First, I haven’t said anything about all overweight people, as you imply.
Second, I assume that grossly overweight people are willing to ignore small problems and let them become big problems. I also assume there’s some laziness involved.
My apologies, you did say “grossly overweight”. Thanks for the response.
Everybody judges people by their looks until they start interacting with them and their behavior and personality enter into the equation.
You gotta start somewhere.
Of course, judging by appearance doesn’t always mean judging ugly people poorly.
I would have to admit that I tend to think that good-looking people are more likely to have benefited from special treatment from others and generally haven’t worked as hard in life to get what they have. So, if anything, I think my own personal bias would be that I’d take an average or plain-looking person more seriously and expect them to be smarter, more hard working, etc. than someone who looked like a model (of either sex).
My instincts make me do it, but I always try to correct myself and give people the benefit of the doubt.
I do it, and I am usually 90 percent correct. People usually choose to advertise themselves by visual aids, IME.
Yeah I definitely do. At my work I deal with the bottom of the barrel in society, and it shows.
For example, if someone is incredibly fat or filthy/stinky there’s one of two things going on. One, they’re mentally ill, or two, they just. don’t. care.
Don’t give me society’s percetion of the human body and all that shit. When you’re tooling around in a wheelchair the side of a lay-Z-boy, weigh so much the bus leans to one side when you roll on and almost get stuck in the doorway because the combined width of your chair, body, and hams-for-upper arms are too wide, something is wrong.
They let their body go to shit. And I’m the one who has to deal with it. I do like my job in spite of it, but I don’t give myself any illusions about any lameass excuses on why they are so smelly/gross/enormous. They did it to themselves and you can see it on every skin ulcer and stretch mark. :o
New york times has answered this question .
See, the Susan Boyle thing in particular I don’t really get, just because it would never occur to me to judge someone’s musical talent on how she looks. I didn’t really get the big deal when she opened her mouth and sang beautifully, because, okay, that happens several times on American Idol every season.
But I absolutely judge people on appearance in regard to other things, and I think it’s not only normal but justified and smart. I think less of somebody who can’t be bothered to put a little time and effort into his/her appearance, for instance, in regard to clothing, hygiene, etc… I agree with Rand Rover in regard to gross obesity.
Although again, in the Susan Boyle case, she did get dolled up for her TV appearance. She’s not Victoria Beckham, of course, but she did wear a nice dress and had her hair done. Had she taken the stage in sweat pants and Crocs, then I’d have thought less of her for that.
I work the night shift in a service industry. When a guy in his late teens or early 20s walks in, wearing gang colors, I try to judge whether or not he has any weapons under the baggy t-shirt.
Yes, but a large part of that decision in sizing them up comes not so much from their body/clothes (though I notice those too), but from studying their eyes and posture, or as a poster noted above, how they “carry themselves”.
Ditto. I did judge her by her looks, but my judgment had nothing to do with my expectation of her singing ability. Her performance was moving though, mainly (for me) because like the character in the song, I gather Ms. Boyle dreams of a life far more fulfilling than the one she lives. Also, the rousing support she got from the audience gave her the legitimacy of her dreams.
As lavenderviolet notes, not all prejudging is bad- I’ve probably overestimated people just as much as I’ve underestimated them.