Oregon Media Insiders

People outside one's own monkeysphere aren't considered people. They are abstracts. They exist, but seeming for the pleasure of oneself, not their own justified existence. I wish this was a phenomenon restricted to the states, but I have a friend who lives and teaches in (ostensibly over-polite) Japan. She is not insubstantial, size-wise. She is a big, brash Irish American gal. No bones about it either. She often gets asked, by strangers on the train, why she is the size she is. Anectdotally, I have heard the same converstations taking place in public in Korea, France, Russia, England, Rio, and Bhopal.

Oh, and this happens to men, too. Just not quite as frequently, and often it is a power-play over those percieved to be weaker. Jocks vs. Openly gay guy in the locker room, etc.

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DISCLAIMER: my opinions are my own, not those of OMI or any employer.