I Don’t Care

I can’t remember how I discovered the song I Love It by Icona Pop, but I’m glad I did. It’s not a great song, unless you like electro-dance music, and maybe not even then, but it sure is catchy. You can watch the official video on youtube.[1] If you do, you will notice that they don’t play instruments or have a backing band. But they have a hypnotic beat and an easy-to-shout chorus “I don’t care, I love it, I don’t care,” which a live concert showcases.[2]

That line is wonderful. There is so much in life that just doesn’t matter that “I don’t care” could be a motto of our species. Obviously, there are important things, family, health, and many other things, but much of life evokes a shrug and an “I don’t care.”  For example, think about the last time somebody asked you where you want to go for lunch or who won the most recent reality TV contest.

I had two “I don’t care” pop culture moments recently. I was reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. He is a terrific writer, skilled at evoking bygone eras. I greatly enjoyed his first two novels:  A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility. And I was really looking forward to The Lincoln Highway. Then, about 140 pages in, I realized I just didn’t care what happened to any of the characters. I didn’t care whether Emmett retrieved his stolen car or found his mother or married Sally. I didn’t care whether the indomitable Sally was revealed as anything other than an efficient hard working trapped-in-her-time domestic woman. I didn’t care whether the smartest, most mature eight-year-old in history ever showed his humanity. I didn’t care whether Duchess ever told the truth or whether Woolly expanded beyond his stock character role as a rich kid who doesn’t think money was all that important. None of it mattered to me. I did not care. So – I stopped reading the book.

It was highly recommended and, as mentioned, I like the author and was, therefore, predisposed to like the book. But there was no continuing once I realized I didn’t care. The second moment involved a movie: Don’t Look Up. It was also highly recommended and the creation of a well-regarded writer and director:  Adam McKay. The movie is on Netflix and has all-star cast. I mean ALL-STAR – Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Arian Grande, Cate Blanchett, and Merely Streep, among others. That is a cast full of famous characters.

The movie has strong comedic moments and an end-of-the-world message:  climate change will kill us all. But, somewhere along the line, I realized that I didn’t care how the movie ended. I got the point, I enjoyed the satire, the jokes, the stars, but how it was going to end did not interest me. I watched it all and got one more laugh during the credits, but really, I just wanted it to end. At 138 minutes, it could have sacrificed 20 or so minutes without losing anything of consequence.

Which brings me to today and the matchup between Georgia and Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. I don’t care who wins. It will be one SEC juggernaut or another. It’s a rematch of a game that Alabama won handily a few weeks ago. Will Alabama beat Georgia for the second time or will Georgia prevail. Does anybody who isn’t a fan of one of the teams really care?

It’s not sour grapes because they deserve to be there. Georgia dominated a very good Michigan team and Alabama crushed an undefeated Cincinnati team in the national semi-finals. There is no credible argument that any other team should have displaced Cincinnati or Michigan. The 5th ranked team, Notre Dame, lost to Cincinnati; the 6th ranked team, Ohio State, lost to Michigan. The 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th place teams all had two losses. The four most deserving teams played and two of them were clearly outclassed and outplayed. Which means that Georgia and Alabama are the two best teams and should play in the championship game. But it doesn’t mean I have to care.

I’ll probably check the score from time to time and, if the game is close late, I may check in on it, but it won’t be must-see TV for me like most championship games are. Watching Alabama crush the soul out of another team that can’t run the ball or stop the run, is not fun (unless you are an Alabama fan). And watching an offensively challenged Georgia team rely on its punishing defense isn’t very compelling either (for anybody, probably not even Georgia fans).

I have nothing against either team.  I just don’t care which one wins.[3]

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxajLWwzqY

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvXrOE8pXk8

[3] Yesterday was the last day of the NFL regular season. I have several friends who are die-hard Cleveland Browns fans. We have a regular group text chain that banters back and forth during most Browns games. Usually comprising dozens of text messages about this or that play or player or season or whatever. Today, I sent a text about the game: does anybody care. Only three of five text recipients responded:  1. Nah, 2. not even watching, and 3. at the beach. I’m not the only one who doesn’t care. Life is too big and too complicated to care about everything. It’s not even possible to always care about the things you care about. These guys love the Browns, but today that wasn’t enough to make them care.