Offensive Video
I do not knowingly perpetuate type bias.
I’ve observed rampant type bias on the internet with dismay — especially a bias against sensing types, spread of course by those who prefer to use intuiting to gather their information.
People with a preference for Sensing are often called “sensors” in a dismissive tone, and treated as second class citizens. It’s heartbreaking.
One type expert I know stated that this is a natural development for someone first learning type. It’s normal for someone to use type to bolster their projections and feel better about themselves at first. Over time, they will integrate realizations from their acting out, and eventually cease employing type as a means of rejection rather than understanding others.
Is that true?
Did I do that when I first discovered type?
I can’t remember. It was sooo long ago.
I’ll have to take the expert’s word for it.
Although it still bugs me.
The irony is that the person who prefers iNtuiting and is spewing hate and contempt probably had a Sensing type in their life whilst growing up to thank for ensuring they had food in their belly and a bed to sleep in, not to mention keeping the lights turned on.
One of the problems with widespread bashing of Sensing types is how it makes it unsafe for anyone to prefer sensing as their preferred means of gathering information. Many people who know they have a preference for sensing will either deny or even lie about their true preferences, just to avoid being scapegoated.
Years ago someone even accused me of *insulting* someone by wondering whether they had a preference for sensing, as if it were a deliberate slight. Yet, when you hold all the preferences as equally valuable, how can such a suggestion be received as a slight?
And then there’s the shame someone must feel if they have engaged in “sensor bashing,” only to discover they have sensing preferences themselves — who would want to make that painful admission?
Sometimes I let people know that by insulting Sensing types, they are unwittingly insulting my entire family — nearly all my family members prefer Sensing to iNtuiting. Did you really mean to insult my mother…? It’s occasionally useful to remind people that type is personal, and lives in the world with us.
So it’s kinda weird that I would share the following video, since it’s nothing but a hate-mongering rampage.
Here’s why I am.
First of all, it’s a cartoon, so that in itself telegraphs that it’s caricature. Second of all, by watching it, you grasp just how ridiculous the whole proposition is. It gets hilarious after a bit. Ultimately, it embarrasses the hateful person, which may be the reflective mirror someone needs to awaken them to their bias.
In that spirit, I offer it to you now. You may find it a tad jarring. (Warning: it’s filled with profanity.)
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Was it a mistake to share it? Does it encourage, or discourage, reprehensible behavior?
I coach people to identify and develop their natural personality strengths in order to maximize their potential.
October 5th, 2010 at 5:06 am
I actually think it does neither (encourage or discourage reprehensible behavior). Yes, the grandiose claims that both characters were making made me laugh, especially the line about natural selection someday killing off all the “sensors”. Although it’s a pretty accurate depiction of the kind of conversations I see taking place online about psychological type, I don’t think the people who actually behave like this would ever see it as an object lesson, and the people who don’t behave like that likely just shrug their shoulders and feel glad they’re not so idiotic.
What the video actually does a great job of doing is showing how *identifying with your type preferences* is pointless, and that this is the damage that happens to yourself when you replace real self-knowledge with the stuff of flattering type descriptions. Both characters claim to be “special” types, as opposed to the more ordinary types of people, and both claim to embody traits that they don’t actually demonstrate in their behavior. The ESFJ does not show she has any ability to create goodwill and develop positive relationships. The iNtuitive guy does not say anything intelligent, let alone wise, and certainly not anything that would put him at an advantage over others he despises. If they were real people, I’d guess that both of them felt flattered by reading type glowing descriptions full of praise (hype?) about the types they’ve chosen to identify with, but neither can actually live up to the praise they give themselves about themselves. I wonder how true that is for most people. Is the real problem that type descriptions are written so attractively that they make most people want to surrender their real personality in favor of pretending they’re the embodiment of a type description? Are people that anxious to create a pleasing persona that they’ll identify with whatever will inflate their sense of self? I’m sure that in your work you’ve met people who insult others face to face, but I suppose it’s more common for people to prefer the anonymity of online conversations with people who will never get to find out how they really are, flaws and all. :/