Appearance and Misperception - Essay Example

Most often are times when an individual gets judged and conclusions made because of the physical traits or misconceptions. People do not take a chance to understand a person but rather draw conclusions on the grounds of appearance, physical attributes, race or color. The mistaking of individuals is in the form of a positive trait or a negative trait. People might be mistaken for being good while spending time with them shows that they are not (Bradley and Francis 98). Some individuals are flawed as bad only to realize that the person is different and possess some great traits after spending time together. The misperception is a common trait that manifests in many individuals who opt to judge people based on their physical characteristics. This manifests in the form of race, gender, appearance or even dressing.

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I came to realize the depth of misperception during my holidays. I went to a friends birthday party in a restaurant. Everybody was in their best moods till midnight when trouble emerged. Some guys started fighting over a lady disrupting everything in the party. One man started shooting abruptly, and everyone ran for their safety bringing the party to a premature end. The police intervened, and consequent shootouts ensued between the police and the guys who were fighting. Everyone had to run for their safety, so I escaped with my friend.

Given that the restaurant was out of town and we did not know the area well, we had to run away from the scene before we could get to safety. There was no time to locate my car and drive it or take our phones and some cash. In this case, we did not have any finances that could take us home or a phone that we could call anyone for assistance. After we had reached a safe distance, we decided to take shelter outside some business premises till dawn so that we could plan for the next step. Unfortunately, guard of the buildings approached us and shouted: I have no business with a prostitute tonight, check somewhere else. This frightened us as we realized that people were taking us for prostitutes given the dress code for the party. Efforts to convince the guard bore no fruit and we continued seeking for shelter elsewhere. Our dressing attracted this as we wore moderately short dresses and heels for the party.

We did not cover a reasonable distance before we saw an approaching cab. We called upon the driver to give us a lift to our residence, but he declined. He started making sexual advances to us so that he could take us home claiming that we should not be asking for a free ride we had made enough for the night. An approaching police car made things hard for us as the police threatened to arrest us if we continued nagging them. As a last resort, we decided to spend the night in a dark part of the street so that we could walk to our homes in the morning.

As we walked to our homes in the morning asking for our way around, no one was willing to listen to our story. Showing us the direction to our residence was the only kind thing that the residents could offer us. Most people were afraid of us, and no one helped us around that with a few directions, we managed to get home. This was the most tiresome night of our lives, walking a long distance on heels in a short dress, with all the eyes on us.

Our story corresponds to the story Just Walk On by Staples. The young black journalist is facing discrimination simply because he is black. The experience started when he was a graduate (Staples and Brent 38). She met a girl in her twenties who ran away from him when she felt that the distance between them was too short. The guy felt that he was conspicuously different from other people in the vicinity simply because of his color. Whenever he went to the streets, all drivers were slamming their doors in fear of him. The black people seem to thugs, and whenever the journalist rushed into premises, fast people would take him for a thief and raise the alarm.

In conclusion, misperception by appearance is an importantly born trait in our society. It is not uncommon to be mistaken for what you are not in the streets of the town. Many people have been labeled inappropriately and suffered adverse consequences such as beating and to the extent of being killed. The truth comes out after an interaction with individuals in question whereby one knows about them. The night we were mistaken for prostitutes and denied help after running for safety, and the story of the young black journalist of Negro origin is an evidence of what one can go through in the midst of people who judge solely because of the appearance.

Works cited

Bradley, Francis Herbert. Appearance and reality: a metaphysical essay. Routledge, 2016.

Russell, Bertrand. "Appearance and reality." (2009)

Staples, Brent. "Just walk on by A black man ponders his power to alter public space." Lit. Cavalc 50 (1998): 38.