Public derision

[BegintheBeguine]

Please let's not get into blaming the victim. It's disgraceful that the gentleman was derided at all.

 

[Jovan]

I'm still clueless as to whether the grocery store employee giggling at me when I came in wearing a suit was good or not. For the most part, I haven't had negative comments directed at me. Actually, they've been favourable most of the time. When I dressed in a suit to get my passport photo taken, for instance, the girl taking it made a comment about how I was dressed nicer than a lot of people do for their photos. What gets a little annoying is all those friendly jabs at what I'm dressing for when I'm merely wearing a sportcoat, or a collared shirt and sweater.

A friend of mine said he got someone jeering, "Look at that [let's just say a certain three letter word disparaging to homosexuals] in the suit!" recently. Never mind the fact that he was wearing a sport coat and jeans with no tie. He nearly lost his cool and got into a fight, until ironically the offender's friend broke it up. It wouldn't have been worth getting a nice sport coat dirty anyways, if you ask me.

 

[Miss Brill]

Please let's not get into blaming the victim. It's disgraceful that the gentleman was derided at all.

I didn't blame the victim, I was just commenting that I know someone who has a HM and he doesn't get teased.

I didn't say he got teased because he was a putz, or something.


ETA: In the early 70s my teenaged cousin was nearly beaten to death because he had long hair. It was by a motorcycle gang who were loitering outside a store in our neighborhood, and they decided he was a "hippie" and deserved to be killed.

 

[Smithy]

I was once derided by some teenagers for my choice of headwear. I said to them, "I choose to wear this because it has style, but I can always take it off when I don't want to wear it. You however, will always be morons, and there's no changing that."

Somebody's been reading Winston Churchill



You should all move to Trondheim in Norway. Trondheim is Norway's home of the handlebar moustache and is famous nationally for the number of chaps wandering around with them. Nobody bats an eyelid.

Hats are still common as are other "vintage" associated clothing items. Combine that with the Norwegians' huge respect for other people's privacy and you have a place where people just don't mind nor care how people are dressed.

By the way to those who have said how wonderful the Antipodes sound. Think again, in both NZ and Oz crime is increasing (back home in NZ, violent crime is reaching epidemic levels). Neither are they the kinds of countries where you can expect to walk down the road dressed vintagely or differently and not expect to receive less than flattering comments. Not bagging the land of birth but there's no point in making things sound all sweetness and light.

 

[KilroyCD]

Somebody's been reading Winston Churchill

I do get much of my inspiration from good ol' Winston.

 

[dhermann1]

Nobody seems to have noticed that this chap with the huge moustache KILLED his brother in 2007! He seems to have some anger management problems!
I came home from work the other evening, wearing my new Disney, and the kids playing whiffle ball on the street (good kids, I think) , muttered something about "Godfather" as I walked by. I took it as neither a compliment nor an insult, just a comment. I turned and said "You toucha my car, I breaka you face!" to them, all in good fun. I think in most situations like this, you can turn them in a positive way by having a positive and resilient attitude.
If you want to look exceptionally cool, it pays to learn how to act exceptionally cool.

 

[Spitfire]

The way I see it, is not hostile. But when you dress differently from the norm, if your moustach can be seen from your back )) or you walk the supermarket dressed as a downed WWII pilot in flyingboots and IRVIN - then offcourse people have to react. Some - very few - have the guts and the upbringing to deliever a nice compliment.
While all the rest, just has to say something.....:eusa_doh:

Don't blame them - they are doing their best to compliment you.

 

[Warden]

I think part of the issue is that we dress in a similar style of today.

For example when I did 17th Century re-enactment and say stopped off at the bank on the way to an event, people knew I was dressed up.

However wearing mid 20th century clothes, I have noticed people stare more. I think it is because they notice I am dressed differently but cannot figure out what is different.

Just a thought.

Harry

 

[dhermann1]

On the other hand

Several evenings ago a co-worker lent me a couple of CDs. We had been talking about the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Kleinhan's Music Hall, and he showed me a copy of the Shostakovich 7th Symphony, the Leningrad, recorded in Kleinhan's in 1946. After 5 PM I popped it on my CD player on my computer and started listening. It's a monumental piece. A guy in my office, whose habit is always to turn on his CD player with bland annoying 70's schlock at just 5PM, came over and asked what I was listening to. I told him what it was, and he started guffawing "Dan, you're crazy. Haw, haw, haw. You're crazy." This really irritated me. I wanted to say "Does having better taste in music than you do make me crazy?", but I didn't. He was just really annoyingly rude about it.

 

[Spitfire]

Good point Harry.Maybe they just think you are poor and gets all you clothes from Salvation Army.

 

[Edward]

I think part of the issue is that we dress in a similar style of today.

For example when I did 17th Century re-enactment and say stopped off at the bank on the way to an event, people knew I was dressed up.

However wearing mid 20th century clothes, I have noticed people stare more. I think it is because they notice I am dressed differently but cannot figure out what is different.

Just a thought.

Harry

An excellent point. I've worn a lot of fairly extravagent costumes out and about. The obvious 'fancy dress' type stuff rarely gets more than a few giggles, including the full on Rocky Horror costumes (and yes, I have been on the tube in full Dr Frank'n'Furter - corset, sussies (garter belt), fishnets and not much else. Actually, the last time I did that I was more on edge that I might draw unpleasant comments for the vintage mink stole which is part of the costume than the costume itself. Going out in something less recognisable as a costume, though, can be different - I've dressed as Richard O'Brien in The Crystal Maze before now, and that got a lot more odd looks, simply because it wasn't recognisably a costume per se. Folks couldn't explain it away as "oh, fancy dress", so it became weird, odd, freakish, other.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

When a couple of people say that people who have an intimidating attitude don't get derided, it means that the rest of us gentlefolk do because we don't look like we will blow or bite jersk' heads off. That's how I took those comments, and the gentleman to whom I was referring was Alan Eardley, the originator of this thread.
The distressing facts presented in this thread about groups of eejits ganging up on individuals is scary and upsetting.

 

[Micawber]

I sport a handlebar moustache and like fellow FL member Moustache am a member of the Handlebar Club. Although my own handlebar is somewhat more conventionally styled than the obviously hotheaded character to which Alan refers it still attracts attention. This would certainly have not been the case 100 years ago but handlebars are uncommon enough today to make some people do a double take. Perhaps it's me but people rarely pass comment to my face, those that do have generally been complimentary and good humoured. Fortunately few people make disparaging or ungentlemanly comments to my face and very rarely more than once.

Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.

 

[Alan Eardley]

What is going on here?

There is a case in the UK at the moment of a 50-odd year old paraplegic woman with 'learning difficulties' who collapsed in the street near to her home and couldn't get up. Along comes a twenty-something guy, who sees her lying there helpless. Did he help her to her feet? Did he see her to her nearby home? Did he summon medical assistance? Did he offer her comfort? Of course not, this is 2007 - he urinated all over her. Nice.

Alan

 

[Kishtu]

Alan, don't forget the pinnacle of his wit.

If memory serves me aright he turned to his friends before he did so and said "this will be one for YouTube" - and filmed the incident on a mobile phone.

TV shows like "You've Been Framed" and all those other programmes where you send in your clips of family members being humiliated and hurt for the general public to laugh at, scare me. Now you see why.

 

[Feraud]

Alan, don't forget the pinnacle of his wit.

If memory serves me aright he turned to his friends before he did so and said "this will be one for YouTube" - and filmed the incident on a mobile phone.

TV shows like "You've Been Framed" and all those other programmes where you send in your clips of family members being humiliated and hurt for the general public to laugh at, scare me. Now you see why.

A good observation.
In the quest for 15 minutes of fame, people will do anything but always limit themselves to the worst of human behavior to achieve it.

Who do these videos get so much attention?

 

[Kishtu]

I'm doing my thinking-by-keyboard thing so bear with me here....

I suspect the reason such things are supposed to be funny are a bit like the office bully.... sheer dominant force of will, nobody wanting to be the stick-in-the-mud who doesn't get the joke, doesn't think it's funny. (The office bully comparison - the one who makes horrible comments to their victims and then says "I was only having a laugh - can't you take a joke?")

I think as well we're so anaesthetised (sp?) to seeing comedy pratfalls of increasing unpleasantness in popular culture, that we forget sometimes that if they're not staged - they hurt

I always remember an incident in a shop once where my dad - who is rather short-sighted - went to walk through a door that he thought was open, which turned out to be a closed plate-glass doorway, which shattered. Fortunately he wasn't hurt, but if I thought someone was laughing at an accident which caused him at the time a lot of embarrassment, a lot of upset, and a lot of concern - the next clip on YouTube would be the laugh-er's head on a spike in my front garden.

 

[Alan Eardley]

More You-tube infamy..

A good observation.
In the quest for 15 minutes of fame, people will do anything but always limit themselves to the worst of human behavior to achieve it.

Who do these videos get so much attention?

The 80-odd year old mother of a work colleague underwent a trial a few weeks ago. She is frail, but values her independence and likes to do her own shopping. Recently she discovered a newly-opened supermarket and decided to go there. She walks with difficulty and uses a shopping trolley to support herself. On leaving the supermarket with her trolley and a bag laden with shopping, she found that the nearest bus stop was some distance away, and the way to it necessitated her walking past the local park.

She says that she noticed some teenagers hanging around in a shelter in the park, and two girls detached themselves from the group and ran over to her. They greeted her in a polite and friendly manner (she describes them as 'well spoken') and offered to help her with her load. Disarmed, she readily agreed to their offer. They walked with her for a few yards and then suddenly emptied her bag and trolley onto the pavement (sidewalk) and threw the empty trolley into the park. As if at a signal, the rest of the young people (some male, some female) ran from the shelter and stood around the poor old lady as she stumbled around, scarcely able to bend, trying to pick up her goods.

As you may guess, several of them were videoing this edifying spectacle (no doubt it is on Youtube somewhere) while the others jumped up and down laughing and clapping in delight. A passing motorist who stopped to help had the doors of her car kicked (by some of the girls) so she was afraid to get out to offer assistance. Again, nice.

Alan

 

[BigLittleTim]

As you may guess, several of them were videoing this edifying spectacle (no doubt it is on Youtube somewhere) while the others jumped up and down laughing and clapping in delight.

Alan

Absolutely monstrous incident!

If it's on YouTube it should be of great interest to the Police.

The stupidist thing about these incredibly stupid people is that they FILM their attrocities. Have they ever heard of Nuremburg?

-BigLittletim

 

[Ecuador Jim]

I quite agree...

The revenge comes in the quiet knowledge that the deriding person, and likely, his or her descendants, will be serving chips and scrubbing toilets for you and your descendants until someone from their gene pool decides to swim out of the shallow end.

A quote with the same principle buoyed me through my divorce "Living well is the best revenge."

My experience has been that people tend to ridicule what they do not understand, and fear what they do not understand. So the driving emotion is fear, no matter how aggressively that is expressed.

I try to keep that in my head when others stare rudely, or begin the "ritual of ridicule."