Discrimination (the example being 'anti -ginger')

[Nicksus]

In other words, they become douchebags. I always hate that.

 

[Squeaksx]

Well being nearly pure white and a -yank- I am not sure how much credibility I have in terms of a discrimination. Heh, then again my great great grandpa was Irish and anyone with a brain would realize the status Irish immigrants had when they first came to America. Me personally, I think that discriminating someone for the color of their hair is as stupid as doing so for someone's skin color, language, or some odd class system (See India). I am not sure what I can say to this except do what I do for being a short nerd. Buff up and make a facade of an unstable...Ok well it isn't a facade with me, but you know what I mean!

 

[Blayze]

Oh Blayze, if only you weren't across the ocean from me.

Indeed.

You should move to the states, especially the southeast. Everyone smiles here - it's a very friendly place.

Nice to hear there's a place where people actually smile. I may have to have a holiday there one day.

Neither of which I consider negatives.

They're a family you're supposed to sympathise with (Anything bad that happens to them seems to carry an aura of "Kick the Dog"... or possibly Rape the Dog), but there was no actual reason for Rowling to make them all redheads beyond amplifying the Kick the Dog experience.

And Ron - especially in the last few books, where it all went downhill - just annoys me.

white people are doing pretty good in most of the world.

No more so than everyone else where I live. A lot of people forget that just because all the money is in the hands of whites, that doesn't mean it's anything more than a tiny percentage of whites who screw *everyone* over in their quest for more money and power.

 

[stompy]

I really can't see why people are recommending violence as an answer... Iunno, I just don't see it as such.

As for a solution, I suppose the thing I do is walk away and hang around people who don't tease you. I know that random people give you flack, but I, in my experience, my technique works. Maybe it's 'cos I don't really have anything to be insulted about...

Edit:

I am only 170cm. That's about 5ft.7 in the US. Some would consider that normal height, but here in Australia, it's considered shorter than average (Australians are getting really tall, it's pretty scary). The shorter you are, the less seriously you are taken.

...Shit. I'm 175cm, and I don't really get any flak for it. I know I'm shorter than most of my friends but people have never held it against me. Strange... is everyone around you like 180cm or something?

 

[stubbmann]

One of my best friends is pretty much the archetypal ginger kid, and I don't think anyone's ever messed with him. Mainly because he's 6'5 and built somewhat like a pile of cinderblocks, but hey. I've been picked on a bit during the period of time between being a little wiry bundle of muscles and being a big fella with a (pretty much undeserved) reputation for having a short fuse. I mean, I did punch this one guy, but it was by accident. and lo and behold, he never bugged me again.

Best thing to do is ignore them unless they get violent, and if they get violent, make an example out of 'em. At least, that's my experience.

 

[Silver]

I must agree that the Harry Potter books probably have been bad for people with red hair. They enforce stereotypes a bit, and they present them as pretty stupid (except Ginny of course, because she's a redheaded female and enforces stereotypes even more).

I also find them quite annoying. Besides, Ron stole my girlfriend.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

I am only 170cm. That's about 5ft.7 in the US. Some would consider that normal height, but here in Australia, it's considered shorter than average (Australians are getting really tall, it's pretty scary). The shorter you are, the less seriously you are taken.

I guess I can see that. I'm 5'7" (apparently, 170 cm) myself and I have to admit that guys as tall as me or shorter than me have a much less likely chance of me dating them. I don't make fun of them unless they're close friends, but the point still stands that I'm guilty of discriminating against those shorter than me. Man, I feel like an ass. I just really enjoy standing on my tiptoes when I kiss my current boyfriend, lol.

I must agree that the Harry Potter books probably have been bad for people with red hair. They enforce stereotypes a bit, and they present them as pretty stupid (except Ginny of course, because she's a redheaded female and enforces stereotypes even more).

I also find them quite annoying. Besides, Ron stole my girlfriend.

Ron is sort of the sidekick character, isn't he? Always pouts about not getting enough attention, you know? But I think he catches more crap for having such a large family and not enough money than anything else. Maybe it's just me, but I never included the Weasley red hair in anything, unless maybe it was adding to how awesome they are, lol.

That's okay, I've always been secretly in love with the Weasley twins. Problem was I could never commit to just one of them. Warning, don't read below if you haven't read book 7 yet.

Spoiler

Guess I don't have a choice anymore. Although I still maintain that in my little world, they're both still alive. STILL ALIVE! I can't even remember which one it was because that's the ONLY death that I disagreed with so much, I threw my book across the room when I read it.

 

[Kroker]

A have a friend with ginger hair. He's not very confident and is quite scrawny too so unfortunately he can't really fight, despite being a black belt. He often gets a lot of stick for having ginger hair and I just don't understand why. People just need to sort out their attitudes. At one point he couldn't even go in this certain area in our school because nine times out of ten somebody would either kick a football at him or try to put a bin on him. It sucks really and I just think people need to learn to sort out their attitudes. Why discriminate people with ginger hair? I just don't understand and it gets really frustrating.

 

[Spleeni]

I'm the epitome of whiteness, I look fairly normal and I live in a very diverse area and even I still get a few insults tossed my way. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[werepossum]

I am only 170cm. That's about 5ft.7 in the US. Some would consider that normal height, but here in Australia, it's considered shorter than average (Australians are getting really tall, it's pretty scary). The shorter you are, the less seriously you are taken.

I guess I can see that. I'm 5'7" (apparently, 170 cm) myself and I have to admit that guys as tall as me or shorter than me have a much less likely chance of me dating them. I don't make fun of them unless they're close friends, but the point still stands that I'm guilty of discriminating against those shorter than me. Man, I feel like an ass. I just really enjoy standing on my tiptoes when I kiss my current boyfriend, lol.

I don't think it's discrimination to select dates and mates (marriage kind, not buddy kind) based on what you personally like. I'm an inch shorter than you, and while there were certainly girls who wouldn't date me because of my height, that never particularly bothered me. Tall girls were often drawn to me, though, and I didn't have the self-confidence to date them even if I really liked them. To me that's more discrimination (albeit unintentional) than simply not being attracted to someone for whatever reason.

I never felt discriminated against growing up. As an adult, short men are very common in engineering and other geek fields, although we just lost a 6'-7+" (about 175 cm) electrical engineer. Good guy, too. I will say I've seen discrimination against short men in sales, although not in technical sales where you need an engineering background. So I would advise short men not to go into non-technical sales.

I will also say that, damn, people are getting tall!

 

[CartoonHead]

It gets easier as you get older (apparently according to my red-headed friend), but just in case keep up that kung fu and when you feel confident enough twat the next guy who bullies you needlessly (i.e the football guy) over it into next week. It will make you feel better I'm sure, although try to make sure he's not one of those wankers who will take things too far and knife you for your justified retaliation (or from his possible point of view "disrespektin' me innit"). The insults you should just rise above, with maybe a witty retort, possibly paraphasing Churchill (Winston not the talking dog) by saying "Yes, but I can dye it whereas your face will always be ugly".

 

[Nicksus]

There is only one ginger I can think of from my school, and he really gives them a bad name. He is a smartass and a hot-head, and he is the one I was talking about in an earlier post, when I was talking about people who try to sound clever but then end up being very average. Although, he might have taken crap in his old school that made him turn out that way. Though Elementary school kids aren't usually that bad, and he's been going to the same school as me since the fourth grade. So I don't think it's very likely he took crap for it. Maybe it was outside of school; clubs or groups he was a part of it.

 

[isjusterin]

isjusterin, good for you for not buying into the flashy trends. I don't even see how clothes from brands like Hollister or DC are appealing -- they turn you into walking billboards. I'm not even joking; I saw a pair of skateboard shoes at Payless Shoe Store. "DC" covered most of it. Then most Hollister shirts I've seen only read 'Holister' on them. There's no interesting design to it.

Thanks much. I'll admit to wearing converses, though, but I actually like them because they don't make my feet look like barges.

You should move to the states, especially the southeast. Everyone smiles here - it's a very friendly place. And you could court the other Blaze (although not in the southeast.)

True that. People try to be cordial to each other even if they don't like each other, which seems hypocritical but in practice generally isn't. I am easy to express if I don't like someone, but I don't rub it in their face and do nasty things to them, and that's usually how it works out. The southeast gets a bad rap a lot of times because there's a lot of little hick towns that suck arse *cough east Texas and my bigot grandfather cough*. If you get in any sizable population in the southeast, you're unlikely to see outright brutality between people that don't know each other. Point in case: I saw/heard about approximately five fights during all of high school. Two of those were in my one year at the public school "across the tracks". But that's four years, in schools of 2400 kids. Pretty impressive.

On the other hand, I did have a friend that got hazed by her soccer teammates because they thought she was a lesbian. That's the only close incidence of bullying I knew of in high school, though.