Dickc, my point was simply that your height makes you different, not better or worse. I think Madhatter calling these differences “defects” is wrong and insulting.Dickc wrote:Would you care to address the societal bias against people with height? Everything is built for shorter people. There are automobiles I cannot even consider when car shopping as I cannot get the seat far enough back! I have less than one inch between my leg and the dash in my wife's Accord. It does concern me as any slight deformation in an accident and my leg and knee are toast. According to some liberal schools of thought, all those cars I am to big to fit in or that are too small for my safety should be banned!Rime & Reason wrote:Sorry Dickc, but Madhatter seems to think you only have 2 options. Choice or Genetic Defect, and since you did not choose to be that tall ...Dickc wrote:I am 6' 5 1/2" in a world where almost everyone else is shorter. Many things are built shorter so I am constantly whacking my head on things that are too low.
Now my question is: Is that a genetic defect or a short coming by society for failing to take tall people such as myself into account?
I, on the other hand, think you merely have a genetic difference. Not better, not worse, just different. We all have them. Unfortunately, Maddie wants to be harshly judgmental with his labels and can’t understand why nobody wants to talk to him about it.
All that is just one category of discrimination we face simply for being on the high side of the height bell curve.
I disagree with your statement, “Everything is built for shorter people.” I know many people that are shorter than average that would say the exact opposite! I think most things are built for average height people. Okay, airline seats and other situations where businesses are trying to squeeze in as many people as possible – those are biased against you larger types. But cars, doors, beds, bikes, etc. are generally built to fit the greatest number of people, or average sized folks. I guess short men, and tall women have an advantage as their size difference overlaps the other gender’s “normal” range, but short women probably find it just as annoying as the taller guys do. That would be an interesting topic for debate ... should companies be required to make products fit a larger range of body sizes? As you mentioned, with something like automobiles this becomes a serious safety issue.
Again, not trying to hate on short or tall people. I was just trying to turn Madhatter’s negative language around and personalize it for him, so that he could understand why so many people find his style of posting here to be offensive and not worth responding to.