Profile for Yeshua - Stereotypes

Yeshua aka Joshua Jardim is a 24.11 year old boy, has been a member since November 13, 2006, has scored 532 submissions, giving an average score of 2.53, helping 20 designs get printed.

URL: http://yeshuatheanswer.deviantart.com/

Feb 20 '07 by Yeshua
127 Comments
Watch this
Share:

Stereotypes

Once again I found myself in a situation where I was judged on my appearance. Personally I don't think that there is anything wrong with the way I look, but it just so happens that dreadlocks are associated with "bad people."

Here's what happened...

I had to apply for my passport today because I am going to Honduras next month and I already bought my plane ticket. So I went to CVS to get my pictures done, and when they were about to be taken, the lady said, "can you take that ridiculous hat off," with a very nasty attitude. So I did. And to her shock, it was not one of those hats with the fake dreads attached. She saw my real dreads and didn't say one word to me after that. So I figured the only reason she was so bitter towards me was because of the way I choose to wear my hair.
I then took a trip to the Post Office where I had to drop off my passport application. The man at the counter was very friendly to the two young ladies who were in line before me. He continued to have a nice long conversation about how he had just gotten back from his vacation and that the two ladies would love it so much, because they were going to the same place he had just come back from. Then it was my turn. I gave him my application, my license, birth certificate, etc., and was very polite to him. The reaction I got, however, was far from the courtesy I had shown him. Throughout the process, he continued to snarl at me, stare at me, and show me that he was only interested in getting me out of his way, and that he didn't want to be bothered with someone like me.
The next place I went was Hannaford Supermarkets to pick up an application for both me and my brother. I went to the customer service desk and had to wait at leat 10 minutes for the lady to get off the phone with her boyfriend/lover just so I could ask for the applications. Once she got them for me, instead of handing them to me, she threw them at me! I couldn't believe how rude she was.

So...after all this, in just a matter of an hour or so, I realized just how often people choose to judge others based on the way that they look. But I find that those who dress "properly" or are clean cut are many times just faking it to please others. I am not out to please anyone. I am not out to offend anyone either. But I am also not the way I am just so people can glorify themselves and make themselves feel more important than anyone and everyone else.

I am who I am, not who you want me to be.

Page:

1 2 3

shirtflirt on Feb 20 '07 at 10:35am

two questions

what ethnicity were most of the people who chastized you?

and

where do you live?

Yeshua on Feb 20 '07 at 10:37am

Everyone was white, as I also am.

and I live in Massachusetts.

squeegebeckenheim on Feb 20 '07 at 10:41am

that really sucks.

shirtflirt on Feb 20 '07 at 10:41am

yeah, figured the white folks would be like that.

we whitey's fear anything that isn't clear cut and straight edged looking.

i thought though, that mass would be alittle more ambivalent towards peoples hair.

wifey and i moved to california 7 years ago and it's refreshing bc people here are so random and different that it all just flows together for the most part.

SemantiTheft on Feb 20 '07 at 10:42am

That's almost hard to believe. I never had a problem when I had my dreads, and they were bright red. Though I did get stopped and search coming through customs with an earlier bright red 'do. That guy was a complete asshole until he didn't find anything... then it was "okay, Emily, have a nice rest of your trip!" Jerk.

SemantiTheft on Feb 20 '07 at 10:43am

... of course, no one pays any attention to me at security checkpoints since 9/11. Sad but true!

mezo on Feb 20 '07 at 10:46am

Maybe you should whip around your head and dread-bitch slap people the next time they are rude to you. The world is a cruel place, don't let people walk all ovr you.

MooseDinner on Feb 20 '07 at 10:47am

You can't really tell if that's the reason you were treated like that. The first man was nice to those women because they shared a common experience. Maybe he treated nearly everybody else exactly as he treated you.

Maybe they were having bad days?

shirtflirt on Feb 20 '07 at 10:49am

moose, i'm all for giving idiots the benefit of the doubt; but i'll take dudes' word for it here. i've lived places where different = bad. those folks are scary, those who are persuaded by a pink shirt or a hair do into believing the person they're looking at is "bad"

shirtflirt on Feb 20 '07 at 10:49am

plus, he's WHITE.

Yeshua on Feb 20 '07 at 12:01pm

in response to moose, I am almost positive that it was because of my dreads. and the reason the man was so friendly was not only because they shared a common experience, but also because they were good looking women and he was flirting with them. but thanks for the insight :)

and to everyone else, thanks for hearing me out. it's not always easy to turn the other cheek when other people are like that...

mezo on Feb 20 '07 at 12:05pm

You can turn the other cheeck as you punch then with a dread!

PuterBoy on Feb 20 '07 at 12:05pm

YO SUN ITZ HARD OUT HERE FO A WITE GUI WIF DREEDLOKS!!

Yeshua on Feb 20 '07 at 12:07pm

My dreads aren't quite long enough to whip people in the face with...I've only had them for 7 months...but hopefully someday they will be like Brian Fair's dreads (the guy from Shadows Fall) and I can kill Chuck Norris with them.

Tazocat on Feb 20 '07 at 12:18pm

it's sad to say that this type of pre-judging goes on all the time, no matter what your race or age. I am a PWS ( person who stutters) and its still shocking to me how people assume I am less intelligent because I block on certain sounds. I have faced all kinds of rudeness and discrimination and, after all these years, it still stings. I lost my job 4 monthes ago and my job search has been a nightmare. Even though my stutter is mild, it still costs me jobs.

I used to let how others treated me affect my self esteem. It took me most of my adult life to be able to call people on it when they are rude or jerks, but now I don't let their rudeness stand. I now , gently but firmly point out their ignorance and rudeness, remind them they are in a service oriented business and if they insist on being less than kind to me, I will not hesitate to speak to their manager. It works every time. It has even cost 2 people their jobs.

I am who I am-always was,always will be. Be proud of who you are and how you look. You deserve better-you are the only one that can educate people that being judgemental only reflects on their OWN character. Then, go see the manager!

sorry this is so long

mezo on Feb 20 '07 at 12:24pm

Brian Fair's hair smells like onions. I know this for a fact as he whipped my face with them at a show one.

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 20 '07 at 12:54pm

i noted a few things in the responses on this board.

emily had bright red dreads, she wasn't treated the way you were...factors probably are that she's a female. more often than not, ladies are treated with preference in superficial situations. (please don't argue against this...it's true, this ain't the 50's but you're a girl! world)

and the dreds are a temporary thing, they are a choice. it's a hair STYLE, not something anyone is born with.

wacky hair styles are made for the same reasons that tattoos are, they are made so people will look at you, give you attention etc, it's the very nature of both...MAYBE SOMEWHERE a blind person has dread and tattoos and has never ever seen either (that's just odd, but it's bound to [have] happen[ed], it's a large world) so it wouldn't work that way with him/her.

but with you and me, things like hair, clothes, makeup, tattoos...they are all MESSAGE oriented. I wear adidas and dress like Rick Ruben circa Krush Groove because i want you and everyone else to see how rad i look dressed that way. i want people to see in my dress that i don't need to be gussied up to look presentable, that metrosexual to goth to metal to fatpants-hiphop to queercore etc styles are all really superfluous. that my chosen style is THE style for me (and probably anyone else, if they were to try it).

that's just the message.

you have a message with your hair, and maybe it's misconstrued by their ignorance. probably is, but if your message is "EFF YOU I'LL DO WHAT I WANT! MOFOS!" then you are getting a valid response you what you may be saying via your style.

dreds are dirty too. as in DIRTY HAIR. so that might be why people get grumpy with you. dirty hair = lazy person = bad...even if you aren't lazy (assuming you aren't)

kill whitey.

Yeshua on Feb 20 '07 at 1:27pm

wow. you guys have some great responses. thanks!

to comment on roboticoctopus...

I completely agree with the fact that people have certain hair styles, tattoos, piercings etc. to get the attention of others. However for me that is not the case. I got dreadlocks not because I wanted to be noticed, but rather because I just wanted dreads. It's simple. I really don't care too much if other people don't like my hair or my clothes, unless they choose to tell me about it, then I have a problem.

I have to disagree with you on the part you wrote about dreadlocks being dirty. I know that most people think that you get dreads because you dont wash your hair and are just a filthy person in general. I actually wash my dreads several times a week, and they take a lot of work, so that kinda proves your "lazy" theory wrong.

Other than that I think we're on the same page...

...oh, and also, I am definitely not the kind of person who does something just to be rebellious and do what I want. If I was, I would have both arms and chest and back covered in tattoos. But I live with my parents and they have rules and I choose to follow them...

Anyway, I think the theme of all these comments and feedback is that "We are who we are" and we would like it to be that way without being ridiculed and told that we can't do what we want for this reason and that. So keep up your responses and maybe we could come up with a way to end the discriminatory behavior around us.

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 20 '07 at 1:34pm

i have known dread people and the white guy needed to dirty up his hair (add wax or something) to get it to start out...to the naked eye it looks dirty is all...it's not my opinion, it's theirs their theory. that's the mentality, just like hispanics must be lazy because they have "dirty" skin tone (people really think this way, it's retarded).

Tazocat on Feb 20 '07 at 2:28pm

r. octopus, I have to diagree with you a bit. I don't see dreads,tatoos, etc, as a "look at me" thing. I see it as artistic expression, a reflection of a persons individual taste. And everyone has the right to their own individual look. The sweetest, kindest person I ever met was a woman in her late 20's who was tatooed to the hilt, with piercings everywhere and a goth hairstyle. I am way older than she is and I adore her. And she is a junior executive for a major mall store and travels first class when ever she flies. The kind of person she is inside is contrarey to how she looks and her kindness transends her "look". Her physical apperance is her artistic expression-thats how I see it.

Yes, I was born with my impediment rather than it being a reflection of my personality, but discrimination is discrimination. It stings just the same.

I am afraid the world will always have small minded, judgemental people who we are bound to encounter. It is up to us how we react to them. Yeshua, stand tall, enjoy your dreads and use those times of unfortunate encounters to educate ignorant and judgemental people that we are all more than the sum of our parts, that you are not worth less because of a personal style choice. You are worth knowing.

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 20 '07 at 2:35pm

expression is all about LOOK AT ME..it's the very nature of anything that has to do with expression. and in no way am i saying peopel don't have any right to do any of this...but the nature of it is to be seen/heared via whatever meduim of expression they choose. there's no possible way to disagree with this. if you have sight, you see tattoos, art, words and if you hear you hear music, words, talking combine that and you see and hear film etc...any form of expression is pointless if it is not to be taken in by another human.

Yeshua on Feb 20 '07 at 9:13pm

I can see both sides of the argument, and I can't that that I agree or disagree with either. But opinions are opinions and that doesnt make me right all the time just because I feel that I know what I'm talking about. So I guess I'll take everything everyone has said and kinda mesh it together and try to listen better. Thanks again!

whoohooangela on Feb 21 '07 at 4:08pm

i like dreads.. :]

and lots' of people tend to stereotype, sooner or later

i got used to it.

so i'm guessing it's later..

Yeshua on Feb 22 '07 at 10:08am

yea same here...

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 10:17am

wacky hair styles are made for the same reasons that tattoos are, they are made so people will look at you, give you attention etc

probably the dumbest thing i've read in awhile. thanks robot puss.

dreads have been around longer than the idea of "being cool". you should do some research. and tattoos go back even further.

another gleaming example of 'educated' people here.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 10:17am

ahhh, of course, he's a myspace person.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 10:35am

if you're trying to 'express yourself' to get attention, you're empty and have nothing to say.

if you create a dreadlock style for yourself because it's your way, then that's it.

if you're getting tattooes because noone looks at you, they'll look at you in a way that you didn't want.

echo.ohce

Yeshua on Feb 22 '07 at 11:06am

so you get what i was trying to say...i really didnt get dreads so that people will look at me...i got dreads because i like dreads...thats it...and if i get tattoos, it will be for the same reason...nothing more...

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 11:08am

of course i do.

robot is the typical mindset, caught up in this invisible competition to be cooler than someone else.

grypesagon on Feb 22 '07 at 11:27am

... actually no...

How you style yourself, via controllable aspects like clothes and hair styles is mainly to present yourself in a certain way. This is a sociological method of defining yourself into a category so as to attract like types and to dissuade those of not similar types to approaching.

It's a social statement of what "type" of person you are trying to be and, ideally, connect with.

People of similar taste typically form a style to visually associate those tastes so as to more easily recognize like minded people for grouping and dating.

How you present yourself is how you choose to be seen. If you're taking on a visage that you know has a certain connotation to it, then be ready to meet someone who counter minds you.

grypesagon on Feb 22 '07 at 11:28am

and for the record....

"one of the dirtiest secrets about detective work is that profiling works"

Cactus Pirate Jr. on Feb 22 '07 at 11:31am

Fight the power!

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 11:39am

gryp is just another voice from the machine.

grypesagon on Feb 22 '07 at 11:55am

not even. you said it yourself.

"dreads have been around longer than the idea of "being cool". you should do some research. and tattoos go back even further."

those things have been around forever. and even in history the purpose of tattoos, clothing and hair styles was to denote clans, ranks, trades, etc. it was so you would be easily identifiable by your own people. That was the point then and is still the point now.

deboraborialis on Feb 22 '07 at 12:05pm

It's dissapointing when people judge you by how you look, but middle class, middle aged, middle america is like that.

You just have to be super nice back them, and show them up as the scum they are.

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 22 '07 at 12:05pm

gryp is pretty much saying what i said. it all has to do with sight, perception, how you want to be seen...if it works then good. often times it doesn't and we get bummed. (sometimes peopel simply haven't figured out they even have a choice about how they dress etc and end up being slammed for dressing nerdy by people who dress hip and so on...)

point is, i am not wrong. nothing i have said is disagreeable..in the context of the conversation, i stuck to the facts. discriminating someone based on how they chose to be SUPERFICIALLY is retarded.

shirtflirt, stop being a jerkface.

Yeshua on Feb 22 '07 at 12:12pm

ok now...my point was not to start a war of words between us...all ideas that have been presented are great, and not one of them is 100% right or wrong...but I must go back to my original goal of trying to stop stereotyping others...because I know I still do in many ways...but if I want to be respected for the way I choose to present myself, I must give others the same respect in all situations...

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:14pm

gryp, the major difference is that others granted those with tattooes their rank. today, people have a plethora of reasons to change or alter their physical appearance. to narrow it down to some "look at me" contest is just strange.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:16pm

expression is all about LOOK AT ME..it's the very nature of anything that has to do with expression. and in no way am i saying peopel don't have any right to do any of this...but the nature of it is to be seen/heared via whatever meduim of expression they choose. there's no possible way to disagree with thisthere's no possible way to disagree with this

not even close, brother.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:18pm

unfortunatley, stereotypes help people without brains and seeing as many people alive today would rather leech onto preconceived notions rather than take people on an individual basis.

we can hope though.

Yeshua on Feb 22 '07 at 12:19pm

remember...we all have opinions...and we have to realize that no matter how right we think we are, it is still an OPINION.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:22pm

i only speak from the point of tao

deboraborialis on Feb 22 '07 at 12:24pm

I have to admit, I do think of some folk as sterotypes, but they a probably different to others. I would avoid "smartly" dressed guys, and head straight for the t-shirted casual bunch. Where I come from the smarter dressed guys tend to be hard drinking hard fighting neds. I'm sure a lot of them are not, but from my experience they have been.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:25pm

^haha^

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 22 '07 at 12:27pm

so, what's the point of expression? to be heard? seen? appreciated? hated (sometimes)? what? none of the above? an expression doesn't live if it doesn't have an audience. (the preson expressing is not the audience).

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:29pm

it ends where it starts, if it's true expression.

if you're seeking acceptance or denial, you won't find it. and this seems to be the crux of you expression speech. and with this logic, the tree that isn't heard has never fallen.

deboraborialis on Feb 22 '07 at 12:31pm

It makes you feel good about yourself to be true to yourself.

shirtflirt on Feb 22 '07 at 12:32pm

word, debora, exactly.

r.o.b.o.t.i.c.octopus on Feb 22 '07 at 12:37pm

evian drinkers.

deboraborialis on Feb 22 '07 at 12:38pm

Never! I drink only Scottish bottled water.

Page:

1 2 3

(127 comments!)

You must be logged in to leave a comment.

My gallery photos

I haven't submitted any photos. I guess I don't want free money.

All about me

Everything You Love Will Soon Fly Away

Everything you love will fly away
On the wings of an unknown destiny
Behind the sun and disappearing sky
Everyone you love will pass away
Some before, some after, some together
Somewhere along the way
Everything you are will be forgot
Your memory dies with those who knew you
History itself grows old and falls apart
Everything you've gathered will be lost
Ripped from your hands by fate's Desire
Or the entropic breath of time
Everything we are, we are when we're alone
Chaos and order stand side by side
One day sitting on the top of the world
The next day dying on the side of the road

Login to Threadless!

My gallery photos

All about me