AIBU to expect some respect as a member of a minority group

Greatnan can't join the heights gang as there will be 'edges' on the paths that will upset me! However I will enjoy being in the 'sea swimmers in the rain' gang!

If you want to be in a minority then move abroad. That's good training and you soon get used to it. Sometimes when the people in your chosen country are being annoying then you can feel above it all! As to my homeland. I feel in the minority because I think the olympics is just sport after all and not worth the fuss that has been made about it.
If we all take time to think about it each person is in her/his own minority.

Count me in - I love swimming in the sea in the rain! I think Juragran might join us too!

I'll join your group Greatnan, you might like to join my 'swimming in the sea in the rain' minority group too

I seem to be in a minority - I love heights! The higher the better for me.

Your tongue in cheek post was most welcome nanaej and I love the idea of a squid of crustacean lovers absent

As the OP can I just say I posted 'tongue in cheek'!!

The DM has one of the bigger circulations and I suppose is 'vox popularis' so bound to be more represented here on GN.

It's not what you read that matters but how you digest/ consider/ use /reflect on the information you read!

When people say 'they must be a DM reader' I notice a few DM readers get quite defensive. What I guess people should say is 'they must agree with DM on this subject' perhaps that would be more accurate and less contentious.

baNana That was my point..we can all find something about ourselves that puts us in some minority or other.. what matters IMO is how we respond to that position.

Re shellfish... among my group of friends Iam the only one who does not like shellfish!!

Bags I agree. As I said on a previous post some can get too hung up on the papers they read, and it seems almost daily on Gransnet all roads lead to the Daily Mail on one post or another. I don't feel we should have to defend our reading matter, it's a personal choice. I like others on this site read a cross section which include The Times, The Independent, we used to take the Observer on Sundays but my husband switched to the Sunday Times because he prefers their financial pages, I was annoyed at the time because I was used to the Observer's format and I still get it up on line. Worst of all we sometimes take the much criticised Daily Mail which as we are frequently and no doubt reliably informed on Gransnet is the route to all evil and defines its readers as small minded, judgemental, homophobic and no doubt racist as well! As far as falling into a minority category I think many could look into our respective backgrounds and find we are not what the Americans would term as "WASPS" I know that certainly applies to me one of my grandparents was an immigrant as were three great grandparents, one of my closest friends of well over 30 years is West Indian, I just don't think it's a big deal!

vamp, the Grauniad get more embarrasing by the day! This is spoken by someone who "grew up" on it and loved it! I still read it and there is still good writing in it, but it can be monumentally annoying in its bias sometimes.

As can other papers in other ways.

Which is why I read a selection from across the board online.

alison Great minority to be in!

How refreshing AlisonMA, something totally different.

vampirequeen I'm with you on the Daily Mail. I keep it a secret!! I also read the Times!

I think I can out minority you ladies! I read the Dancing Times and Dance Europe so there. OK, off to the gym before I am in trouble for trivialisation

I dream of being a Guardian reader.......surely it's not as embarassing as admitting to reading the Daily Mail like I do

nanaej Are people who don't eat shellfish in a minority? In the UK? In the world? And if so, why do they need defending? Is there a squad (squid?) of crustacean lovers racing around with buckets of shellfish and forcing mussels down the throats of unsuspecting members of the public?

Thanks bags and yours too..I am sure we could enjoy healthy debates over coffee/tea/wine/beer if we were neighbours!

Glamma it is second to bottom on the newspaper circulation list.. only the Independent is lower and that is the other paper I read regularly! I do check out other papers on line so I see a balance and a friend passes on the The Morning Star.

I have no problem being a minority ...I am in many other ways too! Dad was a mixed race immigrant in the 40s and from Palestine. I married a red head (see other thread 'Ginger'), I don't eat shellfish, I am socialist... the list could go on....

I do not take on the role of underdog /victim because I was always brought up to stand up for what you believe in, to defend the vulnerable and also to be able to debate (family of lawyers and decorators!) which means you do have to listen to another point of view so you can have a clear 'defence'!

It would take me a long time to name all the things I read, the vast majority of which probably put me into a minority grouping of some kind or another. I'm so used to feeling like one of the odd ones out that I think it'd be a bit weird if I didn't feel like that.

[shrug emoticon]

nanej, I like your posts.

Yes, I read The Guardian too - and The Australian (the nearest thing here, though inclined to the Right). Also the State newspaper, the Courier Mail.I look at the Daily Mail and the Queensland Times sometimes too - neither very worthy but both have some info in them, when read with a suspicious mind! I dip into the New York Times, and read the Huffington Post most days. If something happens in the world I try to read a paper local to where it happened, if I understand the language.

My first news on a morning is the BBC online.

I read the Guardian, too, but it's one amongst several. It's always been ridiculed for its typos (Grauniad). I don't think any British papers give me enough of a flavour of what's going on in the world, so I read overseas papers online, also. I like the Huffington Post, Private Eye, Observer and Independent, and check out what is reported in other papers for comparison. You can claim to be in a minority nanaej but there will be no concessions for intelligence or political leanings!

It's your lookout if you choose to abandon the safety of the main group. You've got to be tough if you want to be a Guardian reader [sarky emoticon]

and don't even think about complaining. I'm just giving you this advice for your own good

I thought it was required reading....

nanaej - you are among friends! Plenty of us read several papers, including the Guardian, every day.

nanaej You can't be in a vast minority as it has a good circulation