Prejudices

[the_std]

Now, this isn't gonna be your typical "people hate me cause they're prejudiced" thread. No, what I hate is my own prejudice.

I fully and completely acknowledge that I am prejudiced against fat people. No matter what argument is presented to me, what facts are shown, a deep-down part of me thinks that it's their fault that they're fat. Barring medical reasons, I automatically attribute laziness and greed to their condition.

I will say that this all lives in my head. I do not treat fat people any differently, will not deny them help, will speak to them with the same respect they show me, I do not stare or point. I recognize my prejudice and its ability to harm people, so I make sure it lives inside of my head and doesn't get out.

The part I hate the most it feels like there are two people inside of me fighting it out. The logical part of me sees all the societal influence, the lack of education on nutrition, the pressure to go for Mickey D's instead of the farmer's market, all of these things that could lead to someone being fat. I see all of that, I understand all of it. I know that calorie input/output is not the only factor in why someone can weigh as much as they do. But there is another part of me, the little bit at my core that has put its fingers in its ears, screwed its eyes shut and said, "LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING FAT PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND BAD LA LA LA!" and I cannot get over that. I try so hard. I've dated fat people, I've got obese friends, I know all of these things... I just wish I could convince this tiny part of me about all of this that the rest of me embraces.

This is so hard for me because I pride myself on being open-minded and understanding. I do my best to see every side of a situation, I promote the individual as being the major influence in every situation, how nothing is ever the same twice... And then I go against all of that and have a stupid hate for fatties. I feel like a terrible person, and wish I knew how to change it.

Does anyone else have any prejudices that they battle? Any similar stories?

[Boozy]

I'm constantly struggling with my prejudices against the elderly.

I never used to think anything at all about seniors until I started working at a cafe that was very popular with the over-60 set.

The worst SCs I had there were seniors, so I started unconsciously thinking they were all cheap, rude, and oblivious of others. Logically, I know that is ridiculous. Of course the worst SCs were seniors; 80% of our clientele were seniors. The odds were that my worst SCs would be elderly.

I think confirmation bias is at play with most prejudices. When we start thinking a certain way (for whatever reason), we tend to remember all the times that we were proven correct and forget all the times we were proven wrong.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Everyone. I hate and detest everyone; and I battle against that prejudice every day. XD

[Greenday]

People of lesser intelligence. I'm not talking about REALLY stupid people, which I really do despise more than anyone else. I'm talking about even people of kinda average intelligence. Is it their fault that they aren't near genius levels? No, definitely not. But for some reason, it bothers me a lot anyway. Maybe it's stuff like hearing people talk about failing a test on fractions when I have a test on calculus I just get pissed off at people who aren't THE sharpest crayons in the box.

[Fryk]

Is it a predjudice if people really are jerks, though?

[DrFaroohk]

I'm prejudiced against mentally ill people. Bipolar, schizo, or mentally challenged. Similar to the OP, no matter how rational the argument is, no matter how many statistics you throw at me, I still feel the same way.

They creep me out. I just look at them and feel like they are gross. I imagine them just sitting in a pile of their own shit, drooling on themselves, scratching their armpits and then licking their fingers.

Then they scare me. You never know when one is just going to flip out! They could go crazy at any friggin time! They might be fine now, but they could go at any second!

Then they usually get me in trouble. I've had a number of mentally ill stalkers. I don't know why. The real psychos love me. If I kept in touch with them all I'd literally have my own cult. Anyway, they always get me in trouble. They usually freak out, and because I'm associated with them that makes me a full fledged social worker and I'm supposed to deal with it.

Yeah, some hardcore prejudices coming from me.

[AdminAssistant]

Beggars/panhandlers

Because I lived in KC, and I had these people chase me down the street, accost me on street corners in residential neighborhoods, even knock on my fucking door to ask for "just a coupla of dollas, sistah". People who would stand on medians before stoplights and stare at you, hoping to guilt you into handing over some change. Sure, some of these people were, indeed, homeless, and some were probably mentally ill. But, a local newspaper followed some of these folks around, and found that the most notorious ones had homes and cars. Begging was their job. I just found that absolutely disgusting.

Either way, I just have no sympathy for any of them anymore.

[kiwi]

I hate myself for it but I when I see people of a certain ethnic backgroung I get filled with rage. I have only felt this way after living with the landlord who pushed me over the edge into my nervous breakdown 2 years ago.

When I see people the same race as her I see red inside, then I feel terrible because I know logically that they have absoultely nothing do to with what she did to me, but part of me can't help it. I want to scream at them all the things I wanted to scream at her. I want to shake them for ruining London for me.

I even have friends of the same race and I can barely bring myself to talk to them because just seeing them brings up these feelings of rage and shame and guilt.
I don't know if I will ever be able to trust someone of that race again, and that makes me really dislike that part of me.

[muses_nightmare]

I have prejudices against two races, one because I grew up in a small town where the population consisted mainly of that race, and I've witnessed first hand the laziness and such of them, and the fact that the government seems to cater to them, and every major event has to have some huge relevance to them, as if no other cultures exist in Canada.

The other, is because I feel like they're taking over the city I live in currently. Or rather have taken over. I'll be driving down a street and won't see one English or French sign in sight. It aggravates me more than it should.

That being said, these things are usually kept in my head, and while I think I have some valid arguments about certain political issues regarding the first race, I generally don't say anything about it, and I give every individual a chance to prove stereotypes wrong. I'm not on the side of "let's get rid of them!" or even "they're ruining my country", because I realize that Canada is multicultural, I just wish that they'd focus on a few other cultures.

[Cat]

I used to be prejudiced against a few groups of people when I was still in retail...these groups just seemed to fulfill the the stereotypes we had for them I hate that I felt that way....it got better once I got away from that mall.

And I do still have some prejudice towards the mentally ill....my brother is bipolar and mostly likely the "r-word." I hate him with the intensity of 10,000 suns. He got away with everything as we were growing up because the 'rents didn't want to deal with him, while I was under lock and key. So, I have little or no respect to those who use mental illness as an excuse. I know its wrong, but eh.

[McDreidel09]

I hate my prejudice toward a certain ethnic group. Growing up, I had very little interaction with them because my town is mainly white. Then, when I went into the working force, the ones from that ethnic group always complained, no matter what you did. They got offended over the smallest thing, say if you asked them if they wanted their coffee a certain way, they would get offended. They fulfilled every negative stereotype in the book.

I understand that not every single person in that ethnic group is like that. I try not to see color, but whenever I see someone of this group, I feel like I am walking on eggshells.

[KellyHabersham]

I guess for me, it would be that I tend to cringe when I see families of certain ethnic backgrounds in the children's room at the library. This being because the mothers will accumulate huge stacks of books/foreign language magazines on the tables, and will sit around chatting while their kids run around screaming and scattering things everywhere. These families NEVER pick up after themselves, and since they usually don't/won't leave until shortly before closing, staff barely has enough time to clean up their messes

Of course, I realize that not everyone belonging to this particular ethnic background behaves that way, but at point I was tempted to start putting up "Please clean up after yourselves and your children" signs in their native language.

[elsporko]

I feel fortanate that I don't have any prejudices against groups of people. I'm always fair

[the_std]

... So... You post in a thread of someone admitting one of their weaknesses, looking for support from others, to brag about how you're better than them in that respect?

[Rageaholic]

Conservative Christians.

I'm sure there are plenty of decent conservative christians out there, but the majority of the ones I knew were assholes. These were the people who were very much involved with church activities, talk about how great god was, and followed all the rules, but in the end, treated others like crap. Some of the biggest jerks I knew were conservative Christians who had this persona of a changed person, but they were still the same rotten people they were before. They just cover it up better.

What gets me about that is they make me seem like the bad person for not going to confession or going church much (or at all). When I these big houses away from commercial life, I automatically associate them with the church snobs who lived in those neighborhoods.