When there is a rumor about someone that is really weird I try to make that person bring it up if its about a problem or just something weird and secretive about them just to fuck with them because it amuses me to tap into peoples disturbed side. Damn I’m sick. But the thing is I can do this without anyone else noticing what I’m doing except the person who gave me the info.

What Happend Eyal a lot of smack talkin going on in the tour?

I have a feeling that this post is going to bring out a lot of wierd as comments from some creepy metal heads who struggle with their social lives. hahh, thanks for the entertaining comment browsing Eyal.

and with the advent of the internet this phenomenon is only getting bigger, easier and at times more fun.

you’re right though eyal, best thing to do is try to be as objective as you can and forge your own opinions… although it’s tough not to listen to those voices in the back of your head saying “so and so’s a dick” when you finally meet that person…

what it comes down to on the other side of that is, it’s not your problem if someone doesn’t like you, that’s on them. (does 90′s black lady snapping in a “Z”)

Hmmmmm. I don’t concern myself so much with preconceived notions. I can think the biggest example of that was when I moved near NYC from far Upstate NY and I would say the most likely preconceived notion of me was that I was that I was a hick. This was far from the truth and it’s interesting to me that the NYC area has such a wealth of culture and is a self contained world unto itself, but it blew my mind how clueless people here can be about the conditions in the rest of the state. Really to some people here anything past Rockland County is the great black expanse of mystery inhabited by insane mountain people. The truth was Albany is just as nice as a lot of places down here.

Preconceived notions to me are a little annoying even if they are positive. The only thing to do with them though besides disregarding them, are proving people right or wrong.

i am a cave dweller! wooooo it happens..

The majority of preconceived notions I’ve had to confront throughout my life have largely been dependent on the circles I was moving in at the time – which is more the case than ever these days, I’m afraid. Many aspects of my life end up having to be compartmentalized, since my various interests and rolls tend to go together about as well as oil and water. And rather than focusing solely on the preconceived notions I’ve had to confront that people of had of ME in particular, I’d prefer to talk a little about the stereotypes I’ve had to deal with as well.

My family moved around every few years when I was a kid, so when we moved to the “North” (funny Virginians and their revisionist history) for my dad’s job I was treated differently because I spoke with a southern accent. It’s been great practice for a lifetime’s worth of prejudice, as many people hear a southern accent and assume ignorance, provincialism, and prejudice to start. Even today, I have to deal with people’s preconceived notions of who southerners are supposed to be, often informed by stereotypes perpetrated by the media and popular culture. (I don’t normally advocate violence, but I could KILL James Dickey for writing *Deliverance* and John Boorman for making it into a movie.) And then I faced much the same when I moved back down South, only this time the kids I went to school with had all known each other their whole lives, had never been anywhere or done anything outside the South, so I was perceived as “Other” and therefore dangerous, particularly by their parents who were afraid “the Yankee kid” would be a bad influence on their precious, innocent babies. (Of course, I WAS a bad influence, but that’s beside the point.)

I’ve dealt with people’s preconceived notions of who female soldiers are or should be (I answer to neither “bitch” nor “slut,” thank you very much, and everybody who ever told me I was too cute to wear the uniform was unintentionally insulting me AND all of my sisters in uniform), of what the interests of a professional working for a Fortune 500 company should or should not be (see following), whether or not I fit the stereotype for skating roller derby (see preceding), AND I apparently bust nearly all stereotypes of a woman obsessed with metal music (too overwhelming to decide where to start with that one, but then you guys probably know them all better than I do so I figure I don’t have to explain myself, anyway).

And so on.

Having been compared my whole life to a porcelain doll, I can tell you that perception carries its advantages and disadvantages. Life experience has taught me to give people a fair chance, regardless of whether or not those same people extend the same courtesy to me, and doing so has opened me up to meeting some really amazing people in some really unexpected places. But by the same token, it has also opened me up to some situations whereby I might not have been hurt as bad as I was, had I paid a little more mind to people’s warnings. It’s been a mixed bag, for sure.