Discrimination
 

So it seems lately there's been many discussions about the subject of discrimination on the internet and the media, so I was wondering: have you ever suffered discrimination in your life? And by this I mean the sort of discrimination that hits you the hardest. Not getting made fun for liking wrestling(me in 10th grade) or the Ninja Turtles more than it's socially acceptable to do so.

As far as I know, I have never been a victim of racism or xenophobia in my entire life to this day. And I don't count some idiot or troll on the internet yelling insults at me after I beat him on an online game or after I disagreed with him in an online discussion and he had no arguments left except insulting me. I'm talking about real life here. Sure, I've had people of all backgrounds being rude dicks to me, but afaik, racism or xenophobia weren't behind it at all. I always assume that when someone is a dick to me it's because they just personally don't like me or find my appearance odd(for years I've had long hair and a bit unkempt facial hair. heavy metal \m/).

Perhaps I am lucky. What about you? Got any stories to tell?

Not really. I'm white and I don't talk about my religion so nobody cares.

I'm an Atheist. According to the latest census, about 81% of people in my country still identify as "Catholic", although half of them only claim to be so and knoe nothing about the religion or think about ti much.

I've always been an Atheist and remember other kids in school looking at me funny "you don't believe in God, really?" but I don't consider that discrimination, tbh. It didn't affect me much, let's say.

White atheist who keeps said lack of god beleifs to herself, so not really.

I've wondered if maybe there was some in that regard from a former employer of a short lived job, but not sure. (But they were sucky people and I suspect they had a habit of ditching people after only a short time anyhow.)

I probably get, or at least witness, more prejudice by simply working retail and seeing/dealing with customers who think it's their right to treat retail workers as inferior human beings.

Heh, try telling them in this country. Esp in one of those 'red states.'

That said though, Catholics are probably the ones I would (and on rare occasion have) feel most able to be open about it, since they are, at least around here, the more liberal and tolerant among the various forms of Christians. Far more likely to shrug it off and agree to disagree and not bother with any threats of hellfire or acting as if you are diseased.

We have some very religious people in this country but people aren't that much in your face about it. I think the more religious areas are in rural areas up in the northern regions, which I've never been to, though. But we don't have anything called "bible belt" here.

The only possible personal discrimination I can think of is when I was a kid and I wanted to go on this school trip to Greece. I got my application in on time and as I was studying Classics I got first priority but I was worried because I was on the autistic spectrum they wouldn't let me go. However my dad said that legally they'd have to make adjustments and the school assured me it wouldn't count against me.

Anyway, I didn't get to go and I just assumed it was because there was a limited number of places. Then later on I found out that my friend who studied Latin got to go and I didn't.

I could be jumping to conclusions but it does feel like possible discrimination.

I was frequently called 'Bible basher' in school because I was a Christian and my dad was a vicar (for the record, I don't go around trying to convert people or anything like that, I just mention it if it comes up in conversation). Also when I told my uncle my boyfriend was going to be a vicar too, I joked I was surrounded by vicars and he replied that it's not good for me. What???
Although while that's certainly prejudice, I wasn't really discriminated from anything due to my religion.

None that I can think of, even being Hispanic. But I grew up in the hood, also, where white people are the minority.

Nah. White dude here.

I'm fat, so it's a big, fat YES.

So is the hood discriminatory against white people? For example if I showed up and started walking down the hood, would I get ganged up on?

Sexual harassment, mostly.

At work place? have you been able to sue them for that? They say it's easy to sue people in the US of A.

Nah, not really. You just have to mind your own business. Unless you really stood out and looked like you didn't belong, but that's true for anyone.

I once went into a more "hoodish" area. Not everyone in such places is a dangerous person. I guess it depends since some "hoods" are worse than others. Also you gotta make sure you don't look lost or intimidated, in order to avoid the locals knowing right off the bat "this guy ain't from here".

There's way worse places out there and I'd NEVER venture into those.

It's easy for people with money to sue here.
And yeah, while at work. Really kind of sucks, because unlike the sexual harassment I've gotten say...on the floor of a Con dealer room, I wasn't really able to defend myself.

Thankfully I've had no interaction with that co-worker again.

I've been pressured into working overtime and not taking holidays because I'm single with no kids. I also think that the fact that I'm a non-drinker has hurt my career progression.

I've been sexually harassed before, in situations that I couldn't easily get out of, but it wasn't due to discrimination.

Office jobs rely a lot on politics, socialising with co-workers and asskissing. Well I'm terrible and all of these things. I just don't like co-workers enough to hang out with them outside of work. I mean you see those people 5 days already. You eventually get tired of them.

I'm hispanic, not in shape, and incredibly socially awkward IRL, and suprisingly haven't had any discriminatory problems. Guess blending in/not being noticed has it's ups after all. :ohwell:

Nothing is fully coming to mind except for maybe two instances. My friend's friend and a work situation. The former is pretty silly and this may not fully count, the latter definitely could. The former I also don't take seriously.

Now, I have a friend (white). At the time he was sharing a home with two others. My other friend (Central American/Latino) and I used to call them Bob Sagat and Uncle Joey. I can't remember why now. Anyway, Bob Sagat was a bit on the racist side, or more so ignorant. I apparently wasn't bad for a "colored girl", meaning I wasn't ghetto and didn't speak in Ebonics. My friend would always apologize for the things he would say about blacks and latinos, which was tame compared to how he was when we weren't around him, but I was apparently an exception. He was actually concerned when the tsunami and earthquake hit here six years ago since I lived near that area. "Is your nice colored friend alright? I hope she's safe," was apparently said by him. So yeah, maybe ignorance, but karma is kind of sucky for some. He's gay, btw. His boyfriend left him for a black guy. Bob is now a churchgoer, says he's no longer racist, etc. Still funny. So yeah, this is more so indirect.

Back in 2007, I'd lost my job of two years (bad housing market was the main cause) so that meant job hunting again and schooling online. I was registered with a job agency and the job I was sent out on was a temp to hire position. One of the jobs was an office job. I went, had my laptop so that I could do homework, type papers, stuff like that. No internet access though. The workplace was 99% white. I was the 1%, meaning I was the only person of color there...literally. When I walked in to meet the manager (or the supervisor, I forget), her smile faded when realizing that I was the one she was meeting. She also looked puzzled as she reconfirmed my name twice.

Anyway, after three days, I was fired. Reason? For goofing off online/using the internet for inappropriate things. I didn't have my own cubicle nor did I have a work computer, and my laptop didn't have net access. Bottom line, they lied. I saw other employees playing Yahoo games and one I recall looking at WWE's site, and the supervisor was with me during that and those employees had worked there a few years.

Virginia is a right to work state. You can be fired for almost any reason, including no reason. So yeah, I chalked it up to them being prejudiced against non-whites and the reason I was even given a chance was probably because of my name sounding stereotypically white. Sounds straight up European, my full name.

Yet, despite the fact that I've been overweight the majority of my life, I've never been discriminated against for it.

Every time I have a random hookup, I need to take a moment to explain briefly explain the Hatchet-Man tattoo on my arm as a unwise decision of my youth before we move any further :roll:

Otherwise? Nah.