SCAD, Yankees and Snakes

The other day, I was talking to a non-Savannah friend, and I mentioned SCAD. My friend said, "Excuse me." She had no idea what I was talking about. SCAD – Savannah College of Art and Design. I thought it was famous, and apparently it is not. Either that, or my friend is an idiot. Actually, you know both can be true as well; these may not be mutually exclusive facts. My friend can be an idiot and SCAD may be fairly obscure as well.

Some things are extremely local, and many of us are unaware of our local biases. Some things are less subtle. When I was growing up, I did not know until middle school that "Damn Yankees" were two words. I had always heard damn associated with Yankees. I grew up in Georgia, what I consider the heart of the south. And there were overt biases that we all recognized, and some, like the relative obscurity/importance of SCAD, that we did not recognize.

I have read some comments/blogs recently that show intolerance of different points of view, and on the surface, I give their viewpoint credit. But after my SCAD conversation that reminded me of my biases, I tend to be more tolerant of even extreme views. Not sure if this makes sense – and I am not trying to be wishy-washy. I also value spirituality, and I know that being labeled "Baptists", "Catholics" and "Buddhists" do not say anything about their level of spirituality (even if some believe that their religious label indicate some level of spirituality).

You know the typical comments, "I don't think that group is right with God because they cut the head's off chickens and wear high heels." Well, some have an aversion with comfortable shoes, actually, but you get the idea.

We all have baggage, biases that affect the way we see things. When I was in elementary school, I can remember having a bias against male teachers. Was there a rational reason for that? Pedophiles, perhaps? I took one statistical anomaly and damned all teachers subconsciously in my mind. Not fair.

I suppose making that logical error pays off when we were dangling from trees, being scared of all snakes when only a fraction of them are indeed dangerous. Recoiling from a grass snake is okay, if we similarly recoil from a rattlesnake. This, partially, I think explains why we recoil from that which is different, be it the Yankees from the north, or those who don't practice religion without a meat cleaver and four inch heels.