What misconception about one of your ideologies irks you the most?

I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

I am pro choice, I believe that gays should have legally recognized unions, I am opposed to the death penalty, I believe the US has become reckless in the use of the military in the pursuit of foreign policy, I am a devout atheist, and yet people on this site try to characterize me as a wingnut. Go figure.

The FedEx man thinks I’m a crazy cat lady for ordering raw cat food in dry ice boxes every 2 weeks.

Wait…

One is that because I am theist in America who is active in her faith, I must be Christian, Jewish or sometimes Muslim. I am none of those things. For the record I am Bahá’í, which people tend to misconceive as being a cult, but that is a different post. People also tend to think that because I believe in God and subscribe to a religion I must be socially conservative, hate homosexuals, and be voting for Mitt Romney. I am none of those things.

The second biggie for me is that people seem to think that because I don’t hit my kids and never have they must be disrespectful, misbehaving little hooligans who run a meth lab out of the garage. They are none of those things.

That, as a feminist, I am ‘against men.’

Just because I’m married to a woman does not mean that I’m a lesbian.

@josie Ha, you totally copy and pasted that from another question you answered with same. LOL

@Simone_De_Beauvoir True enough.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Feminists are definitely misrepresented. Just the notion of feminism makes some people automatically think of the most inaccurate BS.

@josie :)

Let’s start with my parenting:

I let my kids watch some movies and listen to some music that more conservative people believe makes me a terrible mother.

I made a conscious choice to not vaccinate my kids because of health reasons, so that makes me a neglectful mother.

I spank (spank with a hand on the fattest part of their bottoms) my children on the rare occasion that their behavior is awful enough to warrant it, so that makes me an abusive mother.

I don’t take my children to the doctor for every little sniffle, so that makes me a neglectful mother.

I don’t make my kids to go to church every week, which makes me a terrible mother according to the fundamentalists. I let my kids go to church when they want to and talk to them about God, which makes me a terrible mother according the hardcore anti-theists.

I sometimes let my children eat whatever they want, instead of making them eat a “well rounded” meal, which makes me an abusive mother.

But my kids are happy, healthy, and well grounded, so fuck it.

@WillWorkForChocolate Everyone knows to be a perfect parent you have to place an impossibly high standard of perfection on your children, replacing fun memories with rigorous standards and protocol until they have no idea who they really are as an individual. Duh.

@Blackberry LOL, right?

Edit: Oh shit, the “LOL, right?” makes me an immature mother.

That me being an atheist = me being an anti-theist

Because I am a hoodie wearing minority, I must mean dangerous business. Maybe because I’m making devils cower to the Caucus Mountains.

As a vegetarian, people often say to me,“You still eat chicken and fish, though don’t you?” said with a furrowed brow and a frown.

As a vegetarian, that I must somehow be sickly because I could not possibly get proper nutrition from that kind of a diet. Actually I’m one of the healthiest people I know, because I practice good hygiene and eat healthy foods, get enough fiber, don’t smoke and get regular checkups with my doctor.

As a vegetarian, I must belong to some wacko cult. Nope, I just try to eat healthier and bring less suffering to animals. I do not try to indoctrinate people. People have to do what is best for them and seems right for them, under their own unique set of circumstances.

As a female, that I must long to have children. I don’t. I have never have wanted children and that idea has not changed over 48 years.

As a person who doesn’t want children, that I must hate children. That is such an absurd idea. I also don’t want to keep a horse in my house, but it’s certainly not because I hate horses. I am just not equipped to take care of myself and a child an/or a horse and I simply don’t have the desire to do that. But I love visiting other people’s children and horses, for limited periods of time. The kids and the horses seem to like me.

As a feminist that I must hate men.

As a feminist that I must hate women. Because as Michelle Bachman and her ilk think, “Those feminists are ruining society!”

As a feminist, I must be a lesbian. Ha! My feminist male SO would just laugh at that notion.

As an agnostic, that it’s not right for me to enjoy Christmas. Why not? I grew up with Christmas traditions just like most Americans did, only at our house the story of Jesus’s birth was a nice story, but none of my immediate family believes in any religion or God. But we got us a real nice nativity scene, complete with a little rubber dog that I found when I was little and a Lego guy that my 4 year old nephew added. Christmas, for us is all about family and love and generosity and tradition.

As a middle aged person, I couldn’t possibly know anything about teenaged or 20-something’s relationship problems. All relationship problems stem out of the same types of issues (jealousy, insecurity, naivete, un-realistic expectations, not getting to know people in a real way, not being compassionate etc). We’ve all been there done that. And, duh, I had to be a teen and a 20 something, and suffer relationship problems to get to be a middle aged person (with a little bit of wisdom).

As a person who uses Facebook, that I would love to hear you tell me in 10 posts a day, 7 days a week how you love the Tea Party, and that your slutty, homeschooled daughter ran away from home and that I should pray for you and that you went out hunting rabbits and birds. Even though you know me, and know that I am a vegetarian/agnostic/feminist/female/person who doesn’t want kids/middle aged person who’s been in relationships/loves Christmas. That’s why I only post pictures of family photos (with permission and only to those people who are in the photos) and ideas about restaurants and recipes. I don’t go in for the drama.

When it comes to political views I tend to be called a fence sitting coward who can’t make up his mind, and that I don’t stand for anything. People on both sides of the left/right paradigm have accused me of this. It seems that self-described conservatives do this more though, from my own experience. I just don’t believe that extremes are ever the answer, and I don’t appreciate it when people on both the left and right side of the political spectrum try to set a list of dos/don’ts to abide by. There are many others as well, but I’ll just stick with that one. I’m very slow at typing too, but that isn’t a misconception :)

That being bisexual means that I “just can’t make up my mind”.
That choosing not to have kids means I’m a child hater.
That being atheist means that I am not a moral person.
That any independent, opinionated woman (i.e., feminist) must be a dyke.

Being Godless means I have no morality.

That because I don’t support your way of being a [Lesbian/bisexual/straight person, Atheist/Christian/Wiccian, Feminist, Republican/Democrat/Libertarian, Relationshipped/single person, etc] that I hate all people that identify under the same label as you do.

That because I’m childfree, I must hate children and not want more rights for them. Which is ironic, because people who actually know me tend to know that the issue closest to my heart is child and youth rights. (On a semantic level, it gets under my skin when people think “childfree” is the same as “childless”.)

That feminism is a pretty monolithic group (it’s actually the opposite), and thus I must be highly concerned with equal pay, heavily anti-porn, into insulting women as “prepubescent” for having a haircut, and a raging fan of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

That because I’m bisexual, I must be really into the idea of gay marriage.

That because I’m highly sex-positive and have a big academic interest in sexuality, I’ll do pretty much anything in bed with pretty much anyone.

@LittleLemon Is that your cat? Cute.

That because I’m a mod, I must be a censoring Nazi bitch on a power trip. ~

@augustlan Wait… you mean you’re not a… I’m just gonna shut up now. :D

Mine is the same as @Paradox25. I became very disenchanted with politics during the last presidential election. I had always blindly voted Democrat until Hilary Clinton lost to Obama in the primaries. I felt strongly that Obama was not ready to be president. I now look closely at each individual for any seat that is to be filled, especially locally. I am not a fence sitter. I do my research and pick the person I feel is the best for the position.

That being an atheist just means that I need to be saved.
That being an atheist means that I am an anti-theist.
That because I’m young, being a liberal Democrat is something that I will just “grow out of.”
That because I’m young, I am naive and inexperienced, and adults always know more than I do about everything.
That because I care about fashion, I’m superficial and unintelligent.
That because I support gay rights, I must be gay.
That being overweight is completely within my control, and I’m just lazy and I eat all the time.
That my health problems are made up because people don’t understand them.
That because I’m intelligent and driven, all I care about is school.
That because I have large boobs, I’m a slut.
That realism is not the same as pessimism, and that not everything “happens for a reason” or “works out for the best.”

@josie you’re certainly no wingnut!!!!!

Men with big dicks are of poor intileckt.

That because I’m a harpist I must be pure and angelic.

That because I don’t particularly drink much, I must be boring, and must be anti-drinking.

That because I’ve always been academic, and value hard work, I must be no fun.

That because I can find older men attractive and have had (very beautiful) relationships with older men, I must be money-grabbing.

That because I’ve never acheived the Perfecto Fish award, I must not be a perfectionist ~

I’m constantly discovering my own misconceptions about Buddhism, and I’ve been practicing it for 22 years now. That’s just the nature of the thing. I can hardly get irked when others have misconceptions, too.

That because I’m a bleeding heart liberal, I can’t be rich.

- As a person with locs (dreads, dreadlocks, whatever), I’m “nasty” and don’t wash my hair. My hair is most likely in better condition than yours, ignorant person.
– Since I go to school online, it’s easier. Try making it through school without an actual teacher..
– Since I’m in an open relationship, I’m a slut/we’re having sex with everyone/SO wants to cheat on me. Really?
– Since I don’t go to parties or jam to the latest idiocy music, I’m boring. I’m not boring, I just can’t tell you everything ;)
– [Insert Christian stereotypes here]
– [Insert pothead stereotypes here]
– [Insert bisexual stereotypes here]
– Since I don’t wear a bra in the summer, I’m a slut. Nah, just comfortable. Glad you like my tits though

Finished lol

@thesparrow It is! I am in love love love with her. She made her debut on Youtube recently. Where all the cat videos go.

I am too thin, so I must be anorexic.
I believe in universal health care, so I must be a lazy mooch.
I use modern medicine, so I must be brainwashed by “big pharma.”
I want marijuana legalized, so I must be a huge pothead.

I believe in God so I must be brainwashed and unable to question my beliefs (I question them all the time!)

I was smacked as a child when I misbehaved so I must be traumatised even if I don’t realise it.

Good answers, everyone. I’ll also add that I’ve received some strange looks because I don’t want kids. I get some flack for being a non believer, but nothing malicious. The other day, someone saw my Darwin bumper sticker and asked if I would grow gills if they threw me in the ocean, lol.

Then, I was also told I believe in nothing because I’m not religious. How nice of some people to define my beliefs for me so I don’t have to :)

It’s ok, though. I like these opportunities to come up so I can clear any misconceptions.

@LittleLemon OMG so cute. She must be so cuddly! Please do link us with that video. Also, what kind of cat is it? It looks like a designer cross between Persian and something else.

@jonsblond Actually my ‘fault’ :) is somewhat different than yours. I’ve never voted a straight ticket, and I don’t realistically classify myself as a liberal or conservative. I’ll just say that I’m an independent who leans a bit to the left. I always was a more independent type of voter, but in the past I used to lean a bit to the right. I guess I’m getting softer with my age, and in ten years from now I may end up being a full blown progressive. I’m doubtful about this, but it’s possible. I am a very strong supporter of a social market economy, so I guess that throws the libertarian label out the door for me.

The misconception common among conservatives in the US that Asia is faring better than Europe.

@Blackberry LOL omg, where do you live? In the Southern US?

That because I identify more with the Republican party, that makes me a backwoods hillbilly with the IQ of a rock, who goes to tea parties with right-wing nutjobs, carries a gun everywhere, and has zero class.

That because I live in the Southern US, I must also be an atheist hater, a bible-thumping homophobic and a racist.

@thesparrow At the moment, yes.