Yesterday I was about to go into a newsagent, when a couple of kids stopped me just outside. If they gave me the money, would I go in and buy them a packet of cigarettes?
\n“Sorry, no,” I replied.
\nIt’s a moral thing – I’m not buying their cigarettes for them. They’re under-age, and I’m not helping them out.
\nThe same thought came today, when, in response to a request for present ideas, someone suggested buying the Mamma Mia DVD as a Christmas gift (no names – no pack drill).
\nJust like I’m not going to help feed some youths’ nicotine addiction, I’m not going to support someone’s terrible taste in celluloid – even if it’s ironic.
\nI have to have standards. I’d feel dirty just buying a copy. I’d have to explain to the shop assistant that it wasn’t for me. I’m feeling a cold shiver down my back just typing these words, and thinking about quite how appalling the film might be.
\nWhen I give a gift, however much the recipient desires the gift or has asked for it, the fact that I’ve given it is a reflection of me and my tastes.
\nSo no Mamma Mia DVDs, no Mariah Carey CDs, no Martina Cole novels, and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday I was about to go into a newsagent, when a couple of kids stopped me just outside. If they gave me the money, would I go in and buy them a packet of cigarettes? “Sorry, no,” I replied. It’s a moral thing – I’m not buying their cigarettes for them. They’re under-age, and I’m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adambowie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}