WEBVTT

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In this video I'm going to answer
a question

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that's as old as the universe.

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No, it's not.

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A question that comes up on YouTube
quite often is this one:

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"How does a blind person know
their sexual preference?"

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Right? Because of, you know,
you can't see,

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so you can't see how pretty somebody is
or what somebody looks like

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or any of that kind of thing.

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So how do you know?
How the heck do you know?

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Answering this question,

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I can only give you 
my own personal experience.

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I can't speak for anybody else
on this one.

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I'll just tell you how I knew
what my preference was.

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And is.

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[Ben laughs]

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[Tommy laughs]

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So, growing up, the things
that I learned

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were all based on my surroundings.

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So my parents were straight,
all their friends were straight,

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all the characters I saw in television
and movies were all straight too,

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and that sort of helped
to steer me in a particular direction,

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the direction that I went.

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This may not work for other people, but

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for me it was just the thing
that felt right to me.

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It was the thing that made sense.

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And so that's the path I chose.

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As I got to be a teenager
and started talking to girls,

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you know, then the experience got to be
a little different. Right?

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Hormones are starting
to fly around and things and

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starting to get those butterflies
and starting to feel this sort of twinge of

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"boy, I like her. She's cool."
You know?

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And that's one of those experiences
that I never got from my guy friends.

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So in school, for example,
I can't look across the room and go,

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"Ooh, I like her. I gotta go talk to her."

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Or, you know, "She's pretty," 
or this kind of thing.

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No. For me it's all about conversation.

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Right? And if I talk to somebody
and we start to click

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and we, you know, feel the same way
about certain things,

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or, you know, somebody's just got
a cool energy to them,

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or somebody's extremely funny,

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you know, that's how I get to see
whether or not I like somebody.

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And then I have to take the chance
and say, you know,

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"Would you like to come
to the Eighth Grade dance with me?"

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And then we can stand against the 
wall and never dance together

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ANNOUNCER: We interrupt this YouTube video
for this special announcement.

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TOMMY: Hey, I just wanted to let you know
we've got some brand-new merch available

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for the next seven days only.

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And this is our Blind Caution sign series.

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Now, when I was in high school
there was a big, giant sign

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out the front of my door that said
"Blind Child Area".

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I always thought the white stick 
would've been enough. But OK.

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So we came up with our own 
"Blind Caution" signs for you as well,

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we put it on some T-shirts, 
hoodies and stickers.

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There's Blind Drunk -

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this one, you know, in case a stagger
isn't enough for people.

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You can just read the front of your shirt
and know that you're blind drunk.

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There's Blind Driver.

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People are always yelling at motorists
on the roads and stuff. "Hey, look at my shirt!"

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Or my personal favorite, 
Blind Not Buzzed,

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because this has happened to me
many, many times.

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I'll sit down in a bar
and somebody will say,

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"I think you've had too much already, sir."
"No, no. Look, I'm blind, not buzzed."

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So if any of those interest you or 
you'd like to get the classic stuff -

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you know, the Blind Film Critic or
The Tommy Edison Experience stuff -

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the link is right there
in the description for the video.

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And remember, it's only available
for the next seven days.

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ANNOUNCER: We now return to this
YouTube video already in progress.

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TOMMY: You know, one of the things
I really enjoy is like the smell and the sounds

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of a woman.

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Like, all the fragrance, right? 
The perfume and stuff.

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It's just lovely. It's so nice.

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And, of course, 
some are better than others.

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Some people wear a little bit more
than they should.

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But, you know, it's all part
of the experience.

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The sounds of a woman -

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like the sound a woman's shoes make
on the floor sometimes,

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you know, like on a cement floor,
you know, in an office building.

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Oh, it's a great sound.
I just love it.

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Plus girls and women
just have different stuff

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than guys do.

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And that was attractive too.

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And these are some of the things
that helped me figure out

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what my preference was.

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That's just what I was drawn to.

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I just liked girls and women.

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You know, I loved what they had to say.

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I liked listening to them talk.

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I liked hearing their stories.

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It's no more complicated than that.

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So that's really about it.

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You know, that's my story
and that is how I knew.

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Now, I'm sure that there are
other things that I'm totally not aware of

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and things that are going through
other people's heads

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that I don't know, but

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it's such a difficult question
to answer. It really is.

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But I will say this:

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I don't think sight plays into it.
I really don't.

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Without sight I was able to determine
what I liked, who I liked,

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and, honestly, I don't believe sight
played into this.

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I really don't, you know

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I simply liked who I liked.

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Well, thank you so much for watching
the video. I hope you enjoyed it.

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I'd also love for you to follow me
on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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That's just another way to find out
every time we put up

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a brand-new video for you.

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BEN: Cos YouTube certainly wasn't.

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TOMMY: YouTube ain't doin' it.
They dropped the ball!

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In fact, they dropped both balls.