Tribal Identification

marmota posted this meme, and its one of the rare few memes I felt was worth doing. I think it bears re-posting here.

Most people, unless they are isolated by something other than their own choice, have some sort of tribe; people to whom they feel an affinity and with whom they are comfortable socially. It might go by any name -- group, circle, crowd -- but they all mean something similar to "tribe" in that birds of a feather tend to gravitate to the tribe to flock together. This meme takes a look at how we judge and appraise people on first sight, and how we refine that appraisal over time. You're welcome to post your own, here or in your own LJ (just delete my answers). Here is mine:

Three visible things about someone that give you the feeling that they could be part of your tribe:

1. A look of genuine openness (smiles or nods if I do)
2. An over-all physical carriage that suggests intelligence and a general liberal nature
3. Doing/reading/watching something I would enjoy doing/reading/watching myself

Three visible things about someone that give you the feeling that they aren't part of your tribe:

1. Violently themed jewelry, tattoos, clothing (this excludes fetishwear -- I refer more to skulls, hate tattoos, etc)
2. Appearance/mannerisms of being hostile, psychotic, or potentially dangerous
3. Has strong body odor when it's apparent that s/he is capable of not stinking, but instead chooses to stink on some kind of principle (i.e., not homeless, not in just-finished-jogging state, etc. I know smell isn't visual, but it's sensory.)

Three characteristics you learn about someone that give you the feeling that they could be part of your tribe:

1. Is a theatre person
2. Is socially liberal (fiscally conservative can usually be worked around)
3. Laughs more than they complain

Three characteristics you learn about someone that give you the feeling that they aren't part of your tribe:

1. S/he tests people by seeing how hard they'll work to get to know her/him (because I simply won't, and then we'll never get to find out if we're tribally alike)
2. Is a homophobe, racist, or approves of the Bush administration
3. Uses chronic poor spoken grammar if they are a native English speaker (non-native speakers exempt)

____
I enjoyed this meme, and it really helps in examining one's judging patterns.

I'm a very close watcher of body language and mannerisms, and those are more important in my early impressions of people than things like what they're wearing. It's still a form of judgmentalism -- and lets face it, we are ALL judgmental on one level or another -- but over the years I developed a sense for non-spoken communication, and though I don't always react to it, I do see it. I'll notice a nervous tic much sooner than I'll notice an accessory or hairstyle. I can't tell you what color most of my friends' eyes are, but I can tell you whether they use them expressively, or avoid doing so.

One point that I'd be wrong to ignore is that I live in a local community of people who, in large part, are very similar to me. Most are liberal, white-collar, urban to some degree, middle-earning, and in some way creative. I'm the same, and my answers above do reflect the fact that I don't come in contact with a more heterogeneous cross-section of people as regularly as, say, someone living in NYC would, and I don't experience as strong difference between me and the culture surrounding me as perhaps a goth in rural Texas bookish yankee gaijin in Tokyo would (waves to scholargipsy). So my choices in tribe versus not-tribe are fairly micro, rather than macro.

Your results will very likely vary. I don't believe in meme tagging because I find it childish and inconsiderate, but I really would be quite interested in seeing your answers, whoever you are, should you care to share.