Prejudice vs. Expectation

Last time I wrote about getting out of the comfort zone. I took a little actionable step, in the name of progress, and went to a coffee house to write this post, multiple times actually. I know that this sounds a bit silly, but I don’t usually go out in my day to day life, mostly just going to work and to get groceries, while the COVID-19 quarantines made things even worse - because I developed a bad habit of excessively using food delivery apps. Coffee shops, on the other hand, are noisy and there’s a lot of other people (these usually go hand in hand for some odd reason), but then again, not much other distractions that I have at home. This is what I expected and this got me thinking, what’s the difference between prejudice and expectation, how do they affect my life, and how could I recognize them.

I tried to find definitions for both prejudice and expectation from multiple online dictionaries, like Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary, but none quite covered the specific context I’m looking for. Given some thought, I’ve come up with quite simple definition for both of them. Both of them are a sort of assumption, but they’ve been made differently. Prejudice is an assumption based on incomplete or inexistent knowledge, while expectation is an assumption based on previous experiences. For example, prejudice is about making assumptions about food based on the origin, instead of the actual defining qualities (taste, smell and look - not the Instagram worthiness). Expectation is the assumption that sun will rise in the morning, because it usually does. If not, it will be a plot twist of the millennia.

Two reasons for visiting Georgia

I’m going to continue the theme of surface level epiphanies from the previous post, and draw some examples from my travels. My little story is about a trip to Georgia in summer 2023. I took a train to Helsinki, ferry over the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and a flight to Kutaisi the next morning. The flight was rather long (over 4 hours) due to airspace restrictions over Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine caused by Russian attack on Ukraine.

The question of why might arise, since Georgia isn’t probably on top of most people’s list. There are actually two reasons, and they’re both a bit silly. First of all, I’ve watched way too many bald and bankrupt videos. This is a bit odd, but strangely charismatic bloke from United Kingdom. He goes to the strangest countries, and quite often very off the beaten path, to even stranger cities and towns. I’ve followed him for few years and also wanted to experience some Soviet greatness.

The second reason for a trip to Georgia was DCS World, where DCS stands for Digital Combat Simulator. So it’s a video game, that I played quite a lot during the COVID-19 lockdowns while unemployed. It’s a sandbox style flight simulation game, where you can do anything between goofing around with friends (usually ending up in a giant fireball) to larping a fighter pilot, with high fidelity fighter jet and advanced weapon systems that require months or even years of studying. The basic theater, or simply map of the game is situated in Georgia, so it was funny little field trip to share with friends I made during the lockdowns. Some might even describe it as a low-key pilgrimage to the DCS shrines.

I admit having some second thoughts before the trip, some may have been prejudice, some may have been expectations. We’re talking about ex-Soviet country at the far side of Europe, and while safety isn’t usually the issue in the east (I think you’re more likely getting stabbed in Paris - this is also a true fact from the internet), things still probably work a bit differently. Not to mention that Georgia has been partly under Russian occupation since 2008, and I travelled during the Ukraine conflict. So, admittedly, I had some reserved thoughts.

How did it turn out? I was wrong and nervous for nothing, mostly, maybe apart for the traffic. I mean, you think you’re fine going only 90 at 60 limit area in the darkness of the night, but then you notice the driver’s speedometer is actually in MPH. The speed limit was in KMH and we were, just to make it clear, going about double over it.

Georgia wasn’t actually that Soviet at all, at least in the places I visited, so it turned out being a little disappointment. Tasty food and many friendly stray dogs though, wanted to rescue them all. The reality was rather anti-Soviet, even joyfully anti-Russian as I saw many graffitis basically telling Moscow to burn. I think the Georgians are even less impressed by the Russia’s actions, than rest of the civilized world.

Changing the path gives new experiences

I also took a small detour from usual comfort zone limited travel. Many people, myself included, tend travel to the capital cities. This time I visited other cities than capital, going for the less obvious route. I arrived in Kutaisi and spent most of the time there, with little additional hops to Batumi and Tbilisi. Cities differ even in rather small countries, like Georgia with its 3.7 million population. For example Kutaisi is a very old city (one the oldest settlements in the history of humanity) with neoclassical architecture, Batumi was weird mix of soviet brutalism and Dubai esque skyscrapers, while the capital city of Tbilisi was actually quite cozy for a capital city of 1.1 million people.

I’ll need to give a special little shoutout about Batumi, as I had practically zero expectations of the city. Turned out it’s a bit touristy place, almost like one of those beach resort towns in Greece that I visited as a kid. While I tend to avoid too tourist destinations as general principle, I kinda enjoyed my short stay there. Moment of peace from usually busy travel, but without any obnoxious tourists.

Also, my secret boomer identity finally allowed me to try ride sharing services, Bolt to be exact. I usually tend to just walk or use trams and metros while on the go, limiting the possible quests, so this opened new possibilities. But then again, the traffic…

What I learned

I learned that prejudice is one source for discomfort and it can stop me from pursuing something I’m genuinely interested in. It may positive or negative prejudice, but it may also not be correct at all in either case. Prejudice is based on lack of information, at least by my own earlier definition. I lack information on many things, to be honest, probably on most things.

Expectation may be based on some truth, but it may also be completely wrong. But go for it. It turned out that my home district in Tampere is much more Soviet than ex-Soviet country. Expectation is based on previous information. My information is terribly often from the internet, biased and catered to my specific taste by the algorithm, so obviously it’s always the one and only truth (it’s not).

A country is a loose connection of things like politics, cultures, and most of all, just people. It’s rather high level grouping to make assumptions about. If I were to list all the countries in world based on perceived opinion of safety and general enjoyability, in order, there would be quite many countries above Georgia. This little act of bravery opened many new places for a visit and opportunities to take. This trip was one the root causes why I took the month long getaway in Southeast Asia that I mentioned in the previous post. I wanted to give myself enough time to challenge my assumptions and do the things I’m usually reserved about.

Also I learned that sometime doing scary things just for stupid reasons may actually be reasonable, and lead to enjoyable outcome in the end. What stupid thing scares you, and is prejudice stopping you from doing it?