James Meehan - When They Think They're Right
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James Meehan: Welcome to this week's episode of "Culture Makers". I am here with the one, the only Emma Ferris. That was kind of in reverse order. But Emma, thank you for being here.
Emma Ferris: Thanks for having me.
James Meehan: This is the first time that we've been on "Culture Makers" at the same time. So you better believe it's going to be a good time. I'm your host, James Meehan. We're honored to get to spend some time with you today. We're talking all things upcoming movies, Simon Cowell who never seems to actually age and how do we deal with those people in our lives that think they're always right? Before we dive in make sure you like, comment, let us know what things you want us to cover in the future, because we want to hear from you. Now, new movie coming up starring the one the only.
Emma Ferris: Daniel Craig.
James Meehan: Daniel Craig, who his character is based off of me. I'm James Meehan, he plays James Bond. The new movie's coming in theaters soon. Tell us more about it.
Emma Ferris: "No Time to Die". You guys have seen Billie Eilish's music video for that?
James Meehan: Oh yeah.
Emma Ferris: Pretty intense. I don't know how to feel about it. I'm not a Billie Eilish fan per se. So when that was announced that she was the...
James Meehan: The person?
Emma Ferris: ...The person for that, I was like, eh, I feel like you can't top Adele.
James Meehan: Wait which one was Adele?
Emma Ferris: Skyfall.
James Meehan: Okay yeah that was my favorite one.
Emma Ferris: Ten out of ten.
James Meehan: That was so good.
Emma Ferris: Yeah.
James Meehan: I do like though that for every one of these movies, they have a different artist perform like the opening number...
Emma Ferris: Yeah.
James Meehan: That might not be the right terms...
Emma Ferris: Go ahead, laugh at me.
James Meehan: Thanks Emma.
Emma Ferris: I mean, I think it's cool. I don't like they do the opening credits and like it's always naked girl that you can't really see.
James Meehan: Yeah, to clarify. That's not what I like about it. I agree. That's the thing. Like I enjoy the James Bond movies cause I like a good action movie. I think Daniel Craig makes a fantastic James Bond. But you know, there are those things that when I'm watching them, sometimes I might look away. Might cover the old eyes.
Emma Ferris: Fast forward the opening credits anyway, who needs to see that?
James Meehan: Oh dang. That's the thing though, I like watching any of those kinds of movies in the theater where I can't fast forward the credits.
Emma Ferris: But you can go get popcorn or something.
James Meehan: But what if it takes too long and I missed the beginning of the movie? Okay Emma.
Emma Ferris: You have a whole two minute song.
James Meehan: Oh my gosh. Two minutes to get pop. Have you been to a line at a movie theater?
Emma Ferris: Go to the bathroom.
James Meehan: Go to the bathroom? Oh my gosh, Emma. I know you're trying to offer helpful advice, but I'm the kind of person where if I miss any part of the movie, I remember being in movies, you know, that might be, say three hours long. For example, "Lord of the Rings", greatest movie trilogy of all time. In those movies if I have to go to the bathroom, I will hold it. And it actually hinders my enjoyment of the movie. So I should probably make better choices.
Emma Ferris: Go before.
James Meehan: I do go before but I drink a lot of water.
— Well cool it with that. That's your problem.
— Got to stay hydrated. "No Time to Die" hitting theaters soon. I'm sure I'll end up watching it. And I'm excited to see what I think. But Coldplay...
— Coldplay!
— ...is releasing their new album this month. "Music of the Spheres".
— I don't know anything about it other than that they're releasing it. I don't keep up with Coldplay. I feel like they're kinda old now.
— Are you a Coldplay fan? Whoa. Coldplay is, they've been a big deal. I remember, so when I was in high school, I used to have one of their albums, cause a lot of their music is like really chill and mellow.
— Yeah.
— And I remember there's one of their albums that I would listen to to help me fall asleep at night because it was just so chill. And I loved it for that.
— Lullaby?
— Yeah, kind of like a lullaby. But instead of being a tiny child, I was a 17 year old dude. Next thing corduroy. It's a new thing, but should it be? And by corduroy, we're talking about the outfit stuff, material, clothing material.
— It's not that new. I know preschool me had a pair of corduroy pants.
— Well, but that's the thing. It's just like everything else. What goes around it comes back around. So it goes out of style. It's back in style, right? Like the idea of mom jeans was not cool 10 years ago.
— I'm wearing mom jeans.
— Right but they're super cool now. Skinny jeans were amazing five years ago, but people keep telling me they're not cool anymore. But the problem is they're just so comfy.
— It's kind of like the way that Carhartt is the thing, I feel like corduroy and Carhartt go hand in hand.
— Which is so weird that Carhartt is the super-fashionable thing now that all the hip, trendy people are wearing...
— Champion.
— ...because when I was in high school, Carhartt was literally just for the dudes who hunted and worked on their cars all the time.
— Champion you used to be able to get it at Walmart. And now it's...
— Which is crazy to me. Like I don't understand fashion. Obviously, y'all can tell, I basically just wear the same combination of Vans, skinny jeans, and a plain colored shirt. Unless I'm rocking some of that Switch gear. There's a little bit more flashy, but like that's basically my wardrobe.
— You got a little accent there. Almost pirate voice.
— Oh my gosh!
— So Simon Cowell, he's turning 62 this year.
— That's really weird to think about because I just remember...
— Do the youths know who Simon Cowell is?
— Definitely.
— Okay. What do y'all know him from?
— Just being mean.
— So back in my day, old school, "American Idol" it's the show, maybe you've heard of it. Back before the judges that are now kind of more prominent, which I actually liked the more recent judges, but there was a season, and I say, season, a span of seasons where they're trying to find the new Simon Cowell people. And they were just flopping on their faces.
— I don't think you can top Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.
— Because there is, oh and Randy Jackson, come on. Yes! Because there is only one Simon Cowell. And I remember as a kid watching "American Idol", just thinking Simon Cowell was the best because you know, "American Idol", the auditions, you get these people who clearly cannot sing and are either just on "American Idol" because they're in denial or because they're trying to get famous by singing terribly and Simon Cowell would just tell them the truth, very harshly. And I thought that was the coolest thing. Now, I feel a little bit convicted by it because you know, like following Jesus, fruit of the spirit, peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, those things like it's like, ah, maybe I shouldn't enjoy this as much as I do, but Simon Cowell he's kind of a legend.
— I mean, I don't. Hmm. Simon Cowell. I can't say I was a huge fan, but...
— Dang. Wow. Simon Cowell. Some of us love you. Next thing! We've got a fun event coming up here at Switch. You know, that's us. Switch the student ministry at Life.Church.
— Biggest night of the year.
— It's the biggest night of the year have no fear it is almost here. It is going to be the best it is called!
— Switch Fest.
— Dude I like kept building and you just so unenthusiastic Emma.
— I'm not animated like that.
— Oh, fair, fair enough. Switch Fest is coming October the 13th, that week at Switch IRL, which is Switch in real life, but also at Switch online. And then also that Switch online experience will be available on YouTube later in that week. And so if you are a part of our Switch community, make sure you're staying tuned for that and inviting people because it's going to be an incredible experience. If you're not a part of the Switch community, but you just happen to watch this video, we would love to invite you to be a part of Switch Fest. If you live near a Life.Church location, come in real life. It's going to be a ton of fun. And maybe if you live far away from a Life.Church location, then check us out at Switch online. We'd love to have you there. Links to all that information and website and where to go is in the description because we'd love for you to come and check it out. Anything else they need to know about Switch Fest?
— Theme nights. I'm super excited to see all the...
— Oh come on!
— ...all the themes.
— I know white out's a thing.
— Yeah. Yeah. I think somebody is doing like an eighties night. I think my campus, we're doing a color war where we throw the colored sand dust stuff.
— Baby powder?
— Powder. That's the word I'm looking for. I'm really excited, it's gonna be a ton of fun. And if you are at a Life.Church location, make sure you're inviting friends to Switch Fest because it's going to be the biggest night of the year. With that being said, we want to turn to your questions because as you are submitting questions to us, we want to be able to answer them, to provide guidance that might be helpful for you. If you have questions that you want us to answer, make sure you comment those down below so that we can address those in upcoming videos. And if they're more like heavy spiritual questions about the Bible, faith, following Jesus, then go ahead and submit them down here, but what we'll do is we'll probably actually cover those on one of our other shows called Switch Uncut, which if you haven't seen it, make sure to check it out. It's a great resource for you to go deeper in your faith to better understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Now, with all of that out of the way, question number one, somebody wants to know. What is your favorite music to listen to? Emma, go.
— That's the hardest possible question. I was getting made fun of the other day...
— That's the hardest possible question? Oh my gosh.
— Somebody asked me this the other day. She asked me, what's like your turn-up song. And I said, I can't give you that, but I can give you my current favorite and that's "Rubberneckin'" by Elvis Presley. I got clout.
— Dang! Rubberneckin' by Elvis Presley like you're going back.
— It's a good song.
— What do you like about it?
— Have you seen "Lilo and Stitch"?
— Yes.
— It's in that movie.
— That movie is amazing. Okay so you've been listening to some Elvis Presley, "Rubberneckin'", I've been listening to that new Switch EP "Better View". Come on, check it out with Spotify, Apple Music, all the places. Last week, Riley and I actually talked about "Better View". And for her, it's kind of her driving down the road jams. This is supposed to be the wind. This is what this is because you guys you're driving the wind is okay, yep. And then the other thing that I listened to a lot is there's this Spotify playlist. I hate saying it out loud, but it's titled "Hymns for Hipsters". H-Y-M-N-S for hipsters. And so it's just old school church songs that have been remade to be very like more folksy alternative. And I just love it. It's super relaxing. So.
— Pull out your skinny jeans.
— Okay.
— And listen to your "Hymns for Hipsters".
— Aw dude I just like spit on myself. So "Rubberneckin'" go ahead and just hit us with a few bars.
— Hm?
— Go ahead, Emma. We want to hear. "Stop, look and listen baby". You gotta give me like stitch.
— No, no, no, no, no.
— Ohana means family. And family means nobody gets left behind. That was a terrible.
— Wrap it up James.
— Alright last question. This is something that I think is really important for us to be able to talk about. And it's this, how do we deal with family members who think they're always right? And I'm assuming this has something to do with probably, you know, this person dealing with a family member that wants to argue and debate and is never willing to admit they're wrong. So how do we deal with family members who think they're always right? Emma, go ahead. Tell us the answer to why, you know, because what kind of music you listen to is the hardest question ever. So this should be easy for you.
— I'd say I find myself being that family member sometimes.
— Oh shoot.
— Just because I'm stubborn and I know this.
— Okay.
— And I find myself thinking like, no, there's no way that someone can prove me wrong. And so when that happens I have to take a step back whenever I dunno, it's usually like my dad and he's like, where's this attitude coming from? And I'm like, there isn't an attitude. And then I go spend some time by myself and I reflect and I realized that there was a lot of attitude and that I need to apologize because I was wrong.
— Dude. Okay but here's the thing that right there, what you just said, I think it's so wise and it's so humble. Because the reality is it's way easier to focus on the other person when they're being difficult. And they think they're always right. And ignore the fact that for the most part, a lot of us really do the same. And maybe the way that we express that sense of being right looks different. Some people get really loud and argumentative. Other people just kind of quietly hold onto their ideas and never really opened themselves up, right, to the correction or perspective of other people. I think the thing that's so dangerous about this mindset is when we become so convinced that we're always right, what we're actually doing is we're feeding self-righteousness. And with self-righteousness we position ourselves in a place where we start to see others as less, because they don't think the way that we think, and we can see it all throughout the, you know, capital C Church where a lot of times, even as Christians, we can fall prey to the same arguments and division that so many other people do in our world. Because we forget that at the end of the day, the beauty of Christianity is that even when we disagree, we're still family. So I think this was so powerful about this instance you gave with you and your dad were at the end of the day, like y'all are still family. And so you might be upset for a while. He might be a little bit annoyed, but if you go back, you slow down, you paused, you reflect, you come back together, you're still family. You still love each other, even when you're difficult, maybe, especially when you're difficult. And I would honestly say that I would be the kind of person that is like you, where I think I'm right. I read a lot. I do a lot of research. I listen to podcasts of people who are smarter than me. And I just kind of cite off all the different facts and I can point people to the research and the websites. But I think the thing that God's been challenging me to do is to recognize that real humility isn't just being able to admit when I'm wrong, but it's being willing to lose the fight when I'm convinced I'm right. Because I can be so convinced I'm right that I would sacrifice the relationship to keep being right. I think that's the thing that God's trying to undo in me is be willing to put that person before my own opinion. And that's really difficult. And so for you, as you're asking this question, how do you deal with family members who think they're always right? What I would invite you to do is start with yourself. Because the reality is is that those people who might be in an argumentative or stubborn mindset will not change by you forcing them to change. It's in Romans chapter two, where the apostle Paul talks about this idea that it is God's kindness that leads to repentance. And so it is God's kindness that actually moves us to be willing to change. This is why Jesus was so necessary for us. Because God could have shouted the right answers to us from heaven. But instead he decided to show us love in person and only love according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, gets close enough to know. And it's in those tight-knit close relationships that we can actually shape each other to be who God's created us to be. And if we do it forcefully, then people will want to resist. But when we do it humbly, people will be open to the perspective that maybe you're bringing to the table and the work that God wants to do in their lives. So I hope this is helpful for you. If you have other questions or things that you want to hear us talk about, comment down below, let us know what things that you want us to deal with. And then also let us know what your favorite music to listen to is. And if you think that her taste in music is trash, okay, that's all we have for today. See you next week. Like comment, subscribe, goodbye.
— Bye guys!