i don't get it

The other week, while on the way to my class an hour away, I was talking with the woman that I rode with about stereotypes or something (and specifically how I've seen police officers hone in on innocent black guys just because they're blac -- it happening once to a neighbor of mine) and it came up that she is subjected to it all the time. Specifically, she is the director of parks and recreation in a good-size suburb of Grand Rapids and, as such, in charge of the building of new playgrounds, parks, recreational buildings, etc.. Almost without fail, she told me, when a question was had by the contractors, they always turned to her second in command -- a man. It was almost always assumed that her employee was in charge and she his assistant, only because he had a penis, facial hair, and a deeper voice. "Well that's probably worse among older guys, I mean, guys my age are a little more..." She cuts me off to say that it's generally only the older, more secure, guys that are willing to accept that a woman's in charge...the younger guys are just too damn macho.

I've been thinking about this on and off for the last couple of weeks and I cannot fathom thinking that way. Whenever I've been in a position of report, I've never assumed the gender of the person I'm to report to -- male or female (aside from slightly unambiguous names) -- never. I thought people were over that. I really did.

But it's opened my eyes a little bit more to the stereotyping that goes on all over the place -- stuff I've never really thought of before. A cousin of mine sent me an article about U2's Bono that started with a statement of "some people's" (namely, the "christian" audience that the article was addressed to) questioning of Bono's "faith"...primarily because he's liberal, swears, and is a rock star. I have never judged anyone's belief in other worldly things because they say or don't say "fuck" or do or don't support drilling in ANWR...where do people get off? Certainly I may question one's faith in a peaceful religion when they support the random tossing of bombs or the imprisonment or usury of large swaths of the human race for their own personal gain...but talking shit? Wanting to protect unprotected classes? Huh?

I'm getting to a point again where I feel so un-human...so disconnected from the rest of humanity. I just don't understad the wiring that causes people to think like this. It's just so foriegn to me...like the way that sports fans can get all worked up about such an arbitrary thing as a football game or buying cheap computers to actually cause harm to another human being, physically or mentally...to judge and think them somehow less human than they are...or to think that their own kind is so superior to others' kind...

This statement might seem trite, but can't we all just realize that we're all one kind? Fucking-A...