I was watching the news at my grandmothers house, when the story changed to gay marriage and there was a video of two guys at their wedding kissing. The carer then said that 'it was sickening'. I, angrily, asked why. Her response was 'maybe you young people find it acceptable, but my generation find it disgusting.' How can one argue with such logic? At dinner, my aunt said something about when I find a wife, so, jokingly, I added 'or husband'. The carer said, 'no, no, you're too good looking to be one of them.' I'm not sure whether to be mildly offended or outraged? She is of course a country lumpkin from Poland, so I can't really expect anything less. Oh, and before I'm accused of xenophobia, I'm half Polish myself Why are some people such monumental bell ends?
my chemistry professor was born in poland, talks about poland, poland accent, etc etc so i understand what you mean by the country lumpkin. lol. she is actually quite accepting of lg(no b)t, but pretty much anything else, well, she's hard headed! some people are just stuck in their ways. they are determined that their way is the right way. she's older, so she's a lot less likely to change opinions. it is very rare for someone who doesn't like raw apples their whole life to suddenly like raw apples. have to start young, really. that's when character is formed, and her character was built around not accepting homosexuality, even if she didn't know about it yet. just the way she was raised, most likely. can't really blame her when you look at it from that aspect!
My grandma thinks gays and black people are trying to take her rights away and take over the world under Obama... It's ridiculous!!
Probably raised that way. It can be difficult for people to overcome their programming. But you should demand a better explanation regarding her views; she just restated her opinion without explaining it in the slightest, and she should also be made aware that the majority of her generation does not feel the same way. My grandparents are pro-gay rights for crying out loud.
Yeah I see your point. There's a strong Polish culture in Britain, even two generations down the line, and i was raised in the emigree culture. I don't ally associate with the vast majority of my polish friends anymore because the religious aspect of the culture tends to foster homophobia. Of 100+ polish people my age I know, I would now only consider about 6 or 7 of them friends. I know that once I come out, a lot of them will no longer wish to associate with me, not that I really care. I find it interesting that my parents generation, who were mostly born when homosexuality was illegal, are very supportive of gay rights, whereas most of them at my age like to ridicule gays, but I guess that's just a maturity thing. I have plenty of normal English friends anyway
Back then, people were raised to believe being gay was wrong, and the Bible was taken more literally in her days. (The older she is, the more homophobic she is likely to be) although I am not saying there are no gay supportive 60+ people out there, but the majority have a strong belief system and condemn homosexuality and transsexuality. With the modernizing world and the shrinking population of anti-LGBT citizens, we can safely assume in a few generations,, the world will be around... say, 30-20% homophobic. That's a big difference. I apologize for rambling, but I do that A LOT when people mention this.
Why are people stupid? Because it is infinitely easier to be stupid than to put the necessary effort into being educated and thoughtful. However, I tend to think we're in a downswing on prominence of intellectualism. Paragons of genius like those at NASA and CERN are basically nobodies, yet we look at shameless idiots on TV and put them on pedestals. <<The reason for THAT, I think, is because the legions of idiots who pay for people's careers better identify with pointless name-calling arguments between guidos than they do with quantum physics*. Just watch Idiocracy for a compelling argument and worst-case scenario if we keep going this way. But I think we'll have our day. Just as the medieval era gave way to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, there will be another golden age of the brain sooner or later. *I don't claim to understand much cutting-edge science, but I try my damnedest outside of college-level study. Anybody who isn't in awe of the universe is doing it wrong.
People are stubborn and opinionated no matter where you go (well, not everywhere). The best way to get them to change their minds is to get them to think. Ask them who they think such and such, don't do it in a way that may seem offensive, you want them to start thinking about it. Don't be forceful or try to rush it, think water wearing down rocks (not that slow but you get the idea). Hopefully they will change their minds after they think about it, but they may not, and that's ok because you tried to get them to change and they took the time to find out why they believe what they believe. The idea is not to change their minds yourself, but to let them do it for you. As a final though remember this, people change and people grow, just because the person stood behind their differed opinion five years ago does not mean that they will now. P.S. I resent that you think being a country bumpkin makes someone naturally ignorant and dull-witted. I was born in the Appalachian (Apa-a-lach-in) mountains (here be hillbillies) in the U.S. and like to think myself a well informed and well mannered individual.
I don't think it's stupidity. It's what you believe. And it's not ignorance. I believe it to be a poor choice, but personal beliefs do not make you stupid--there's a guy at my school who's really smart and homophobic.
That's the reason why it's so hard to come out in the closet, there's a lot of people who are ignorant and not open-minded to accept who we really are. It's just so sad
