People Watching

     Now I'm sure most people, considering humans tend to be very socially observant, take time to look around at the people in their location. People watching works best in large public areas where many group of people come together with seemingly no past or outside connections. Amusement parks and malls seem the be great candidates for people watching, and my experience will come to you from my recent endeavor to Six Flags. One of the first things to judge is appearance, which is obvious and quite important. See, you can tell from what they look like their self appreciation and social class! If you see someone dressed in a huge Chicago Bulls jersey, they are obviously comfortable about themselves enough to not care about how they appear to others. This isn't completely correct, but no guesses and assumptions will be correct unless you actually know this person. Unfortunately for Six Flags, most people are not low on the social class otherwise they wouldn't be there. Even if someone walks into a wealthier privilege, they will fit in just fine. You usually can't tell someone's income based solely off their appearance. This assumption, although borderline stereotypical and racist, takes behavior and social observations which are even harder to decipher.
     You see, it's easy to classify people into two distinct groups based on the amount of socialization.  For example, people who are talking a lot about their lives outside of the amusement park are usually people who know each other very very well.  People who don't talk or talk mainly about what is going on in the moment don't.  Often times siblings will fall in the silent category, and it's easy to tell that they are just putting up with each other for the purpose of enjoying rides without looking lonely.  See, that's the monstrous necessity that people tend to carry on their backs when in public, and that necessity is camaraderie.  If someone is alone at a place like Six Flags, the first thing you feel is pity for their lonely lifestyle.  Now, let's "take a walk in their shoes" especially because I know what it's like to be alone at an amusement park because of unrelated reasons.  Maybe their group split up because the lonely member actually enjoys roller coasters and wants to ride a few while he or she is at Six Flags!  Maybe they have no friends that enjoy amusement parks, so they have to come alone.  In this case I feel deep pity and wish that loneliness wasn't such a socially awkward thing, but people have created this pattern and it's very disproportionate when someone doesn't quite fit.
     The money factor is often considered when people watching, especially because money is an easy way to classify many parts of a person's presumed life.  This sounds a lot like classifying people into races which is another way to predict a person's characteristics.  When you establish someone as rich, the things you can assume are very rude towards the entire upper class.  For example, you can assume they have a big house and have petty problems regarding trivial problems that only rich people have to deal with.  Unfortunately, most of the people at Six Flags have expendable income otherwise they wouldn't even think about spending excessive amounts of money for overpriced "fun".
     The last and most obvious thing to observe while people watching is appearance.  It's not the most innocent way to view other people and it's quite shallow, but appearance is the most static and reliable way to make generalizations about strangers.  Appearance is very self explanatory and you are probably subconsciously judging people on their looks without even knowing.
 

I actually took this picture after we left the amusement park.  I thought it would be a pristine way to show my appreciation for decoration which really doesn't exist.  

It just looks so innocent and picturesque despite the mayhem that it causes to its riders.  This is a very nice coaster and it's still thrilling after having been on it repeatedly.  

"It just goes up and up and up" 

It amazes me how people are willing to stand and wait for an hour to ride a rollercoaster!  It amazes me how I'm willing to do this as well!  

It's so indie!  I saw the sun behind the coaster and thought that with a disappointing iPod camera and useful filters I could create a nice photo.  

You would think this was while we were waiting in line for hours, but it is rather when we were standing outside in the parking lot waiting to avoid an awkward early arrival to the bus.