There are a lot of things I hate, but ignorance is a big one. Some people just don’t think before they open their mouths, or, worse, they just don’t care when they do. To them, it doesn’t matter if what they say is offensive or impolite. They’re too busy being focused on opening their big, obnoxious traps to pay attention to any of that.

I have a few tales to tell about some things I‘ve experienced and noticed the past couple of weeks.

The first thing I’d like to share with my readers is the ignorance of students when it comes to the LGBT community. I was in class a couple of weeks ago, and my professor was discussing Katy Perry, questioning why people like her. I said aloud, “Well, she’s really hot.”

This is entirely true. No one can look at Katy Perry and say she isn’t attractive. A lot of the people in the class nodded and mumbled in agreement, but one girl turned to look at me with utter disgust on her face.

“Are you a lesbian?” she asked me in a loud voice, as disdainfully as if I'd said I was a cannibal. I really, really wanted to just tear into her, calling her rude, disrespectful and terrible for stating it in such a horrible way. I’m not a lesbian, but what if someone else in the room was? What if a girl in that room felt degraded or embarrassed by this idiot’s comment? Who did this girl think she was that she could just say something so disrespectfully?

I definitely wasn’t going to let something like this slide, but instead of yelling at her and getting angry I simply answered, “Yes, but don’t worry, I only like pretty girls.” My professor laughed, as did the rest of the class. Quite frankly, she deserved it, because ignorant morons should be laughed at.

Here’s another incident I witnessed, that was in a much more public place: New York City. Now, we all know New York City is full of ignorant people, but it doesn’t make me feel any better when I’m witnessing ignorance and disrespect first hand.

I was standing in line at a McDonald’s for a quick snack, and a woman was standing next to me with her daughter. They were both wearing tutus, and had bows in their hair. The child kept looking up at her mother with the biggest, happiest smile on her face.

This older woman standing behind us leaned forward and said to the mother, “You shouldn’t dress like that in public. Any respectable woman would dress more appropriately, and would make sure her daughter does too.”

Well, the little girl wasn’t having any of this. She turned around and frowned at the older woman. “You can’t talk to my mommy like that,” she said. “Mommy looks beautiful, because she’s wearing what I’m wearing.” This adorable and justified comeback was concluded with her sticking out her tongue at the ignorant woman.

You know you’re doing something wrong when a 5 year old has to tell you so. Come on, people. Think before you speak.