I think the aspects of being Minnesotan that get labeled as “passive-aggressive” and “conflict-phobic” actually have the right idea sometimes.

Sometimes.

Like for example, the way I felt when I saw a certain interaction recently on Tumblr.

It was one of those “funny Elvis” accounts– and someone else commenting about all the terrible things Elvis did in real life, and arguing that it’s not cool to take on that persona as a joke to support good things that Elvis himself would shit all over.

And, in response, the question came up, “would you walk up to a random Elvis impersonator on the street and say that?”

and my own response (silently, inside my head, of course, because I’m Minnesotan) was:

No. No I would not.

I mean, I don’t have many chances in real life to actually see “random Elvis impersonators"… Minneapolis doesn’t have a place like Hollywood Boulevard or the Vegas Strip… but, if somehow I happened to see them? I’d steer clear. I would not try to talk to them at all. Why would I. What could that possibly accomplish.

I might very well think about how weird and actually kinda disturbing the idea of an "Elvis impersonator” is. I very well might have a conversation of my own, with a few friends, trying to break down that disturbing feeling: How evil does a historical figure have to be, before dressing up as him as a joke becomes a shitty thing to do?

Is it actual, objective evil that matters, or what the person’s mostly known for? Is it a percentage, a ratio of good things and bad things and neutral things in their public reputation? Is Elvis okay because he was famous for music and funny personality traits, more than for being a sex pest and a culturally appropriating plagiarist?

On the tasteless-to-fun scale of “Hitler impersonator” to “Elvis impersonator,” where would H.P. Lovecraft fall? Jeffrey Dahmer? Christopher Columbus? O.J. Simpson? Walt Disney? Osama Bin Laden? J.K. Rowling? And what criteria exactly would make the difference among all those?

I might have this conversation, on my own, with a few people I trust. A few friends and I might bring up these thoughts together; try and hash out what our own views are on the subject, where we would each draw the line and why.

Maybe even in a public place, like a cafe or something– where it’s theoretically possible we could be overheard by someone who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. It’s our thoughts, our opinions, our free speech– why wouldn’t we?

But I sure as hell wouldn’t walk up to any actual Elvis impersonators and start yelling at them about this, out of nowhere.

And I also wouldn’t do the equivalent online.

To some people, this makes me a passive-aggressive Minnesotan who talks shit behind people’s backs and is too cowardly to address the problem to their face.

To me, it makes me someone who minds my own fucking business.

(This here? is me airing my thoughts to a few friends in a cafe. While knowing that strangers who disagree might overhear– and that they might step in and be assholes to us about it– but if they did, that would be a grievous breach of manners.)

(At least in Minnesota.)

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