Other peoples attitudes

[speckled wood]

Originally I posted this elsewhere in the Birds Forum but I thought that it might be worth its own thread here.
>>
Concerning other people's attitudes the tale of the Glanville Fritillary should be a reminder as more than 200 years ago the will of Lady Glanville was contested on account of her "known" madness ..... her interest in Butterflies being a proof of this ...... all this continues to the present day "Bug Hunters" have always been regarded as "strange", Bird Watchers are simply getting the same treatment, ramblers and railway enthusiasts often get treated the same. try doing anything slightly "different" even riding a a small wheeled brompton folding bike around a northern town and you will be subjected to ridicule. The odd thing though is that you can have a soccer fixation or be a "petrolhead" and no-one seems to think that you are "odd".

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by speckled wood

Originally I posted this elsewhere in the Birds Forum but I thought that it might be worth its own thread here.
>>
Concerning other people's attitudes the tale of the Glanville Fritillary should be a reminder as more than 200 years ago the will of Lady Glanville was contested on account of her "known" madness ..... her interest in Butterflies being a proof of this ...... all this continues to the present day "Bug Hunters" have always been regarded as "strange", Bird Watchers are simply getting the same treatment, ramblers and railway enthusiasts often get treated the same. try doing anything slightly "different" even riding a a small wheeled brompton folding bike around a northern town and you will be subjected to ridicule. The odd thing though is that you can have a soccer fixation or be a "petrolhead" and no-one seems to think that you are "odd".

I have fully embraced the fact that I am a geek hee hee (geek's chic don't-you-know..) and that most of my friends are also geeks in a variety of different ways - music, comics, films etc, I think even petrolheads recognise the slight nerdishness to their hobby and actually I think birding has reached the credibility level of gardening these days!!
It's interesting that as a hobby it's seen as geeky but as a career it's seen as a good job something out of the ordinary everyone I meet, wildlifer or not seems to be slightly envious of or even impressed by my job....

and as for soccer that's more nylon clad tribal warfare than a hobby isn't it?

[Alan]

Most people have a hobby or interest in which they could be considered 'geeks'. It's the ones that don't have one that are the abnormal ones!

Football seems more tribal to me, as is a lot of sports. It's the competitiveness that seems to attract most.

GeekyAl

[littleT]

Originally Posted by Alan

Most people have a hobby or interest in which they could be considered 'geeks'. It's the ones that don't have one that are the abnormal ones!

Football seems more tribal to me, as is a lot of sports. It's the competitiveness that seems to attract most.

GeekyAl

I'm a dancer(Ballet), classed as sport....i don't know. I got a lot of taunting at school for this. I'd get called Geek just coz I wore glasses and danced.

The taunts never bothered me on this subject, because I know it's something I'm good at.

Having an alternative life style doesn't make you a geek - it just makes you different, thats nature.
If we were all the same our world would be extremely boring.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I used to work in an environment where you'd get ridiculed for doing anything slightly different to anybody else, even down to things like what type of music you liked. I remember saying something about a Burt Bacharach song being good once, and never heard the end of it for months i think alot of it boils down to them being so lacking in confidence, that they have to be the same as everybody else. In the end there i just gave up telling anybody anything.

I'm very happy with being interested in what i am, i love wildlife, birds, mammals and butterflys, and if somebody doesn't "get" that then sod them

[colinaj]

if you don't wear football tops & Tracksuits & trainers, drink & smoke & read the Daily mirror you are considered a wierdo.

One with Binoculars & a note book cause the greatest concern from folk as they are suspicious about your activities.

During the Suffolk tetrad recording of the flora I have lost count of the "What are you doing" "Can I help you" Brigade when on my studies.

Who in their right mind peers into bushes for no apparant reason.?
(So Dudes & Robin Stokers seem to think)

One women (They are inavraibly women) said "There are no wild flowers around here, only Weeds!" Go away you wierdo!! before I call the Police.

I now carry a letter explaining what Iam doing & give the nosey devils that to read.
Caj

[gmsmith]

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit of a dweeb, but what's a 'petrolhead' .

Jen and I have had some funny looks when out and about, hiding behind bushes pointing into the sky and others look too not seeing what you are seeing, chasing a butterfly with a bigma lenses attached to your forehead. I'm 6' 4-1/4" Jen bless is 5' 4" and makes a great 'momopod' we climb fences run along hedgrows and run down the road chasing a good pic (ain't got one yet), and have had many a strange glance. we generally just burst out laughing. One woman started laughing with us back in the summer (don't know why) and just walked off saying 'mad absolutley mad'. But I think having our retreiver with us gives people the impession we're not up to no good. but at the end of the day.............. Who cares, our time, our life, we don't offend or obstruct others, and we've something good to look back on every single weekend. and I think thats cool. Who's the loser? Certainly not Jen or I. each to their own.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by gmsmith

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit of a dweeb, but what's a 'petrolhead' .

someone who is into cars - particularly fast or muscle cars and even more particularly into tuning them up amnd tweaking them for max performance

[gmsmith]

Originally Posted by eeyore

someone who is into cars - particularly fast or muscle cars and even more particularly into tuning them up amnd tweaking them for max performance

Thanks for that, a dweeb no more. (perhaps)

[Earth Hart]

I've been a bit of an odd ball for a long time & especially in the last 18 months with my green beard. Some folks just stare, others may make a remark, once, a drunk shouted that my beard was mouldy, I replied " Not as mouldy as you". His mate laughed & said to me "You've got him there." Still laughing he led mate away.

The lads & lasses from the two local senior schools, one public, often have a bit of fun with me but then they do ask me about environmental problems, climate change & power generation being the top one. So, a green beard opens up doors in young minds, that's great. There's a group I meet every Friday for a coffee & a chinwag on the week's news, I'm learning as much as they do, as they do ask some hard questions & I have to get back to them the following meet.

[Wild-Woman]

I'm called a range of things at school-all of which I don't mind...The Treehugger, Green One, Greeny, Envirowoman. I'm actually quite proud to be 'different'. Just cos I'm not regarded as a 'normal' woman who screams at spiders, needs to shop and can't park a car(I'm a first rate parker btw). It's always me they call on at school to rescue birds, id an insect, remove a spider, help the pond-dipping sessions. I don't care what people think. I enjoy the fact that I don't fit in a particular group. Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same!ww

[gmsmith]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

I'm called a range of things at school-all of which I don't mind...The Treehugger, Green One, Greeny, Envirowoman. I'm actually quite proud to be 'different'. Just cos I'm not regarded as a 'normal' woman who screams at spiders, needs to shop and can't park a car(I'm a first rate parker btw). It's always me they call on at school to rescue birds, id an insect, remove a spider, help the pond-dipping sessions. I don't care what people think. I enjoy the fact that I don't fit in a particular group. Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same!ww

You sound just like my Jenny, your obviously a very nice person, and spot on. However I think the last two words of Lincs post, some it up quite beautifully .

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by colinaj

One women (They are inavraibly women) said "There are no wild flowers around here, only Weeds!" Go away you wierdo!! before I call the Police.

Oooohhhhhhhhh yellow card sir, I'm sorry I have to pull you up on this!
I could provide a whole list of very male contractors with this reaction

[Earth Hart]

Originally Posted by colinaj

One women (They are inavraibly women) said "There are no wild flowers around here, only Weeds!" Go away you wierdo!! before I call the Police.

I don't know about a Yellow, that's a straight Red, Gill, I've had many a farmer have a go at me, even when not on their land. Well, green beard, long hair and 'magic' staff , wished it was magic, then I could turn them into something useful, like an elder bush, elderberry or elderflower wine, now that's good use.

[Owl-Light]

Long live misfits I say! The greatest minds and most talented people in the world are/were all misfits in some way if you think about it, rarely accepted by the 'norms'.

I love people with a bit of character, with a different story to tell and something that makes me say "How interesting, I didn't know that". Or with a passion for something that shines through and makes me look again to get a glimpse of the magic they see

Does make me laugh though how you're written off if you don't like sport

Odd thing sport. Football especially - definitely tribal Alan I agree. But it occured to me one day that if the masses didn't have it as an outlet for that tribal competititiveness there might be more violence in society. It would have to come out somewhere.

Me well, I reckon we go further with co-operation than competition, can't see the attraction in sport myself, don't buy 'Heat' magazine or have any interest in 'Celebrities', if that makes me odd, yeah fine, whatever

[Paul mabbott]

I've only got the grey-black-white beard: perhaps I should have it tinted?
One of my common activities is going around looking at the trunks of trees ... I get the strangest looks (and comments - 'not talking to you, then?') but fortunately people keep away from me (can't say that I blame them) especially in London although people are more chatty in Sheffield ... I don't mind explaining what I'm doing and revealing the wonders of bark fauna *but* it's a nuisance while I'm trying to count, a ten minute job can take an hour! It's not that people aren't curious but, in London, you don't go up to a man who's staring at trees ... I was examining some on an avenue in Hyde Park once and while people didn't approach me, they quietly went up to the tree before last to see what I was looking at ... at one point I had a couple of dowagers, a nanny with push-chair and a troop of Belgian scouts following me ...

Originally Posted by Earth Hart

I've been a bit of an odd ball for a long time & especially in the last 18 months with my green beard. Some folks just stare, others may make a remark, .....

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

I've only got the grey-black-white beard: perhaps I should have it tinted?
One of my common activities is going around looking at the trunks of trees ... I get the strangest looks (and comments - 'not talking to you, then?') but fortunately people keep away from me (can't say that I blame them) especially in London although people are more chatty in Sheffield ... I don't mind explaining what I'm doing and revealing the wonders of bark fauna *but* it's a nuisance while I'm trying to count, a ten minute job can take an hour! It's not that people aren't curious but, in London, you don't go up to a man who's staring at trees ... I was examining some on an avenue in Hyde Park once and while people didn't approach me, they quietly went up to the tree before last to see what I was looking at ... at one point I had a couple of dowagers, a nanny with push-chair and a troop of Belgian scouts following me ...

He he! I shall be in Sheffield on Friday (Peaks actually) so if I see a bearded, tree talking, bug counting chap with a gaggle of women following him, I'll know it's you! I'll say hello!

[Paul mabbott]

And probably a policeman ...
I'd offer to guide you but I'm off to London ...

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

He he! I shall be in Sheffield on Friday (Peaks actually) so if I see a bearded, tree talking, bug counting chap with a gaggle of women following him, I'll know it's you! I'll say hello!