- Tim Minchin: Thinks Homeopathy is Bullshit
DS: I find myself wondering about Mrs. Minchin. Sometimes I make my husband the butt of jokes in my column, and sometimes he’s okay with it, sometimes he’s not. How does your wife feel about you standing up and singing a song (“If I Didn’t Have You”) with lyrics like, “If I didn’t have you… somebody else would do”?
[Laughs] Well, Mrs. Minchin, when she first heard that one, she was pretty contemptuous of it because she heard it in a way that, unfortunately, many people do, which is that I’m saying now that I’m a bit famous and shit, I could probably fuck loads of other chicks. But, of course, the song is saying that the idea of a soul mate is—just like all my fucking stuff—it’s saying the idea of that kind of mysticism is not as beautiful as the idea of choice. It’s about the fact that if events had unfolded even one butterfly-wing-flap differently, our whole lives would have been different. But they didn’t, and here we are. And we’re choosing to be together.
And that choice is more beautiful than saying you were fated to be together. To say you’re “fated” to be with one particular person isn’t much different than saying you’re condemned to be with that person.
Exactly! “We have no choice in this, oh well! The gods have thrown us together.” There’s two problems with that. One, it’s sort of sad and not as beautiful, and secondly, it’s just so much bullshit. It doesn’t mean anything. My problem with this kind of language and spirituality and religion and all that is that I don’t know what you’re fucking talking about! I don’t know what you mean when you say “soul.” I don’t know what you mean when you say “fate.” I don’t what you mean when you say “god.” What are you actually talking about?
