They suspected that I was a liberal simply because of my interest in science. They were correct to assume that in my case, but I still found it amazing that they'd think that way.
Many of my coworkers never went to college, and I suspect that they couldn't handle the challenges from professors that happened so often when I was in school years ago. I have no idea if that's still the norm, but the professors at my school didn't let some uninformed or unsupported argument from a student just slide to spare their feelings (or whatever) when I attended.
The most recent example of a poorly educated coworker getting ENRAGED at me was after he erroneously proclaimed that this country was founded with no taxation at all after the Revolutionary War and we needed to return to that policy. When I told him that we had taxes from the start, and for many years prior since taxation without government representation in England was a big part of it, he just kept yelling, "You're not listening to me!" as his face kept getting more red.
So I said, "Okay, maybe I misunderstood. Are you saying that this country had NO taxes during and immediately after the Revolutionary War?" Him: "Yes!" Me: "Then you're wrong about that, and I've seen multiple examples of taxes during that period during my past genealogical research alone." Him: "You're still not listening to me! It's impossible to deal with YOU PEOPLE!"
Whatever.
EDIT: I try to avoid discussing politics at work, but most right-wing coworkers (who tend to be loud-mouths about their political beliefs) figure out that I'm a liberal anyway. I don't drive a gigantic pickup truck, don't project some super-macho persona in an ostentatious manner, show an interest in science, politely don't engage in religious topics with them, etc.
And I sometimes wonder if Jews were looked at just as suspiciously in Germany before the Holocaust and before they had to wear identifying patches.
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