my waking thought

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Originally Posted by mommanessy247

anyways, i'm hoping i dont start a vicious debate or something but i'm annoyed by the idea that reptile owners are stereotyped in such a negative light.

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I find it to be a few things, more recently the media doesn't help at all, and also I notice it seems to be a generational thing, older folks are less accepting of reptiles because that what they were taught as kids and its you against their beliefs they've known forever.

Im lucky at get to work with people who are 20 years old - 60 years old all the time, so I get alot of perspective from alot of different people, btw im 22 years old myself. So when lunch time talk comes up and someone asks what do I do to keep busy, I tell em computers, cars, and I raise snakes. younger people normally go "hey cool, I had a friend that has a *insert said reptile here* or they might own 1 themselves.

older folks tho look at you and repeat things they see on tv, is it a python? they get big and it killed a girl in Florida, are the poisonous? why do you keep them? ect..... of course its not true for everyone, but its a trend. then I have to play educational man and answer all the standard questions and my normal speech I give. after all that it seems to change peoples mind about it.

heck one guy even had to drop of something over my house and brought his little 6 year old daughter with him so she could come see the snakes. and he was one of those "you raise snakes...whats wrong with you?" guys at first lol.

so I think the stereotype can be broken, but also If you've gone to a reptile show, half the people I would say are "normal" looking people, the other half.... you know where the stereotype comes from. im not judging, just how it is.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

but also If you've gone to a reptile show, half the people I would say are "normal" looking people, the other half.... you know where the stereotype comes from. im not judging, just how it is.

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What you trying to say??:twisted::twisted::twisted::picknose:LOL

I am an almost-thirty professional office worker, who has tattoos, and wears black often. I pay taxes, am not addicted to any substances, and am happily married (same man since 2001; which is a whole lot longer than most marriages/relationships that I have seen!) I have strong family bonds, and I have many tattooed friends who some people would obviously consider "not normal" based on their duds. Their loss; my friends would give me the shirts off of their backs (and vice-versa; we help each other in everything from starting a busines, to traveling cross-country.)

I guess that, in seeing "tattooed" "not normal" buddies together.. non-tattooed people get jealous and call them out for not being normal? That's the way that it looks from inside.. My tattooed friends and I do not sit around disrespecting conservative dressers.. especially considering, so many "everyday" people ARE tattooed minimally (and this is great; they should rock on with their bad selves!)

I have never attended college, but I would battle wits with anyone who has a purchased degree, any day of the week. I am also against the murder of the English language. ;)

I would like to know how someone else sees it fit, to judge me, based on the fact that i am tattooed. Granted, I am a little irked when people just go over the top and dress in a fashion which is obviously not "them."

Hugs are sent out to anyone who's been discriminated against, for the mere crime of being themselves, and being comfortable in their own skins.

yeah i guess i was thinking of the stuff i see on tv all the time which is why i dont watch the news anymore. i get tired of people being put into "categories".
i had to "educate" one of my daughters girlfriends the 1st time she saw my snake (i showed it to them with their permission of course).
the friend started telling me about that one snake that got out of its cage and strangled the little girl (was that the florida incident?).
so i had to tell her
"ok #1 this snake is never gonna get THAT big.
#2 there was more to that situation then what people said about it, & #3 you can very clearly see that i'm keeping this snake under strict lock & key, its not getting OUT unless i unlock this cage & take it out myself & no one is getting IN unless they have MY keys which i keep with me or high up at all times."
needless to say, the friend had nothing else to comment on after that.
my daughter is kind of attracting a few of the curious neighborhood kids now that theres a real live snake at our house, lol.
i DID have to tell my daughter that she will not "parade" all the kids through the house to "show off" MY snake since taking my snake out for all those show & tells would only stress her out. :colbert:
anyways, back on topic here,
thx everyone for piping in with your input. it helps.

Ya know, the thing is, all this stereotyping, it has .... a solid foundation based on survival.

Things that look certain ways generally behave in certain ways. This is simply a fact. Another fact is the exception to every rule fact, but exceptions, by definition, are not common and for the purposes of this post, not included in general.

So. let's talk about cheese loving heavily tatted and pierced people, some of whom are found in pits. That very general description fits, generically, a lot of people who keep reptiles. Factor in that many who are so marked in order to stand out, do in fact compound the decor by .....strutting, cockofthewalking, uncovering, strategically covering,being their everyday selves, being their lookatmeI'malldecorated selves, what ever the method, they are seen and they encourage this seeing.

There is NOTHING wrong with this. However, since there are so many who so much want to be seen, they are seen by those who simply assume that it must be a common condition amounst those of us who keep our slithery pals. To the uninitiated, this is not unreasonable.

We stereotype or profile for really good reasons and they work. We go certain places because they 'look' safe. We allow certain people liberties that are denied to others, all of whom are strangers to us, based on looks and feelings and absolutely nothing concrete.

It's also reasonable to think that those who don't know you don't have to set off a metal detector or rival a modern day comic book to be allowed to keep snakes, since so many detectors are detecting and so many comics through up their hands in disgust, er jealousy.

Your feelings, OP, are reasonable. What you do with them, or allow them to do with you, your feelings, is another matter entirely.

wilomn - as with the others, you bring up good points. my negative feelings about stereotyping are more aimed at the unfairness of some of us being mixed in with the ones actually causing the problems.
not all of us reptile owners really care about "standing out" like some people do. and i think it's unfair that we're all "classified" a certain way when we're not all the same...i know some are unphased by this as a few have said so here and hey if thats the case then i'm glad for them cuz they dont worry about what other people think, thats good.
i should try that, lol. less stress, im sure.

I find it funny....if you never met me or you never knew of me.....you would have no clue I own snakes. Very conservative military family. Now that the cat is outta the bag (article in paper regarding a show I did) and ppl know its hilarious. Parents at the school are shocked...the kids however..think its the coolest thing ever. I think my doorbell rings on a constant basis with kids asking if they can help clean cages and play with the reptiles. :D I just take advantage of teaching ppl in regards to reptiles....or better yet...teaching their kids who in return teach them a thing or two. LOVE IT!!!

By the way...my 84 yr old mother lives with us. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the lizards...talks to them all the time and is convinced that they watch the price is right with her. She is always saying things to them like "grandma loves the lil baby"....lol. The snakes she will talk to and pet occasionally but will not hold them though. But give her a lizard even a big one and she will hold it all day long.

I need to make a poster of her with some of the big guys and send it to USARK...lol.

I love it. My husband is long-haired, tattooed. He has also given people the shirt off of his back (literally and figuratively.)

Years ago, we moved to a small New York farming down, because we were tired of getting our car stereos stolen in the city. People thought that we were bad news. I suppose that people would have thought the same, if some non-white people had moved into the all-white town.

Fast-forward a few years. We were best friends with the most prominent farming family in the area; to the point where we literally pet-sat for each other when the other was out of town. Our conservative neighbor (right-wing to the core; ex-military, God-fearing) became our best friend, as well. Why? Because we both looked past the stupid, myopic, hateful stereotypes which so many people wear over their eyes like rose-tinted glasses. Let's stay in our neighborhood, with people similar to us, and no one gets hurt.

I now live in the city. Most suburbanites will consider my neighborhood "the ghetto" and write us off with a dismissive wave of the hand when I say where I live. You know what? My husband lives a minute away from his own business; I live a minute away from my employer. They commute 45 minutes through congested streets, back and forth. I commuted for a few years, and will never sentence myself with that garbage again. And my neighbors are tight, and do not have congestive heart failure when you forget to pick up a leaf on your lawn. Touche.

I grew up in the city. All types of people crossed my paths. My dad's friends were all rocker types. Well.. when I was about ten, I was outside alone. A red Crown Victoria pulled up to me.. a superbly-dressed man with impeccably groomed hair, and cologne, asked me this.. "hey, pretty girl.. you should come and take a ride with me." I promptly had a heart-stopping moment of sheer terror, gasped, and hauled ass away into a neighbor's yard. (why lead him to my home by running to my own yard, was my logic.)

My lesson from this? As a twelve-year-old, I learned young.. be wary of everyone at first. That snazzy politician? He makes more than an average family makes in ten years, in one year. He will retire on a sailboat, while most people are lucky if their pension pans out. Go ahead.. judge people for their skin color, hair style, or tattoos.. you just keep at it, and I will keep at my philosophy; to each their own.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I love it. My husband is long-haired, tattooed. He has also given people the shirt off of his back (literally and figuratively.)

Years ago, we moved to a small New York farming down, because we were tired of getting our car stereos stolen in the city. People thought that we were bad news. I suppose that people would have thought the same, if some non-white people had moved into the all-white town.

Fast-forward a few years. We were best friends with the most prominent farming family in the area; to the point where we literally pet-sat for each other when the other was out of town. Our conservative neighbor (right-wing to the core; ex-military, God-fearing) became our best friend, as well. Why? Because we both looked past the stupid, myopic, hateful stereotypes which so many people wear over their eyes like rose-tinted glasses. Let's stay in our neighborhood, with people similar to us, and no one gets hurt.

I now live in the city. Most suburbanites will consider my neighborhood "the ghetto" and write us off with a dismissive wave of the hand when I say where I live. You know what? My husband lives a minute away from his own business; I live a minute away from my employer. They commute 45 minutes through congested streets, back and forth. I commuted for a few years, and will never sentence myself with that garbage again. And my neighbors are tight, and do not have congestive heart failure when you forget to pick up a leaf on your lawn. Touche.

I grew up in the city. All types of people crossed my paths. My dad's friends were all rocker types. Well.. when I was about ten, I was outside alone. A red Crown Victoria pulled up to me.. a superbly-dressed man with impeccably groomed hair, and cologne, asked me this.. "hey, pretty girl.. you should come and take a ride with me." I promptly had a heart-stopping moment of sheer terror, gasped, and hauled ass away into a neighbor's yard. (why lead him to my home by running to my own yard, was my logic.)

My lesson from this? As a twelve-year-old, I learned young.. be wary of everyone at first. That snazzy politician? He makes more than an average family makes in ten years, in one year. He will retire on a sailboat, while most people are lucky if their pension pans out. Go ahead.. judge people for their skin color, hair style, or tattoos.. you just keep at it, and I will keep at my philosophy; to each their own.

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There is something that I want to add. I do not have tattoos to get attention. Actually, mine are covered most of the time. I have them because I love art, and they mean something to me that is indescribably vital to who I am. I respect others' religious and spiritual beliefs, and I try not to judge them based on those.. all I wish for, is the same courtesy extended to me.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

There is something that I want to add. I do not have tattoos to get attention. Actually, mine are covered most of the time. I have them because I love art, and they mean something to me that is indescribably vital to who I am. I respect others' religious and spiritual beliefs, and I try not to judge them based on those.. all I wish for, is the same courtesy extended to me.

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Same here, I only have one tattoo, And its a meaningful one for me. I mostly keep it covered all the time, and its on my arm. I see no reason in getting a tattoo for attention. My brother wants a tattoo (For attention).