Yesterday was Bats Day at Disneyland. For those who don't know what that means, it was a special event during which quite a large percentage of the park's attendance is composed of Gothic people. Basically, it's a cute way of saying "Goth Day". Of course, due to the strange fashion and make up most of these people seem to favor (at least from what I've seen), most of the goths look rather intimidating, frightening.
One guest (a regular one) asked me if the people in weird costumes were doing some kind of show or worked at the Haunted Mansion. Most of the regular guests gave them quite a wide berth, as did quite a few of the cast members. Why? Simply because they looked weird, acted weirdly. They were Different.
At first, I didn't realize that some of my fellow cast members were frightened of these guests. Something about their black makeup and reputation made the Bats crowd intimidating, I suppose. I really didn't notice. In high school, I had stepped out of my comfort zone and made friends with a few goths, to discover that, more often than not, they were far nicer than the "normal" people. It might have been because I was a misfit myself, but I believe they would have opened up the same way to anyone. As for the Disneyland guests, they came to have fun, same as anyone else. It was annoying to me that I had to initiate contact with "scary people" because...well, they were scary. Even after one of them managed to talk with one of the goths to discover that yes, I was right, they can be very nice, the cast members seemed very nervous about them.
Apparently, despite having it drilled into our heads from the time we are old enough to watch our first episode of Sesame Street, most people do not remember not to "judge a book by it's cover." It doesn't matter that this particular event took place at Disneyland, because I see it all the time. I've been a victim of this kind of thing for as long as I can remember. I come from Long Beach, so I'm automatically into drugs, rap, and because of the high school I attended, I'm possibly mentally unstable, part of a gang, and prone to violence. It doesn't matter that people get these ideas from poorly researched television programs and films, it must be true because that's what they know. I'm also preppy because I'm intelligent, and therefore I must have good grades (niether of which is entirely true). I am supposedly a hippy, therefore (again) a druggie, because I like to listen to sixties and seventies music. The list goes on and on. Worse, because I have an uncommon and not-very-phoenetic name, people tend to think I'm weird anyway without even learning more than my name.
It is difficult to imagine a world of peace and understanding in which people judge each other by outward appearances. Yet a first impression is made within the first fifteen seconds of meeting someone, and it is dreadfully hard to change that. Any kind of classification given, whether chosen by the person it pertains to or given by other people, comes with a set of predetermined ideas about that person, stereotypes that are well nigh impossible to disprove. If you try hard enough, you can read significance into something completely inconsequential, supporting any theory you like, and that includes about other people.
For example, if I say "Theodore Ellis is a dork," you already have a preconceieved notion of who he is, how he acts, possibly even what he looks like. You never met him. You never will, because I made him up just now. So how can we help stop this kind of thing.
Well, there's always the option of giving someone a chance to show you who and what they are. Judging the cover by the book, so to speak. It is difficult to do, but try appreciating someone for who he is, as an individual, and if you need to apply labels to him, use the ones he chooses for himself. Maybe the long-haired girl who reads all the time and works at Disneyland isn't the drugged out hippy you assumed she was. Maybe you'll learn something new about yourself, as cliche'd and obnoxious as that sounds. Or maybe, at the very least, you'll discover that the goths coming to Disneyland on Bats Day aren't so scary after all if you just go over and talk to them.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
