At the House meeting HMs discussed how the BB experience has challenged what sort of person they are on the outside. When it came to Ben’s turn to step up on his soapbox he pompously presented a not-so-well thought out case and was completely shot down by the jury of HMs.
Ben revealed in the ‘real’ world, he didn’t fraternise with people he was forced to socalise with in the House. He said he preferred not to talk to people who were different from himself, preferring instead to walk away. “I think that’s what we need to appreciate about this experience. Is that we are outside of our comfort zone and we are thrown in with different personalities that we wouldn’t normally get along with in the outside world,” he expressed.
HMs doubted he was really on the right track, and although they were largely indifferent at first, the table erupted when Ben said, “I would not talk to a 52 year old in the outside world … I wouldn’t talk to a bricklayer in the outside world because I would not have to deal with that shit if it came across me and put me out of my comfort zone.” In return, the HMs struggled to digest the magnitude of his statement.
Dixie gave Ben a piece of her mind. “I think you're arrogant!” Dixie declared and some of the other HMs agreed. “I think you’re arrogant! I think you need to pull your head in. Or get it out of your ass.” HMs were taken aback by Ben’s statement as he tried to justify his way of thinking. “You sound like you're bigger than a bricklayer,” accused Dixie. Ben couldn’t seem to find a way out of the hole he had dug for himself.
Alice was also offended by Ben’s comments; she told him that it was wrong to not talk to someone just because he thinks he’s smarter or better than them. Surprisingly, it was Rory and Terri who stood up for Ben. Rory believed Ben had just worded things incorrectly and didn’t mean to insult anyone. The Brickie corrected the construction of Ben’s poorly formed sentences that were crumbling beneath his feet.
Alice wanted to make it clear that it shouldn’t be acceptable for Ben to walk away from people who are different from him or might challenge him. She understood that he may have worded things wrong, but said she had to speak up. “You shouldn’t just get away with putting things out like that,” Alice told him.
Ben tried to clarify his statement. “In a normal environment I would not come across these people and therefore, not be forced to engage in conversation with these sort of people. If I work with these people it doesn’t mean I have to fraternise with them … You choose who you want fraternise with and I wouldn’t choose to fraternise with these sort of people,” Ben stated, still not quite eloquently expressing his ideology.
“I just wanted to let you know that you can’t say those things to people and expect not to be pulled up on them,” Dixie said explaining her previous accusations.
Ben became defensive at his HMs not understanding him and retorted they were just labelling him an arrogant law student. The group tried to explain this was far from the case, and that he had been way out of line with how he was wording his statements and that should not be tolerated. “We always pick Travi up on everything he says, we’ve pinned you on one thing and it’s gone like this,” Renee said referring to Ben not being able to cope with the criticism.
Though Rory had sided with Ben, he supported the group, indicating that he was offended and was going to later say something to Ben about his choice of phrasing. Terri, however, was impressed with the outspoken uni student’s rationale and agreed that she wouldn’t expect someone like Ben to try and talk to her outside of the House.
Growing increasingly frustrated, Ben presented his closing argument, “I think it is good to hold people accountable for what they say … but I hope everyone does understand that it was just a general miswording and that I wasn’t trying to perceive myself as arrogant or better than these sort of people and that is not the person who I am. And if you’re going to throw me with that stereotype then you can get jammed!”
Not the usual rebuttal to finish a debate… but it seemed to work. We’re not sure how it would go down in court though…
