Ways in which I'm different from people I know

[serene]

A friend posted (in a locked post) a list of ways in which zie's different from zir peers. I thought it was interesting, so I'm reposting my list here.



[The "you" is (probably obviously) the person to whose journal I was responding; my elucidations of context are in brackets.]

Some ways I'm different-like-you:

Toilet seat: I entirely agree with you [that there's no reason the toilet seat has to go down after a man has used it, and that it's just as reasonable for me to have to put it down and for him to have to put it up], and that bugs my wife, who really wanted someone on her side in the toilet-seat debate. I do tend to put it down when company is coming, but otherwise, I don't see the big deal, or why my convenience should trump his. (Besides, I *never* go to the bathroom in the pitch-dark, and I *always* look a the seat first, so I'm unlikely to fall in.)

Abortion: I'm even more conflicted than you are [about when a clump of cells turns into a person]. I'm enjoying a conversation about it on an atheist listserv right now, and I tend to be unpopular among liberals for my wishy-washiness on this issue. I was given the silent treatment (along with my presentation partner) at a national Green Party convention for this.


Some ways I'm different from you and others:

I would not slip birth-control into anyone's tater tots [a half-joking, I assume, reference zie made to a famous person-with-a-zillion-kids]. I think an individual family having ten kids (or twenty) is not the problem. The problems are education, distribution of resources, and the social safety net, in my view. In addition, I would never ever ever ever ever support a family-size limit, because that way leads to infanticide, especially of female babies.

I don't think there's a god -- or a goddess, or a spiritual force, or whatever -- and I think religion in general is more harmful than beneficial.

Related to the above, most of my friends are pagan (though many are not), and most of them believe that all paths are equally valid. I do not. I certainly (really, truly) respect other people's right to *choose* a path I would not choose. I will not lie and say I respect the path itself.

The majority of my friends, it seems, go to sex parties. I don't, and I have no great desire to. I do like them in theory, but my social anxiety will probably prevent me from going unless a partner has a great desire to go and have me go with zir.

I don't believe all queer people are queer from birth. I know for sure that I was straight until my mid-20s. (I also don't believe that all queer people are queer by choice. I think people are different, and this is one way in which stuff manifests differently for different people.)

I don't download free (pirated) music, and I don't accept copies of CDs from people who are not my immediate family. I'm on the fence about the whole intellectual-property debate, but until I've made up my mind for sure, I prefer not to do anything that feels like stealing to me.

I am not a vegetarian, even though I think it's ethically and morally wrong for me to eat meat. (Most of my friends are either vegetarian, or they're not and they don't think there's anything wrong with it.)

Comments

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

I am not a vegetarian, even though I think it's ethically and morally wrong for me to eat meat.

As for me, I don't always tell the truth, even though I think it's ethically and morally wrong for me to lie.

(Am I getting warm?)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

We are the same in that respect, though I have been making more and more of an effort not to lie, even when it costs me something. It's a difficult thing, to tell the truth (heh).