Come on .... admit it .... you 'Filter" ... don't you?

[Stinky The Clown]

Huh?

Filter?

I don't care what the situation is, I size people up as to their political views. Every person I meet gets subjected to this same filtering process. I don't care what the situation is or who the person is. Grocery clerks. Gas station cashier. Doctor. Termite inspector. Neighbor's friend I meet at a a party. I filter.

I asked my wife about this. She does the same thing.

So do my sons.

I know my step daughter does.

Do you? Do you filter people and, by virtue of your conclusion of that filtering, treat them differently?

Is this a form of prejudice? I suspect it is.

And I'm guilty of it.

<on edit/to clarify: I filter very consciously on **political** leanings and do that far more than on any other factor>

[stillcool]

1. I think its a form of survival....

not often as necessary as we think, but often life-saving, and really hard not to listen to.

[sam sarrha]

2. survival of the Filterist...

you got to protect yourself from the back-stabbers and ass-biters out there... they are totally a-moral, actually against morality.. not that they just dont have any.. they are against morals.. that is the only way they can live with themselves.

[Turn CO Blue]

3. Guilty. Not only that, but

I feel pretty darned smug knowing that I'm smarter than the average bear (not Bluebear or BigBearJohn), but smarter and more informed, aware and compassionate than the average Repuke voter or Chimp supporter.

[Snotcicles]

26. I'm with ya on that one. I like to dip my toe in the water by

blurting out, man that * is an asshole just to see the reaction I get.
I'm kind of a big guy and when I get around two or three of my co-workers that I know are wingers I'll say something like Those Downing Street Minutes sure make you bush freaks feel stupid don't they? and when are your leaders going to do something to save the once honorable {but wrong} republican party and take it back from those power addicted
corporate puppets?

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Absolutely. At this point in my life it is my one great prejudice.

I cannot tolerate anyone who can tolerate Bush.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. I have always been intolerant of intolerance

and guess what goes hand in hand with intolerance?

[notadmblnd]

5. yes I do and I find that for many of them I have nothing but disdain

nt

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. I hate everyone

It's just efficient.

[uppityperson]

7. I love you and your postings. Do you hate me and mine? oh well

I know what you mean though. The older I get, the less tolerant of bs I get. I just don't have time for the crap. Differences are great, but not bs.

[silverweb]

11. *LOL*

:D

[silverweb]

8. Absolutely.

By now, only people who have been living in deep caves or the wilderness for the past five years can possibly be unaware of what's happened in and to our country and the world because of BushCo. My differences with people are based less on politics than on basic philosophy of life. BushCo offends everything I believe in, so people who still support him and people who just dont give a damn do, as well.

There has to be some kind of common ground between people in order for them to get along. There can be no common ground or neutrality with people who either don't care or still support BushCo at this point.

[Gelliebeans]

9. Not before 2000

but I have to admit I do it now. I have insulated myself and have probably misjudged but I don't think I could trust people who knowingly vote against their own best interest and mine for that matter.

I have become too aware of the wrongdoings and I can't help it. I tried very hard before the last election to try and find common ground with people of other political parties but the gloating and blatent disrespect immediately after the election has been a very hard pill to swallow.

With that has come anger, which I am not proud of. I don't start fights but I hold it in and find that I withdraw from my family and loved ones.

I promise to work on it after we take back the white house ;)

[Stirk]

12. Only in extreme cases. For instance,

when I encounter a bitter, angry, asshole in public... I will sometimes follow up with acquaintances (discreetly, of course) to find out about their politics.

Nine times out of ten, they're conservative Republicans.

So naturally, when I encounter a bitter, angry, asshole on the road, or in the store, or anywhere else that I can't ask after with acquiantances, I often assume they're Republicans.

Other people? Not so much. People never cease to surprise me, so I don't really assume anything about most peoples' politics.

[DisassemblingHisLies]

13. I do.

I like to know when I'm dealing with a half-baked, thought-challenged, easily-led mind.

[uppityperson]

14. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[DisassemblingHisLies]

15. Longtime lurker appreciates your welcome.

:toast:

[liberalla]

17. Great answer!

...then you know how much time to invest in them (or waste on them)!
hee hee.

I never used to filter, but I do now. After what has happened since 2000, I'm very guarded when meeting new people. I hate that they have done this to America.

Although I know it's been years (decades?) in the planning and implementation of the repug plan to take over all arms of the govt., I'm still pissed that these people allowed themselves to be sucked in and transformed into robotic repressive mind controlled slogan spitting idiots. As if that's not enough, they're also mean, petty and vindictive. I avoid them whenever possible...

[Straight Shooter]

16. I began filtering about 18 months ago.

Can't help myself. Look at people and wonder what their political affiliation is. I try not to treat people differently, but I sure avoid those I suspect as being bushies.

Of course, living in a small town, I want to be there for them when their world comes crashing down around their ears. Poor sad deluded idiots.

[walldude]

18. You know...

I hadn't really thought about it but by the time I got to the bottom of the thread I realized that, yeah, I do filter, and I didn't used to. I guess it's like a defense mechanism. The discourse has risen to a boiling point and to be at odds politically these days is to be at odds with a persons core values. So I try to limit my circle to people who share my values...

[Stinky The Clown]

20. I suspect everyone has always filtered ........

...... but not on a conscious level, and surely not always for the judgee's political bent. I can only speak for me, but I am *very* aware that I do it now. I don't always consciously **choose** to do it, but I am aware when I am doing it.

Just yesterday I was in the supermarket parking lot. It was drizzling and there were puddles. I was about to enter a **marked** crosswalk and had to stop cuz this clown in an SUV was coming and clearly wasn't going to stop for me. As he went by, my shoes got splashed. I said nothing but sorta slowed down to see who got out.

I filtered him based solely on that action and his physical appearance as a Repub (and around here, not by a long shot are all SUV drivers repubs). Maybe I am guilty of prejudice. I ascribe repub tendencies to anyone who does something annoying, even. Hell, a Dem could just as easily have not stopped and have splashed my shoes. Why did I instantly assume he was a repub? That's just plain wrong. Judging a book by its cover.

But I did it.

[LightningFlash]

19. I sure do now.

It's no longer about political gratings after what I've heard. It is definitely about whether you stand for a free country or stand opposed to it and want religious run dictatorships.

If the summarily sane republicans (or democrats) both, can't see which one is the greater of two evils than I just simply can not keep contact with them. The criminally insane have come this close to ruining my once, quietly arbitrary life.

[aeolian]

21. Yeah, it's prejudice against idiots,

and that's just fine with me.

:)

[Bouncy Ball]

22. Not as much as I was.

I've let it go a bit. Especially when things like this happen:

I'm sitting at a red light, front person. The truck next to me honks. I looked at them as I pulled up to the light and I know it's a big beat up pickup with a gun rack and two old white guys in it. No stickers.

So I'm pretty sure they're wanting to let me know what I think of my "Bush lies, people die" sticker and not in a nice way, so I don't look over.

They're persistent--they honk two more times. Finally I look over and they are all grins, giving me two thumbs up and one of them yells "That's RIGHT! You keep telling the truth about that bastard!!!"

Shocked the shit out of me. But that's what I get for engaging in stereotypes. They apparently hate the crap out of bush. Who'da thunk it?

But then I think about my husband, driving around in a Ford F150 with an A&M sticker and several stickers for the units he was in in the Army. No political stickers. Anyone would think he was a bush lover Supreme and NOTHING could be further from the truth--bush makes him ill.

So, I try not to. ALTHOUGH I will admit to trying to suss people out in conversation, VERY subtly, to try to figure out leanings. I have a casual friend I've decided is apolitical leaning toward liberalism. I figured that out the other night.

Most of the time, if I like someone, and I met them AFTER the election, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW who they voted for. Period. If I find out they voted for bush, I will never look at them the same way and the friendship will hobble along to its premature death. For instance, one woman I worked with that I liked suddenly one day just went OFF on Teresa Heinz Kerry. I have no idea what triggered it and it was AFTER the election. :crazy: She was super bitter and hateful towards her and I asked her what THK did to her and she admitted nothing but "I JUST HATE HER!!" I said "Well it's not like she's the First Lady, so what are you worried about?" That was the end of THAT friendship. I mean, what the fuck? I don't just RANDOMLY start cussing out Pickles, in fact beyond a few mentions of her on DU, I've never mentioned her in real life.

Ah well. I can't get past all the blood on their hands, I guess.

On edit, I think it's ok to discriminate based on something the person CHOOSES. People do it all the time. Some people discriminate against others because they CHOOSE to wear non-designer clothes. I discriminate against those who CHOOSE to be repukes. Now, I will not EVER discriminate based on something the person can't choose or do anything about, such as nationality, sexuality, etc. I try not to discriminate based on religious beliefs, either, but fundielicious repukes make that a bit hard to do, in their case.

And they DO choose that.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. I kinda said the same thing in my post #20, above

[elehhhhna]

24. The freaking filter THEMSELVES, thank you (ranting in TX)

[me b zola]

25. I didn't begin filtering until Nov '04

It began with smug rethuglicons. Since then, I am becoming increasingly intolerant of those who wear their religion on their sleeve. I had no idea until I came to DU about faith based initiatives, the first time I heard about it I thought it was a joke. I guess the joke is on the Constitution.

Everything snow-balled with the Schiavo debacle, and then the Pope. I see religion as a weapon being used against us, and because of this I have little regard for those who believe that their religion is more important than the Constitution.

I have always been a spiritual person, but now I am fearful/intolerant of those who don't understand the necessity of a secular government.



edited for spelling