Histomat: Adventures in Historical Materialism

'Historical materialism is the theory of the proletarian revolution.' Georg Lukács

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Another random conversation

Back in 2007, I recorded a random conversation I had on my doorstep with some Mormons. This is a random conversation I had this morning in the street with an oddly smiley man in his 40s who approached me with leaflets early on my way to work.

[Man]: Good morning, would you like to take one of our leaflets?

[Me, glancing briefly at the oddly familiar leaflet - a landscape scene attempting to evoke nature's full richness, with children playing on green grass in front of a moose - yes, a moose - a pastoral idyll very far removed from the busy bustling urban modern city centre in which we were currently located]: Er... are you a Jehovah's Witness?

[Man]: Yes, that's right - have you heard about us?

[Me, wondering whether there is anyone who has not heard of Jehovah's Witnesses]: Yes.

[Man]: Would you like one of our leaflets then?

[Me, after a pause]: Well, I'm a Marxist, so I think I am unlikely to be converted by you, just as I'm unlikely to convert you...

[Man, moving off]: Well, at least we can have a laugh about it...

I think overall this counts as a score draw - I didn't take his leaflet but by admitting I was unlikely to 'convert' him, I guess I suggested I was somehow not altogether confident ideologically. In fact I am sure I could have taken him on in argument well enough, but it was early morning, I hadn't had a coffee, and frankly was unprepared to have a long argument - where as he was armed with leaflets and ready to go. The fact he thought this conversation counted as 'a laugh' was however rather sad in some ways. I would say he needs to 'get out more', but then, getting out and about is the one thing Jehovah's Witnesses are not exactly shy about doing...

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1 Comments:

At 11:17 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I doubt very seriously that man was trying to convert you. Maybe he just wanted to inform you of things that the Bible has to say about the times we live in and the future of our planet. Christ told his followers to go out and find people wherever they are and talk to them about the things that God wants them to do. Only a few people around the world take this command seriously.

 

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