters and son. Mess with daddy/husband but when you involve one of my children, grandchildren or wife IT’S ON! And I’m completely fine with that too.
If you read about Jesus chasing out the money changers you will see that He actually took the time to fashion a whip to use in his endeavor.
June 12, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I used to think I had disconnected the wiring on all “buttons,” but I’m finding out that the disrespect button is still working. Somebody at work hit it just this week, and I was really surprised at how quickly I reacted…..
June 13, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Eek. I have a few buttons: The Vine (Jesus), the Branch (His people) and those grafted in (the church) – that includes my children.