Poll: Have you, personally, ever been discriminated against?

[mechashiva77]

I suppose my lifestyle/race. Here I'll make a list.

I used to read books and work in the library a lot.
I play video games and watch cartoons.
I do not speak in ebonics or slang.
I am slightly above average when it comes to intelligence.
I wear modest clothing most of the time.
I am very shy and quiet and hate loud noises.
I like a wide variety of music.

I am black, but apparently since I have those qualities I'm acting white.

 

[dorkette1990]

For two reasons - first, I'm a girl. Apparently this means I'm physically weak and unable to be trusted with power tools. This judgement being made after they had seen my carry around 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of plywood (I'm around 5 feet tall) and build entire theatre sets singlehandedly.
The second, because I was a goth kid. I wore tons of black and long sleeves, and the school decided I was depressed and trying to kill myself. And told me what they thought, constantly, without ever asking about my state of mind at all.

 

[Gralian]

I suppose. Though i wonder whether it would be remiss to call it discrimination per se. Growing up in an alpha-male social hierarchy oriented male only secondary school, it wasn't looked on well for you to be caught up in fantasy stuff and video games rather than forming cliques and going out every night for sex and booze. I didn't do too badly out of school as i mostly kept my head down, but bringing your own interests to the table is one way to get grief. However, it affected me to the point of making me rather misanthropic and may have contributed to my current social phobia and anxiety disorder. Which is just peaches.

I think everyone is discriminated against in some way, whether it's because of their race or sex, or because they happen to prefer to wear blue shirts to red. Conflict is at the core of the rotten apple of society. Conflict is the basis of every great works, both artistic and political. In a way, i begrudgingly accept that it's simply a part of the human condition and experience. To deny conflict takes place around you is foolhardy and makes you a weaker person. It's simply a matter of how you deal with it.

 

[GigaHz]

Trim

I was trying to be tongue and cheek about the whole thing. I don't actually care on the rare occasion I am discriminated against.

 

[chiefohara]

For two reasons - first, I'm a girl. Apparently this means I'm physically weak and unable to be trusted with power tools. This judgement being made after they had seen my carry around 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of plywood (I'm around 5 feet tall) and build entire theatre sets singlehandedly.
The second, because I was a goth kid. I wore tons of black and long sleeves, and the school decided I was depressed and trying to kill myself. And told me what they thought, constantly, without ever asking about my state of mind at all.

Theatre wise it'll at least get better. Give it another 10/15 years and the vast majority of stage managers will be female. For no other reason than the fact ye are better at it because of multitasking and higher emotional stress tolerances.

 

[Pinkamena]

I've never been discriminated against, luckily. But that might be because I don't go around and advocate my beliefs and interests to anyone. I look pretty normal too.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Hello my dear Escapees, your friendly Sister of Battle here.

So I've noticed that a lot of people in the world, and particularly on this site have a whole host of unique opinions and lifestyles, so through a long winding train of thought I began wondering if anyone of them had ever been discriminated against due to their beliefs, gender, lifestyle or even race. And I don't mean some guy saying "I hate all XXXXXXX" on the news, I mean someone personally judged and was biased against you, simply because of one factor of your life.

I personally have been shunned from a group of friends, not because of my gender(female), or my lifestyle(bisexual) or even my political party(not telling), but because of my god damn religion, and the fact that I have one. They hurled insults at me and generally began to avoid me or treat me like an idiot and THIS even happened a few times:
Person: Uhg, I'm having so much trouble with my (Psychology/Geology/Physics) homework.
Me: Oh, do you need some help?
Person: No, I don't want to offend your beliefs, you don't believe in this kind of stuff.

That didn't make me mad, that just hurt. This was a person I'd been friends with for months, he knew I had high grades in those class A's and B's.

Captcha: Good day. Why thank you Mr. Captcha ^^

that's awful to hear, i'm sorry about that, but i will say yup similar things have happened to me based on religion/race

once again, amongst friends/people i've known, we had a class discussion that day and I mentioned a few well thought out answers/questions on the subject, even the teacher was a bit impressed as this was early on in the semester so he didn't quite know everyone yet. Afterwards I had an "acquaintance" come up to me getting mad/jealous saying "you didn't come up with that, where did you find that question/answer online? there is no way you could've thought that up on your own" (myself, was confused/puzzled as to why they would say that) to which they respond "well your not very smart and i've seen you hang out with the dumb religious kids all the time." to which yeah i was personally offended, but more disappointed that someone would honestly believe that based on that reasoning.

So yeah, after that I basically avoided that person...

and also for the race one, one time I was visiting my old neighbors (used to live in a somewhat ghetto area) and they were finishing taking the yard waste to the edge of the driveway to be picked up, to which my old neighbors new neighbor, the one who moved in to our old house, was also taking theirs out, had quite a bit and was about to drop it, so I ran over fast and was able to help catch it and take the weight off them and take it to the corner, to which the person looked me in the eye and said "Why'd you do that?!? WE DON'T NEED HELP FROM YOUR KIND." with a very serious tone, to which I got apologetic to avoid any further arguments/conflicts..

(Background info: I'm white, and the neighbor was black/african american, however you want to put it, and they were very angry that I had helped them out. Which once again it was more disappointment/hurt that they were mad at me helping because of my skin color.)

 

[DarkRyter]

Mostly the mild Racial quirks "hey, Asian!", "help me with this math problem", "can you do kung fu?" kinda stuff.

Other than that, no.

 

[Thaa'ir]

I had three friends whose parents actively opposed our friendship because I'm gay.

The first was my childhood best friend. When his twin brother went and told his parents about my sexuality, his dad wouldn't ever let me sleep over again...which hurt, seeing as I had slept over almost every weekend for years. I grew up with this kid.

His mom still loves me. His dad? Whatever. Life goes on.

The second was a deeply Catholic friend of mine who had problems with homosexuality but cared for me deeply. His parents disapproved severely, but he finally just flipped out on them one day and they finally dropped the issue. His mom and sisters came to really like me.

EDIT: I also turned him into a liberal without trying. Life happens I guess, right?

The last was my friend Austin who lived with his mom and grandma. Out of all the parents, they were the ones who offended me the most. They were just...wow. I wouldn't even go over there if they were out of town.

Out of all my friends, Austin was the most pissed off. I seriously wondered sometimes if he was more upset about it than I was. It strained with his relationship with his mom, and one day he simply refused to talk to her anymore..and that's how it ended. She got really sad and told him that if he felt so strongly about it, then she wouldn't oppose our friendship anymore.

Now? They love me. They really warmed up to me quick. I'd call them on their birthdays or when his mom got out of surgery and going over there always meant getting kisses on the cheek, delicious pumpkin muffins, and a really warm reception. Austin said with confidence that it was genuine, not forced.

So...it all worked out. And I know I'll face discrimination forever. But...whatever. I do not adhere to Christianity, so to me, Hell is just a scary bedtime story, not something I should really be afraid of. I'll just try to be chill, let it roll off my back, and carry on with my life.

 

[Pinkamena]

Sorry to hear that you've been discriminated against based on your religion, I want you to know that most atheists aren't such douchebags. I am one, but I respect other peoples beliefs, and don't bring it up in conversations because I know it's just going to open up a can of worms. Unless the other person gets on the subjects first and/or tries to force it on me.

 

[Twilight.falls]

Being that I live in Southern Louisiana, I tend to get picked on for being Asian.

 

[Jason Luu]

You should make it so you're able to select multiple ones, I've been discriminated against religiously for being Atheist, Racially for being Asian and politically for hating republicans and democrats alike.

 

[AdeptaSororitas]

Sorry to hear that you've been discriminated against based on your religion, I want you to know that most atheists aren't such douchebags. I am one, but I respect other peoples beliefs, and don't bring it up in conversations because I know it's just going to open up a can of worms. Unless the other person gets on the subjects first and/or tries to force it on me.

Thank you, that's heartening to hear. I try not to bring it up in conversation unless its important to the subject. Also, I'm sorry for any hypocritical religious people out there, we aren't all like that but sadly many are.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Apparently the gamer life-style is frowned upon in these establishments.

*EDIT* I am also watching MLP on my sister's laptop so I won't get criticised for watching a girl's show.

 

[AdeptaSororitas]

I'm a conservative so I'm regularly ripped on whilst on campus but I've never had the 'victim mentality' to actually be trodden down.

I agree. I don't let what people say about me bother me. Because that's letting them win.

OT: Some people mock me for my somewhat Conservative Libertarian beliefs. But other than that, no. Not really.

Wow, love that whole "victim = choice" concept you're sharing there. There's some quote from Shakespeare about that mindset, but for the life of me I can't remember it...

OT: I cannot answer any particular one of those options exclusively, and even an "all of the above" option would miss out on some gems.

I'm sorry ^^' Theres only so many options I can add, lol I wish I could do a checklist and have more then just those choices.

 

[teisjm]

Beeing male in Denmark means you get forced to go to a military draft, around age 18, unless you have a medical condition that excludes you.
I was forced to go, despite having no interest whatsoever in joining the army, luckily, i was rejected due to an astma inhaler i had been perscribed for a few months due to heavy coughing, and even if it hadn't been enough, chances of beeing forced into a 4 month long boot camp was small, and that you could choose to say no, and then have underpaid social work for half a year instead, if i hadn't had the inhalor, and drew the wrong number it would've been 4-6 months of forced work in a field i didn't want to, and where i would've made a lot less money than the job i had at the time.
One guy at the draft session was less lucky than me, he had no health problems, and drew a wrong number, and while it's only 4 months, and not at all dangerous, it was kinda problematic for his freshly started carpentry firm, that he had to be gone.
It'll also easily delay people a full year before beeing fully educated if the education they wann a pursue only starts new semesters once a year.

While I'm fully aware that this is a small thing compared to what others might have experienced, and that for me, it didn't matter in the end, and that it's the same for all other guys in Denmark and probably a whole lot of other countries as well, it's still worth adding for the sake of the discussion.

 

[DSK-]

I got 'discrimated against' (if you want to call it that) because my mum was German and I was half German. I suppose it didn't help that I shouted it out when I came back from Germany when I was about 5/6 to see my grandad on his deathbed :/

From then on till university I kept getting called a Nazi and various other things ('Hitler's wankstain' was actually a pretty original one). I got used to it around the time I finished primary school.

Can't say it bothers me now. Although when you are about 8 or 9 and someone you thought was your friend calls your mum "Hitler's prostitute" when you don't even know what such a thing means was pretty tough. I did kick the shit out of that guy though ^_^.

 

[Dr Jones]

Im a white male, possibly the most discriminated demographic there is.

No. Just... No..

 

[Gavmando]

Yep. Many times when applying for rental places I was rejected because they thought I was too young. Despite the fact that I make more money and have a more stable job than most real estate agents out there.