Do Other People Usually Perceive You to be in the Majority or the Minority?

[Reptillian]

It depends upon what the majority/minority criteria are and where I am in the country. Perception isn't absolute.

 

[Huey09]

Well I'm a 19 year old black guy who doesn't smoke, drink(even if I could lol), go to the club or listen to mainstream rap music. I also love to read and although I'm under the bible belt I'm not a Christian so... I guess to a lot of people hear I'm not only a minority in every sense of the word but I've also been called weirdo.:sarcastic

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Weirdos unite!

 

[Badran]

In terms of appearance, the way i look can not be considered in any sense a minority here. I'm also often perceived as a Muslim activist or as a really pious Muslim, on account of my beard which i often don't shave.

In terms of personality, i'm often perceived either as a minority, or, as is the case with Luis, perceived as weird.

 

[Me Myself]

People percieve me as weird.

Only of that I am sure.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Definately majority.
I'm a white middle-aged (almost!) male, with a wife and 2 kids who lives in the 'burbs, runs a small business, likes a drink, loves sport (playing and watching), etc.

People who know me well know that I'm not quite typical. I'm an atheist in a country where the normal views on religion are somewhere between 'I'm Catholic, but I don't go to Church' through to 'Who gives a ****'.

I don't do drugs, although I have no moral issue with it.

I'm a major history buff (which no-one would pick on meeting me...lol), and can happily discuss Classical Rome, or the French Revolution, or the history of the IRA in the ad breaks of the footy. IN fact, if I had a beer in my hand, that sounds like a damn good day.

Oh, and I'm not gay, and might somewhat seem like someone who would have an issue with gays. Blue collar upbringing still probably evident in my language and manner, plus I'm the beer-drinking, sports-loving Aussie male, and generally wander around with a shaved head. So people get surprised when I make statements like 'I'll vote for whichever party decides to show leadership and legalise gay marriage'.

 

[Breathe]

.....yeah I don't brush it so I have dreads
Lol!

Ah, somehow I thought that was what you meant, but wanted to make sure. The old "dreads = Rasta" view.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Ah, somehow I thought that was what you meant, but wanted to make sure. The old "dreads = Rasta" view.

I don't even know if they think I'm Rasta, I think it's more that they think I'm a new age hippie/raver thingie.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

For the most part, I'm perceived as part of the majority. White middle class mom with kids in a racially diverse neighborhood.

Every now and then in the summertime, if I spend enough time outdoors, I get super dark and I've been perceived as an ethnic minority. We have a growing Hispanic population here, and I can cite at least a dozen times people of all races swearing up and down that I am ethnically Hispanic. They've said that I need to double check my heritage a few times (which prompted me to ask my mom again if there were any Hispanic men in her past she never told me about ).

It's understandable. Pictures of my dad when he was younger, having jet black hair that he'd wear long, being dark-skinned showed our indigenous roots. Nobody believed he was ethnically white, but dark-skinned Cherokee.

 

[Caladan]

This is similar to another thread, but the difference between that thread and this one is that one asks how you perceive yourself, while this one asks how you are perceived by others.

I'll have to quote Pratchett's 'Small Gods' on that: "You're not one of us." "I don't think I'm one of them, either," said Brutha. "I'm one of mine."

So, to the best of your knowledge, do you think other people most often perceive you to be a member of a minority in your country, or a member of the majority in your country?

That's a very complicated question. I'm multicultural with North African and European descent, I'm also Jewish (secular). As an Israeli Jew I'm considered part of the general majority, but there are also plenty of historical differences in class and establishment treatment between Jewish groups. It took decades for the Jewish Middle Eastern refugees/semi-refugees/immigrants who arrived to a Jewish European establishment to climatize and to break traditional discrimination. While things are better in an unparalleled way today, a few decades ago things were different. Today there is a younger generation, often European-Mid Eastern mixed, which is more accepting, very mixed, and often shares in the same mentality.
Also, while we still need to work on separation of religion and state in several issues by breaking the orthodox monopoly, it's largely easy being secular in Israel in everyday life considering the heavily religiously authoritarian region we are living in.

Modern Israel has a large secular population, a vibrating fusion of European and Mid Easten/Mediterranean culture, and while academic staff members still tend to be white males, academic education is now more common in all demographics. Still plenty of challenges, some of which are very particular to our nation.

 

[Alceste]

I look like a hippy in a land of hippies.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I'm guessing usually the majoirty because people always see people they don't know and think "they are passbyers"

My friends always classify me as seeming gothic, which I really can't see how I perceive gothic.

But yeah, mostly majority.

 

[ChristineES]

I don't belong anywhere. Actually, although I am 1/2 Navajo, I know nothing about the Dine people because I wasn't raised by my father at all. My mother is Jewish (German Jew and Russian Jew) and Italian.
People often think I am Latino (Mexican) so maybe they see me as a minority. I never saw myself as a minority or a majority. I just see me as me.

 

[Sea Monkey]

Minority. I am a weird bloke! It's almost as complicated as my love life!

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm considered to be in a majority...until they talk to me.
Then I become a minority.

Consider my minority cred for an Ameristanian citizen:
- Atheist
- Card carrying Libertarian
- Business owner
- I like to make things instead of buying them.
- I can't remember the last time I voted for a politician who actually won the election.
- Drive a stick shift.
- Draft evader.
Being a straight (albeit inadequate) male is my big connection to majority status.

Of course, in government interactions I qualify for none of the perquisites of being a favored minority.

 

[Aquitaine]

Hmm, I'm unsure but leaning more towards Majority.

I'm a White Hetero Male, so in that respect I'm probably seen as in the Majority.

However, I don't really engage much in Modern British "culture": very - very - rarely drink, don't smoke or take any of the other "Drug" drugs, despise Nightclub culture that seems to have plagued this country. I'm not religious even though I'm apparently in a "Christian" country. Don't vote. Don't support the Monarchy. Forgotten the lyrics to the National Anthem. Don't like Gangnam Style. Don't care about Kate Middleton and/or her sister.


But....... I love Tea, and my teeth are probably a little on the yellow side, so yeah I could be in the Majority there!

 

[Breathe]

[...]

Anti-monarchist high five! :highfive:

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Yes! Yes! To being British and loving tea.
Please tell me we all love scones too?

 

[Aquitaine]

Yes! Yes! To being British and loving tea.
Please tell me we all love scones too?

Meh, they're okay. But I tend to stray from eating Scones with others, since it usually ends up igniting the British Scone Pronunciation War. :cover:

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

Meh, they're okay. But I tend to stray from eating Scones with others, since it usually ends up igniting the British Scone Pronunciation War. :cover:

But have you tried them with clotted cream and jam? It's amazing.
I switch between sco-own and sc-on XD