Scum

Also, in honor of International Women's Day (which was yesterday) and Women's History Month (which is now), read this: SCUM Manifesto.

I certainly do not agree with everything (or most things) in it, but it is certainly interesting (and definitely amusing at points).

I'm judging you

I am realizing more often lately how many snap judgments people make of each other. I am noticing this very clearly in myself. Based on one piece of information about someone, I will quickly do one of two things. I will either a) give them a pat label, or b) determine several other things about them that I am certain are true (whether or not they actually are).

Here are some examples:

1. I was recently looking through some photos a friend of mine took for someone's senior photo shoot. This person apparently loves reading, so the photo shoot took place in the library. When I read that piece of information, I judged the person positively. When I saw the photos, however, I noticed that Twilight was among the stack of books this person posed with. I immediately determined that this person was hopelessly annoying and completely delusional. Also, it is not actually necessary for me to say that this person is a girl. Obvious, right?

2. I was at a restaurant where music is loudly played and the cooks sing along loudly. Most of the patrons smile, sometimes sing along quietly. There was one girl who was singing loudly and dancing while waiting in line. Immediately I labelled her "dumb, obnoxious teenager." When a Ke$ha song (which I hate) came on, she squealed "this is my song!" My first thought was "Oh, big surprise." Now she is "dumb, obnoxious teenager who likes awful music."

3. I have this thing about language. I try to be very precise in my speech personally, so I struggle when others are not very precise. One example which bothers me on other levels as well as a linguistic one is when people use the term "mankind" in reference to all people. Whenever this happens I will always mutter "humanity" under my breath in correction (or say it aloud, depending on the circumstance). Along with this slight rebellion, I will label the offender either "ignorant" or "chauvinist" (the label used depends on a number of factors).

We all do things like this. Why are stereotypes so much easier? Perhaps it is simpler than really trying to get to know someone. It could have to do with our unwillingness to face our intolerance head on. The most interesting thing about stereotypes, to me, is how desperate we are to fit into them. We tend to be very clear about which group or label we want to fall under, and when we fail to do so, we have failed our identities, failed ourselves.

Or, radically, we could just be ourselves and try harder to accept others as who they are as well.