That Was Awkward

Current events conversation at a social gathering at work ended awkwardly. A co-worker asked another co-worker their opinion about the Gary McKinnon case and everyone was off on a rant. I admit, I knew nothing about the case they were discussing which involves extraditing a British citizen with Asperger’s Syndrome to the U.S. for hacking into government servers. The conversation got passionate really quickly. I think the last thing I remember hearing was something like “we always give in to the Americans!” and then the room grew quiet and some tight smiles came my way. There was an apology, some other criticisms of America, I didn’t know what to say so I just joked and said, “I’ll keep my opinion about all of this to myself, take some notes, and when I’m home next week, I’ll let the Americans know what you think about them.”
Between this case and the Lockerbie controversy, I’ve done my best to avoid current events in the office!