Do You Live With Someone Who Argues With Someone On The Television?

I can see vocal excited hoopla during televised sports or exclamations of shock or horror over some news stories, but talking over news stories or arguing with commentators on political issues when other people would like to hear the story is just bloody rude. My wife is one of these people. Some substantial news story comes on as a segment and after the subject is announced she starts telling me what she knows about the content of the segment. After 49 years of this rude behavior I have developed a very high level of skill in blotting out her voice so that I can hear the information.

She also screams at the TV during sports events. In the summer when the doors and windows are open I’ve often wondered if the police are going to roll up to the house because of a call from a neighbor thinking that I was beating on her. Whenever she watches a sports event I usually go out and mow the lawn because I don’t like the yelling, I don’t care that much about sports, and if the cops come I’ll need an alibi.

Women naturally talk more than men, almost three times more. This has been known by men since Adam and Eve and denied by women since, well, Adam and Eve. The only setting that reverses this reality in words spoken is a mixed gender meeting with 7 or more people. This isn’t just men trying to be funny or sarcastic it has been verified using scientific studies (probably at taxpayer expense). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/women-talk-more-than-men/

My wife asks questions that can’t be answered by either one of us. I ask myself many of the same questions, I just don’t verbalize them. When she is in a bad mood she sometimes expects answers to these obviously rhetorical questions. I don’t know which ones she expects answers to until she chastises me for ignoring her. The answer to a question like this is “I don’t know”. So on her frequent bad days I say it a lot.

Charles Swindoll said that “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it”. The old saying “too soon old, too late smart” applies to me in my personal situation. I used to react with anger and push-back with these annoying and unnecessary behaviors. I’ve learned that reacting is draining and unproductive. The only thing within my legal control is myself. I just don’t say anything. Of course, that is also irritating to her as she seems to feed on the drama of conflict. Not my problem. There can be happiness and tranquility in apathy.
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