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re: Ignatius_J -- "ill-educated" better describes what I'm talking about rather than "less intelligent"...thank you. However, I wouldn't say we all have the right to make these snap decisions about folk based on their appearance...I think we all do it to some degree whether conciously or subconciously. To be glib (humerous overgeneralization alert!!!) I could say that when I see a hippy I tend to expect for them to be kinda smelly. It doesn't mean ALL hippies smell bad. Or when I see someone decked out in Nike gear I tend to look at them as blind consumers. Here's the kicker--when I see fat people I tend to look at them as lazy and less educated (end overgeneralization alert). I think everyone does this to some degree. I think a woman SHOULD feel extra alert if alone at a bus stop when two drunk football enthusiasts show up.
All in all, "less intelligent" or whatever merely describes one generalization people can make based on appearance. "More intelligent" might occur with others, or "cool" or "lazy" or "poor" or "rich" or "self-concious" etc.
Something I've been a little preoccupied with lately is the idea of suits (from the Invisibles) and how it correlates to the idea of residual-self-image in the Matrix. We all choose how we present ourselves to those around us. A woman I work with, Grendel, takes this to the extreme: she has various wigs, and tends to wear unique corsets and dress slacks--combined with her facial tattoo and the makeup she wears and she presents an image (almost) as extreme as Ragged Robin. Dare I say she is one of my favorite people in the world, because she's a strong woman who has her own sense of style. As Anna mentioned, when I first met her I HAD to talk to her and get to know her. Someone dressed as a poor drug-addicted Axl Rose-wannabe might not enthuse me as much.
Meanwhile, I've been having more fun with my own clothes, hairstyle, etc. To paraphrase Frank Zappa: Everyone wears a uniform, and don't kid yourself that you're any different. So why shouldn't we have more fun with the way we dress, and try and shatter other people's expectations and prejudices?
Might point being that some of this can be healthy. It's when taken to the point of a) refusing to get to know somebody based on these preconceptions or b) threatening them with violence that I think it become UNhealthy. For example, one of my other co-worker is a guy who has been to prison and calls women "bitches" etc...my initial reaction to him was fairly negative. As I got to know him I discovered his interest in botony--he grows minature little trees--and suddenly he seemed a little more interesting. If my prejudice had kept me from making that discovery then THAT I'd see as an unhealthy shame. To make an example of the latter point above, I barely made it through parts of public school, bacause most of the jocks assumed (based on my mannerisms) that I was gay--and they wanted to beat me up for it. To this day I get really pissed off when I see someone threatening someone else with violence for what they choose to wear. |
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As wonderful as having a son like Donnie?