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[Phil Carson]

Hello  

Well I see this thread I started has managed to work out some kinks that yours truly left in a mess in posting. No excuses, I know better to TTPO and to post when I am fresh and not distracted. I did not do this.

First let say I apologize for any misunderstandings. I did PM debra with apologies back earlier - whenever that was- the reason for the disclaimer, and what this thread was "supposed" to be about. I also advised if needed to delete the disclaimer, or entire thread.  I see the disclaimer stayed as well as the thread. Removing disclaimer would have ruined the continuity of  the thread.

When I posted originally I was sleep depraved from dealing with Medical Emergencies. Having been a forum member on other sites for awhile I understand the Rules of Conduct and  implications of posts as they relate to Admins . I also was in the midst of being a Moderator beta testing a Forum for a Intra-Net [ Company if you will] and my brain kicked into CYA.

Never said I was smart now did I ?  

I will share one interesting tidbit of the medical stuff and how it does relate to Perceptions . Once upon a time I worked in the main  OR of a major hosptial - we had 19 suites . So I am familar with Sterile Area Only. So I run to small town Hosptial and I happen to know  / run into  some folks or folks of mutual folks.  I was allowed to get into Scrubs and observe the Surgery. I happen to have worked with the Surgeon and CRNA before. This was a good thing because the Person I was there for really needed the support.

So the patient is in recovery and I am about to starve to death. I go to the Cafe, in scrubs, white coat with the Dr, CRNA, STs and such. I have no money,, all my money, wallet and the like is in a Locker in the Drs.  Changing area.  I am standing there with my tray - brain faded from no sleep, and "Well Doc, gimme your ID and I'll scan it or just holler out your Physicians acct number".

Err...I have neither.

"Hey Rita, put the Good Docs meal on my tab - my turn to buy anyway".  - Surgeon has arrived with his tray...

Amazing the difference in the LONG white coat makes over the Short white coat I used to wear. The dining room is much nicer, has  Internet connections,  neat phones , and they have someone come by and refresh your coffee and even get condiments for you - oh and they bust your table. I never got when I was an employee back in my day.

I was the only "Doctor" without a pager, or cell phone. I still got a lot of respect, doors opened, and Security made no fuss about where I parked. The Surgeon and CRNA had fun with this of course, the Charge nurse too. Grant you some famlies wondered why that patient had the Doc spend the night in the room with Patient.,

Note to self, get another set of blue scrubs and LONG white coat. I dunno maybe all I need is the coat - I have green scrubs from my old duties.

I also was the only Doc with a IWB leather cell phone holder made by High Noon...I was asked about that in the Changing Area. I thought the Surgeon friend was gonna die laughing when I told the other Doc whom asked what it was. Obviously not a shooter, much less a CCW-er - huh?

Perceived to be a Surgeon for bit...who'd a thunk it?

[securitysix]

Never said I was smart now did I ?

No, but if you keep posting stuff like this, people will perceive you to be, then they'll expect smart stuff from you.

That's why I try to get people to think I'm stupid, or if they form that opinion without my help, I don't try too hard to correct it.  Folk think you're stupid, they tend to leave you be.    

[ultralongrunner]

Speaking of perceptions, I did some work as a bouncer once in a very tough bar.  I stand six-two and weighed at the time about 160.  We had some big boys with no necks, but when they got their butts kicked, I'd go in and solve the problem. Learned that pain compliance techniques didn't work, so I would bounce them on concrete and knock the wind (and fight) out of them.

Dropped one guy once, he got up and started waving a knife in my face.  I don't remember what I did, but he ended up with a broken wrist, elbow and dislocated shoulder and I ended up with the knife.  The responding JBT asked why I hurt him so badly.  I replied that I must have been in a good mood when I acted because I usually killed people who came at me with a knife.  He didn't seem to understand, and sadly, I lost my job (it was an easy way to meet girls).

At the local university, I'm an English major, finishing up my BA.  Still about the same build. But in my bookbag, along with my texts is a Glock 30 and an extra magazine.  In the same state where I live, some nutcase came into a classroom and started blasting away with a gun.  Ain't gonna happen when I'm in school...

ultralongrunner

[freewoman]

I've been thinking about this thread in light of the poor Brazilian guy in London.  He's wearing a heavy coat in warm weather, he doesn't stop when they say stop, he's dead.  Turns out he was afraid of being mugged.  (Haven't heard an explanation on the heavy coat yet.)  The man is dead because of perceptions, on his part and the bobbies', whether they were correct or not.

Perceptions are truly important, and could mean life or death.  I've concluded that it's about awareness--being aware of your surroundings, aware of the psychological climate around you, aware of yourself and how you might be perceived.

This latter issue can be difficult for individualists who are accustomed to not caring what others think of them.  So these folks are liable to be perceived in a way they don't want to be perceived simply because they don't give a rip about what others think.  I'm not sure if I'm being clear here; it doesn't read the way I want it to sound.

I have spent most of my life pretending to be someone I'm not in order to please others.  For the last 7 years or so I've been working on getting away from that tendency.  It's very difficult to do, but I'm finally starting to see some results.  Now I'm realizing that I have to be careful not to take that "I don't care what you think about me" attitude too far in the other direction.  In order to be left alone as much as possible, I have to walk a pretty thin line.  

Balance is one of the most difficult things to learn in life.  I haven't arrived yet.  Thanks, y'all, for your posts.  They have given me much meditative fodder over the last couple of days!

PL

[dogsledder54]

Phil: they were good posts. No need to appy-polly-loggy. But now, we DO expect smartness from you.  

[Pagan]

PL:

(Haven't heard an explanation on the heavy coat yet.)

Well, they apparently didn't find a weapon on him, so it wasn't to hide anything. Maybe he just had no safe place to keep the coat. Not knowing what the weather would be, he brought it with him, and then was stuck trying to carry it around -- so he wore it.

Perceptions are truly important, and could mean life or death. I've concluded that it's about awareness--being aware of your surroundings, aware of the psychological climate around you, aware of yourself and how you might be perceived.

This latter issue can be difficult for individualists who are accustomed to not caring what others think of them. So these folks are liable to be perceived in a way they don't want to be perceived simply because they don't give a rip about what others think. I'm not sure if I'm being clear here; it doesn't read the way I want it to sound.

You're being quite clear and I agree with you on all counts.

The point I keep going back to is we cannot answer for other people's perceptions, we just don't know how they are going to respond. If we try too hard to fit in a mold, we can be suspect the same as if we don't try at all. In short, we have little  control over how we will be perceived, even when we try to manipulate that perception]/I] by our own actions.

We also 'perceive' certain attributes and attitudes online, from posters here; we 'perceive' how they may look and what kind of personality they carry around with them. And we might be wrong, as well as right.  
(We ASSUME they are Honest... Righteous... Life-affirming fireflies on a quest for Freedom, right? :-))

"Perception" is a mental process, a learning process, as well as a process of the senses. Once perceived, nothing may change that perception.
Libertarianism itself is perceived badly, based on what people have heard and read -- however true or false that information was. And ithat perception is very hard to alter, even when we go out of our way to explain the REAL libertarianism.
Likewise information about libertarianism (to continue the example) may have been factual, and the listener may have understood it correctly -- but if the listener's idea of political perfection is the Democratic Party, then libertarianism will never be accepted by that person because it is perceived as both immoral and unworkable.

(Didn't mean to sidetrack this into the political; I realize we're talking about personal perception here. But it is for the above reason that I think we should make our plans for the future and for our lives, and not worry about how we are perceived. Perception originates from the observer, and there may be nothing we can do about it.)
 

[thedave]

Phil made an interesting point about Perceptions.  I'd like to add something that is, seemingly, unrelated, but is more germane than you might think.  It concerns how one wears one's weapons. 

While travelling last year, I had a few knives with me.  A folder, a hip-worn knife, and a straight up no doubt fighting weapon that I carried as checked baggage when flying.  I always wear one, you see, and had tools for different environments.

Fast forward to Germany.  By the time I got to Hamburg, I'd lost the folder, given away the hip knife, and only had the fighter. <sigh>  What's a boy who feels naked to do?  Wear the fighter, of course.    When out and about, I'd wear a jacket to conceal the thing, but didn't really give much thought to it.  I'm sed to wearing knives, you see.  Well, when in the flat I was staying at, I would take off the jacket.  Funny thing:  I tripped around the place for a week before anyone noticed this big assed knife at the back of my waste. 

"My God!  That's a knife!"

<turning to see what she's pointing at>  "Uhhhhh... Yeah.  That's a knife."  <turn back to doing dishes>

"Really!  That's a big knife!"

"Ummmm.... Eeerrrrrrmmm.  Yeah.  So?"  <shrugging>

"Where did you get it?"

"Had it."

"oh."

<chuckle>

You see, I put a knife on like putting on a piece of clothing.  To me, it's a part of my attire.  A useful one, to be sure, but part of my attire nonetheless.  That perception, on my part, kept folks from having this big ass fighting knife register as a weapon, IMO.  I could probably do the same with a firearm, or any other tool for that matter. 

It's not just getting places you shouldn't that Perceptions matter, folks.  Just a thought.

Balance

D

[onlyfittin]

Often, clothes make the man (or woman).  I've noticed that the thrift stores often have complete donated uniforms from ex-empoyees of various businesses.  This includes some of the national delivery businesses.  Even a work shirt with a name on it coupled with work pants and shoes tends to give a certain impression.  Once, while wearing jeans and a cowboy hat and walking around in a country store (I'd been in the hills a few days) I sold a tourist from the east coast a set of boots. Oh, well.  All the sales people were too busy.

[badmuggafugga]

Ah, but did you get your commission?

[onlyfittin]

Not a cent. 

[Rarick]

I knew a cop with a reputation for stopping people who consistently drove 'legally', because he thought they were trying to stay under the radar -- which made them suspicious to him.

I hope I don't run into that guy.  I was driving home from my wage-slavehood the other day and a cop pulled in behind me.  I drove exactly 40 miles per hour (the speed limit) for three miles, which, lemme tell ya, is not an easy task without cruise control.  He kept looking down at his computer and his radar readout and I just know that son of a bitch was trying to catch me speeding.  But I wouldn't let him do it, so HA!

See, I'm going to get killed on day because of something like this.

When a cop pulls behind me and starts checking his speed, I do things like speed up to 3 mph over for 2 seconds, then drop back to the speed limit, then edge back up one....    oh.... two....... maybe three mph, then drop back down, then I go just an edge below the speed limit, for just long enough that he has to tap his brakes.

Now, I try to use environmental excuses, such as bumps in the road or inclines and curves to "justify" my speed variation.

I also do things like suddenly need to clean my winshield wiper with all of the fluid in the resevoir.  You know how those old cars are, they spray the stuff all over the car behind them as much as on the winshield.

I had a set of headlights apear behind me one nite on one of those dark urban roads.  I was on my way to work and knew it was a bad area.  I made 2 turns basically to see if I was being tagged for some reason.  Eventually I  figured lites were an answer, and as I was approaching a 7-11 I saw the car pull up closer, still no Idea who it was.  When ran the stop lite to get into the lit parking lot, I finally recognized the police cruiser.  I sat for a good 30 seconds, nothing happened, so I called the cell phone and asked if there was a police cruiser XXXXX numbers of the side, in the area.  I got a yes answer. I told them that he had either go away, or I would file for harrasment, and explained why.  I then got out of the car, and waved him over, explained the buttons he pushed and told him to go away.  I also explained the cellphone call.  I was not exactly polite, he started to pufF up, and I told him that my phonecall to the dispatch would serve as additional proof of his harrassment.  I got back in my car and dialled the dispatch number while he continued to sit there.  The sgt showed up I explained things to him, and expained that the officer insisted on sitting there instead of moving on.  I explained if the continued illegal detention continued, I would file charges.  That seemed tio solve things, they evaporated. fortunately that job was a salary position so time was flexible, but I wrote a complaint anyway.  3 miles in the dark with a tailgater of unknown intentions........

Perception affects a lot of things, and knowing how to manipulate it can save a lot of trouble.  I had just picked up 4 cases of .50BMG for a buddy and we were going to the range in the morning, but I was not about to allow a search for "suspicious behavior".  I had my plans, and wasn'rt going to allow a "theft for public saftey" happen and ruin them. All of it was in the trunk, but why give the initiative away.

I definately gotta get a .50 cal rifle to include in the goodies.  Hitting someone from across a valley is a serious advantage, and definately and excellent wat to say "you're tresspassing"  In a TEOTWAWKI situation.  (a couple of rounds thru tires or a trailer hitch?) The Big Hole also makes a statement to those who may recognise what it means.

[anachronism]

I've made a lifetime of being as invisible as possible. I don't ever stand out unless it's important for me to do so. Remember, the high nail gets hammered.

Your perceptions are your reality, right or wrong, intelligent or otherwise. Other peoples perceptions are their realities. How do you want to appear? I don't want to appear on someone else's radar at all.

[khagler]

I've been thinking about this thread in light of the poor Brazilian guy in London.  He's wearing a heavy coat in warm weather, he doesn't stop when they say stop, he's dead.  Turns out he was afraid of being mugged.  (Haven't heard an explanation on the heavy coat yet.)  The man is dead because of perceptions, on his part and the bobbies', whether they were correct or not.

It actually came out within the weeks after the shooting (to much less media attention, of course) that he wasn't wearing a heavy coat, hadn't run, and was never told to stop. The cops who murdered him made all that up to cover their mistake.

[mutti]

Hide in plain sight. I like that.

Unasumming, conservative housewife. Cans, milks goats, raises the kids. Little bit of an opinionated mouth, but just general "Jane Doe". 

Screw with me though and I might remember my former "irritated from South Central 'tude" mitigated by a little bit of military training and wake your tush up.

Mutti

[Ponce]

In this Micky Mouse one mule town is very hard to look normal because every one is abnormal, by that I mean that they are either on drugs or on welfare and stamps........ in order to blen in I would have to grow a beard wear old clothes and walk like a zombie, I refuse to do that.

About "perception", as a dumb Cuban refugee with a 10th grade education that's what made me such a good garage inventor "perception" is not what is but what you can make it be.

A friend of mine had an assignment where he was supposed to write as to how many different things he could do with a glass ashtray and he asked me for my help......well, I gave him 112 different uses and the next guy had only 39 and he (me) was the only only one to write that it could be use for cigarettes ashes.

For WTSHTF I do have some special decals for my SUV together with an all white monkey suit with a respirator and some special patches and other goodies.......no one will get withing 50 feet from me hahahahahahaah.

Is not what is but what you make it be by making others believe...... Ponce