Prejudice serves a purpose. I will demonstrate using Bernard Ebbers as an example. He is the ex CEO of WorldCom. A quick read through his wikipedia entry yields the following information
1- Born to the family of a traveling salesman
2- During the time between schools he worked as a milkman and bouncer.
3- In 1968 Ebbers married Linda Pigott, and the two of them raised three daughters. Ebbers filed for divorce in July 1997 and married his second wife, Kristie Webb, in the spring of 1999.  Her resulting name was Kristie Webb Ebbers which is ebonics for “I will rob you blind”
4-Â he was a member of the Easthaven Baptist Church in Brookhaven, Mississippi. As a high-profile member of the congregation
5- Too much facial hair
Explanation of points:
1- Do I have to explain this one? Traveling salesman and likely serial fornicator / cheater on his wife !…these guys make a carreer of TALK TALK
2- Bouncer….bar trade is full of characters you should not trust. See other article about likelihood of mob ownership of bars! Association is bound to dirty you up
3- Married until he is a big wig then ditches first wife for high status wife
4- Constantly touting your goodness at a high level is definite grounds for heavy suspicion!
5- Facial hair – you’re a guy and thinking about your appearance to much ! …
I posit I would have sensed not to trust this guy. How about you? Are you too hung up about the word prejudice to be able to use it effectively?
4 Comments
That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You are essentially saying you think Mr. Ebbers deserves to have a life sentence in prison because his father was a salesman, he worked at a bar, got remarried (like 50% of the population), and has a beard??? That’s the problem with prejudice- you don’t know the person- all you see is a few minor facts and you base your whole opinion on those. How about this interpretation:
1- personable and likable, knows how to talk to people.
2- at least he worked!
3- half of marriages end in divorce- maybe all the stress with work affected his home life or maybe he was going through a mid-life crisis.
4- being a member of a church is not “touting your goodness”, it has to do with actual faith and spirituality. Is it supposed to be a secret if you’re a memeber of a church?
5- maybe he doesn’t like to shave!
You miss my point by a bit. All your point by points are individually true. In fact all together they can be true. What I wanted to do is help the user understand there are subtle cues as to when to be suspicious. I’ve dealt with many different personality types and developed a keen sense of triggers that say “do more investigation, carefully observe!!” An example of this is that many foreign buyers have tried to con / scam me on ebay. I invariably can tell they are dishonest with only written word to guide me. And lest you believe I do not test …I do. I can not divulge my methods publically as it would inform the scammers but I always know. Thus it can be said that if you refine your senses and sensibilities you can indeed feret out the Bernie Ebbers of the world.
I’ve recently started a site, the information you offer on this web site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work. “The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky” by Solomon Short.
Reading within the lines objectively:
The facial hair is because he is gay. The marriage is a cover-up and going to church is another cover-up and gives opportuniies to gay people to have sex with other gay members of the church …
Reading within the lines malignantly: that's your comments on an honest person like Bernie Ebberes. And you do know THE truth!!!