Personality Minus

Yesterday, Neil had a very good post on his blog, one that broached on the topic of being prejudiced toward other ethnic groups and toward "fat" people. I kind of forget how that post went, but he does discuss in it his sensitivity to prejudice against Jews (since he is Jewish, he should know), and then moves on to prejudice against overweight folks.

Deep down, I really do not think that I am prejudiced against "fat" people. I do feel a tad uncomfortable when I happen to have a grossly obese student in my class, though, because I try to imagine, but really can't, what an ordeal it is for this person just to get around campus, and to sit at a standard classroom desk. This has happened to me only twice - I have taught a good number of not-so-thin to somewhat overweight students, but only two so far have been what I would qualify as "close to morbidly obese" as in - "needs an immediate gastric bypass."

And I am sorely aware that, for morbidly obese people, it is often not just a lack of willpower to resist overeating that has led to where they are. There may be a multiplicity of other factors involved, such as heredity or some hormonal imbalance (I should know, having gained some 10 pounds in the last year or so, probably due to that very reason.) So, accusing grossly overweight people of being "lazy," of "lacking willpower," or of being "out of control" is plain stupid. There seems to be, of course, some correlation between one's socio-economic status and one's chances of being obese. I really do not have time to find hard data on this, but I know that the ratio of obese folks among upper socio-economic reaches of our society is way lower than among its lower ones. I live in a fairly depressed rural area where, yes, if you walk around the local Wal-Mart, you will see a lot of grossly overweight people. Take a stroll in the Whole Foods market in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh, and I can bet that you will not encounter one single "fat" person. It does require money to be able to afford organic and not overly processed foods and, let's face it - most very cheap foods are very high in calories and generally bad for you.

But, I digress, because the point of this post was not to discuss overweight people, really - but my prejudices.

Of which I have two.

1. I am pathologically prejudiced against the wealthy. Not so much against those folks who become wealthy through luck (like winning the lottery) or hard work, but against those who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Most of those people - and I am speaking here from my own personal experience both here in the U.S. and in France - tend to be extremely arrogant and to consider themselves more capable or intelligent than your average Joe. They feel that the world owes them some sort of special treatment just because they are rich (and the world does tend to treat them that way anyway.) They love dropping names too, which is particularly annoying, just to remind you how "well connected" and well-traveled they are. Those people make me cringe - period. I have felt that way since I was in my late teens, and I do not think that I will ever change. And I truly believe that I inherited that prejudice from my father.
(Side note to this: I have known some, but very very few exceptions to this rule - maybe a couple of very kind, selfless, and generous people who also happened to be very wealthy; so yes, I am, of course, aware that not all those born from wealthy family are inherently despicable.)

But I digress again, because I really do not want to discuss my prejudice against the wealthy here today.

2. I tend to be prejudiced against those folks whom I would qualify as being plagued with the "Personality Minus" factor. I am talking about those people who fail to radiate any kind of enthusiasm for anything, who never really seem to "click" with the world, who sort of walk through life at some sort of lowest common denominator.


And believe me, I have taught a zillion students who suffer from the "Personality Minus" syndrome. Kids who sit in class like potato sacks, who never volunteer an answer, who seldom laugh, never smile, and probably never cry either. These are kids who have nothing to say about anything, because they seem not to care about anything, because - apparently - they have no real interest in anything. Heck, for all I care, they might as well be robots. One good example of this is this kid to whom I awarded a prize this year for having been a stellar student in one of my classes (in spite of seldom raising her hand in class - seems that one thing she may care about is good grades.) When I told her that she had won this prize (which consisted in a certificate and a book), there was no reaction on her part - none, zilch, zero, zip. WTF?!!? And I know that it's not because this kid is jaded - it is because, in my honest opinion, she is a "Personality Minus" individual. Frankly, if I had known that her reaction would have been so lackluster, I may not have given her this prize.

Now, I do have a theory about those kids. I think that some of them actually come to life when they are with their peers. Maybe they are just incredibly awkward with adults, especially with their professors.

Why are they that way? Why are some people so deadly boring? I have no clue.

What I often wonder about is how those people manage to live their dull and boring lives. Do they ever have any fun? Do they ever feel anything? I also wonder how they can actually get jobs. Don't employers look for some sort of spark in their potential employees?

To me, exuding a zest for life is a really important quality in anyone - and a requirement for connecting with me (OK, I do realize that not everyone has an inherent desire to "connect" with me.)

I just don't get the "Personality Minus" types.