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Secret evil hideous prejudices - confession time!

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Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

08:51 / 21.03.02

Come on...we all have them. Things that make us impose prejudiced (or, if you want to absolve yourself, heuristic) judgements on people, which don't fit into the usual "-ism" categories but are no less shameful for all that.

In a spirit of soul-bearing, me first:

Loud voices. Not in the sense of brightly-pattterned, but in terms of amplitude.

Now, this is pure prejudice, or pure heuristics. I tend to keep my voice comparatively low because I find that it is easier to inflect to communicate different meanings and moods, and because I don't particularly like the sound made by forcing air through my lungs at above a certain pressure. At times this does apparently make me irritatingly hard to hear in public places. It also appears to have created the unfortunate side effect of essentially hearing long speeches delivered in a raised voice as being pretty much in a monotone, with all that implies.

I know it's wrong, but I have consciously to correct myself from flinching away from conversational voices set above a certain level.

So how about you? What failings do you see in yourself that are not capital O offensive, but still lead to jumpy conclusions?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

08:51 / 21.03.02

Posh people. If someone's posh, I tend to be wary around them because I assume that they will look down on my non-poshness. I am a secret posh-ist.

08:51 / 21.03.02

prejudice is such an unhelpful term. Everyone has preconceptions -surely its the ease at which these can be confronted and challenged and otherwise negotiated by the individual that is important, rather than the effect our past experiences have had on us? Or am I just being stupidly optimistic here?

08:51 / 21.03.02

I can't stand stupidly optimistic people. Fools!

08:51 / 21.03.02

Ditto to MC's posh-phobia. My shoulder is stacked ear-high with chips.

08:51 / 21.03.02

Cheap gold, especially sovereign rings on every finger and thick chains festooned around the neck. The words "white trash" rise unbidden to my gullet every single time I see such a display, but I always force them away out of embarassment at such shallow social generalisations, and from the fear of getting a kicking by a smack-head scrote. Gaaah! There I go again!

08:51 / 21.03.02

People who smell too much (of anything). I am very paranoid about smelling myself, & so I hate it when someone else is being smelly in my nose-space. (Unless I happen to be in the pub, when everything smells of smoke anyway, so why worry?) This goes for smelly old men on the tube, smelly businessmen on the tube, smelly people in the office, people wearing too much perfume (which then wafts around in a most nauseating fashion), people with halitosis who breath at me on the tube... people who take off their shoes in the library so that their feet can smell more freely...

Also, obviously, people who cannot use punctuation properly. This is because I am a pedant.

08:51 / 21.03.02

the caesar-cut, fringe-gelled-to-forehead look

the Daily Mail, deliberately bought and read. More offensive than the Sun.

oh, punctuation as well. The greengrocers' apostrophe brings me out in hives.

The Natural Way

08:51 / 21.03.02

I really hate unnecessarily miserable people - esp ones that whine about how "realistic" they are, etc. (and this isn't a thinly veiled attack on you, Bizunth).

BUT! I REALLY, REALLY HATE the fucking Costa/Starbucks coffee-and-sandwiches culture that plagues the West End. If I see one more gloopy batch of [insert food here] & mayonnaise being washed down with a "delicious" cup of frothy steam, I think I'll puke.

Ueergh.

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: You and Runce ]

08:51 / 21.03.02

THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH LOUD PEOPLE! Ahem, no, I'm with Haus on that one, I hate loud bastards. And I hate white trash, and I hate pink fluffy people who've managed to cling to the illusion that the world's a nice place. And I hope I'm not posh. I suppose I talk posh, but I live in a council flat - that's my defense.

08:51 / 21.03.02

People who talk loudly into their friggin' mobile phones while in a library, bank, post office, cafe, restaurant etc.

Edited to add that I'm also irritated by people who drive with their car radios blaring and windows down.

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: Cavatina ]

The Return Of Rothkoid

08:51 / 21.03.02

Pedestrians. I am one myself, but I'm speaking particularly of those "stop in the middle of Oxford street and moon about a bit" people. Who unerringly are walking in front of me when they decide to take in the goddamn view. Oh, and the fuckers who take golf-umbrellas into the middle of London in an effort to grab as many communter eyes on the end of spikes as they possibly can. Bah. Throngs of people are generally a really uncomfortable thing for me unless I'm switched off.

Gig-Talkers. The ones that will witter on endlessly about how great their new Palm is, or how shitty work was last week. Case-in-point: GYBE on Monday night; I had to do my "scary thug-u-like in leather" monster face to a number of people who wouldn't shut the fuck up. Total silence isn't what I'm after - it's just that if you want to have a fucking post-work chat, why not just go to the pub? Same thing in theatre, though usually (in my experience) it's two grannies who're nattering on about how it's not as good as when they saw it in performance three-hundred years ago. They glare at any attempt to get them to shut up, also.

I'm something of a pedant as far as the writing thing goes, too. So I feel the urge to kill rising whenever I see company emails that are written all in lowercase.

OR UPPERCASE.

OR WITH LOTS OF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grr.

Aw, fuck it. I think I have a beef with the world.

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]

08:51 / 21.03.02

I AM PREJUDICED AGAINST PEOPLE WHO SPEAK TOO QUIETLY FOR ME TO HEAR THEM IN A BAR.

<<Cherry B - representin' for all the loud people in the hiz-ouse. And caps users. >>

Seriously, I don't know - I guess I'm prejudiced against people who play video poker and buy lottery tickets. And folks who get all their news from TV.

But this means I'm actually prejudiced against my Mom.

The Natural Way

08:51 / 21.03.02

People who attempt to answer the question:

"What does your mobile phone say about you?"

*Personalised* ringtones and shouting down the the phone to the office tell us NOTHING about anyone (except, of course, who is the biggest cock).

08:51 / 21.03.02

Actually if I had a mobile phone, I would have the ring personalised to the tune of "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc.

I'm really just an annoying person.

08:51 / 21.03.02

I'll go with the posh thing again and also people that moan and moan and moan. On the train back from Scotland we couldn't smoke in the carriage but they said we could smoke in the hall - some prick decided he would have a go at the ticket collecting lady, he then decided he would tell everyone that came onto the train that it was a disgrace he did this for fucking 8 hours!

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

10:06 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by The Return Of Rothkoid:
Gig-Talkers. The ones that will witter on endlessly about how great their new Palm is, or how shitty work was last week. Case-in-point: GYBE on Monday night; I had to do my "scary thug-u-like in leather" monster face to a number of people who wouldn't shut the fuck up. Total silence isn't what I'm after - it's just that if you want to have a fucking post-work chat, why not just go to the pub? Same thing in theatre, though usually (in my experience) it's two grannies who're nattering on about how it's not as good as when they saw it in performance three-hundred years ago. They glare at any attempt to get them to shut up, also.

Not really a prejudice, this one....same thing happened at Laptop. Although it did give me a chance to say "Excuse me, tiny man, but could you save your very interesting conversation until the end of the acoustic music, please?"

10:48 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by You and Runce:
I really hate unnecessarily miserable people - esp ones that whine about how "realistic" they are, etc. (and this isn't a thinly veiled attack on you, Bizunth).

Actually my above comment was a jab at Sleaze. I have been on many occasions stupidly optimistic. And it saved my life.
What I really hate is people thinking that if you say the catchphrase from a comedy programme you are instantly as funny as the programme itself, if not moreso.

gozer the destructor

10:51 / 21.03.02

quote: Posh people. If someone's posh, I tend to be wary around them because I assume that they will look down on my non-poshness. I am a secret posh-ist.

I take so much stick off my friends for this i'm glad i am not the only person who suffers from a poshist attitude. I just can't trust people with a posh accent.

Hi. Im Phil and I have a problem. (weak AA joke)

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: gozer the destructor ]

10:51 / 21.03.02

Edited due to satellite delay ruining my comic timing.

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: Bill Posters ]

gozer the destructor

10:53 / 21.03.02

DOH!

11:07 / 21.03.02

I'll choose the posh people option as well, please. It is a prejudice and it is something I know isn't fair and am trying to overcome.
I put this down to life experience. I did languages at university. Posh people who seemed at the time to live a life revolving around international exposure and gap years abroad just had such a godamn unfair advantage.

11:08 / 21.03.02

Current fervent hate:

People who selfishly park in the middle of a two car resident's parking space on my road.

Gah! I sound soooo middle class!

11:11 / 21.03.02

Me too for posh people - well, mainly the accent. Which is so weird, because my accent is only a hairsbreadth down from, oh, I don't know, fucking Brian Sewell* or whatever that art critic's name is, despite my best attempts to Mocknify/Yorkshire myself which just end up making me sound (a) posh and (b) A COMPLETE TWART.

Het fanfiction. (What is it for?)

Hmmm. This is odd. I can't actually think of any prejudices I have that I don't consider justified, at the moment.

*Edited to point out that - just in case anyone was worried - I'm not quite posh enough for that to be spelt "facking" or "farking". But not nearly Northern enough for it to be "fooking".

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: Deva ]

11:12 / 21.03.02

Current fervent hate:

People who selfishly park in the middle of a two car resident's parking space on my road.

Gah! I sound soooo middle class!

The Planet of Sound

11:14 / 21.03.02

Following the 'Class' debate, I have successfuly rid my mind of all stereotypes and preconceptions, and thus have nothing to add to this thread... Oh, bollocks, tourists in London, people with Essexy accents, anyone that works in finance, the staff in music (instrument) stores, anyone who works at the BBC, horse-riders, women with exceptionally shrill voices, Ford Capri drivers with baseball hats, anyone who lives in Fulham... the list is endless.

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:21 / 21.03.02

Actually, the staff at a lot of Berwick St record stores shit me to tears. Oh yes.

11:23 / 21.03.02

I cannot stand people who chew gum *LOUDLY* on public transport. Or get all kissy cutesy puke-makingly bleurgh with each other in public. And I'd go with the smelly thing, too. I realise it may not be the person's fault...but nonetheless. And people who spill beer on me. I really really really really really really hate getting beer spilled on me, as I don't drink myself and the smell bothers me.

Edited to add: bad grammar and punctuation, too, of certain types. Ooh yes (but now surely someone will pick me up on it next time I make a mistake. Oh dear).

And, oh, yes... people who frigging call Darth Vader 'Darth' instead of 'Vader' when they want to shorten it. Drives me up the wall.

11:29 / 21.03.02

edited to say: argggg

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: little brained brain surgeon ]

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

11:44 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Cholister:
And, oh, yes... people who frigging call Darth Vader 'Darth' instead of 'Vader' when they want to shorten it. Drives me up the wall.

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: Cholister ]

Hold on....doesn't Obi-Wan Kenobi do this in "A New Hope"?

11:46 / 21.03.02

There's lots of things I dislike (English people wearing shorts, for example - it's just not on) but I will admit to a rather nasty prejudice against fundamentalist religion.
I don't know if it counts, 'cause I've thought about it a lot, and I believe I have good reasons for it. However, I'm always willing to judge people on the basis of my prejudice, rather than taking the person as an individual.
And it doesn't matter if it's an Islamic fundamentalist, a strict orthodox Jew, a charismatic Christian, any Jehovah's Witness... I find the whole idea of taking religion that seriously (and smacking other people - or people's - around on the basis that you're right 'cause God said so) repugnant and nasty and smelly.
Ok, so the JWs are violently opposed to smacking anyone around, but they get on my wick all the same.
I may be leaving myself open here, but if I'm wrong, then I'll deserve a verbal kicking...

11:54 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Cholister:
And, oh, yes... people who frigging call Darth Vader 'Darth' instead of 'Vader' when they want to shorten it. Drives me up the wall.

Depends how well you know him, I suppose...

And to add to my list: Any Star Wars bores who are now going to point out that Darth is not his first name but his rank or something. I DON'T CARE!

11:55 / 21.03.02

quote:Originally posted by The Haus that shot Liberty Valance:

Hold on....doesn't Obi-Wan Kenobi do this in "A New Hope"?

Oops... Actually, I was referring to Henry Jenkins in 'Textual Poachers' - he does it persistently, and it completely grates on my nerves. I appreciate that, before Ep. 1, it was somewhat less obvious that Darth is a title, not a name. I will let Obi Wan off...but no one else. Specially not someone who's writing about fans...I've never met a 'Star Wars' fan who called him Darth...

11:57 / 21.03.02

I prefer to call him Daddy.

Oh shit no, that would make me Luke Skywalker.

How about Unkie Vader?

11:57 / 21.03.02

Oh dear. The Star Wars Bore Strikes Back.

(er, me, I mean, not you, mr y)

[ 21-03-2002: Message edited by: Cholister ]

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