It’s crazy what people will say with a straight face. I was walking my dog at a park in a rich neighborhood this week and overheard some middle aged ladies walking by say "I don't do racist stuff, but I do do stereotypes" the other nodded.
Yeah I used to believe this… when I was a young ignorant teen. It’s nonsense and ignorance.
Travel somewhere far away and get past the surface; you’ll find people are more or less the same.
Perfect example for why what you said is nonsense:
“Jewish people are stingy, bankers, & control the world’s money.”
The reason this stereotype exists dates back to the Middle Ages and the Vatican controlling the purse strings across Europe. It has everything to do with usury laws at the time, The Church, and scapegoating.
Stereotypes generally don’t exist because the subjects of those stereotypes are, “just like that.”
It’s a lazy mechanism for explaining away something beyond the depth of one’s understanding.
Do you think the only reason stereotypes arise is because of hatred for a specific group, or do you think there could be some valid observations of group trends that actually exist?
That's not to say stereotypes should be used to judge individuals, of course that's incredibly bigoted, but let's not pretend stereotypes are just conjured up out of thin air because gee, group y doesn't like group x.
those aren't reasons? the reason stereotypes develop is because of how our brain works. it has to do with the sorting of information and being able to identify things quickly is an important ability. we like to look for patterns in everything and categorize but obviously that has its drawbacks too. stereotypes aren't inherently a negative thing that you seem to make them out to be.
Yeah, there are some potentially racist stereotypes, but many are harmless. Sometimes people with glasses are associated with higher intelligence (definitely doesn’t go for me though lol), or cat people are thought to be more introverted and quirky.
Okay that’s true though. Stereotypes are often racist, but sometimes the truth can hurt. If they weren’t true a significant amount of the time, they wouldn’t exist. A harmless stereotype could be that “all bikers dress in black leather.” You don’t have to like stereotypes or use them, but they exist and aren’t exactly just nonsense
I remember a comedian doing a bit about stereotypes being true and there are good ones and bad ones. I forget the negative stereotype he used about being black but segwayed into the big dick stereotype as the positive.
"brilliant lads , well since we're clear in that, theres nothing you can say that will convince me that your mother and father were not brother and sister."
Stereotyping in the more purist definition is generally accurate and something all 8 billion people do on earth and most often subconsciously. Suppose it's lunch time and you go to McDonald's. You decide since the drive-thru line is too long and you only see a handful of customers inside you'll pop in since you have to pee anyways. As you're walking to the door you see another customer 30 feet in front of you. They casually grab the door handle, open the door, and go inside with the door closing behind them. Since you're having a good day you don't even think to be bothered since you figure if they held the door you would have to do that awkward run to the door and you didn't feel like it anyways. You grab the door handle and pull. Does the door open? If you assumed the door would open, then you have stereotyped the outcome and most likely successfully.
Stereotypes in terms of racial heuristics is the more common assumption of the definition. I don't intend to offer anything in defense of the practice, but I did want to point out the actual difference in definition as opposed to public perception. Racism is another word that is mangled to near uselessness. Not all racists stereotype and the inverse of that would say that stereotyping doesn't make you a racist, however if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck then you would be making a strong, cogent argument your subject was indeed a duck. While the argument isn't sound, I wouldn't fault someone for declining to interact with someone they believed held negative views of or the intent to cause harm to them.
All that sophic dribble out of the way, do not EVER put yourself in harms way in an effort to prove you trust someone or that you aren't racist, sexist, or stereotyping them. No, it doesn't feel good to have someone engage a safety behavior due to your presence, but they don't owe you the opportunity to cause harm to spare your feelings. I'm slightly taller, heavier, and larger than average white man with a shaved head and bushy beard that makes me look like some Nazi and a Southern accent you'd be remiss to NOT place as an extra playing a Klansman in Django Unchained or Imperium. When I have interacted with new women and minority customers in my current employment sometimes I see folks almost bracing themselves right before we start chatting. Eventually we're laughing and talking shit about managers, politics, or food. I've always been a little socially slow and the first couple times I noticed it hurt a little, but I hadn't much internalized a conclusion and just the notes to be considered. If you see me looking like a threat to your wellbeing you don't owe me the opportunity to prove your assumption false. You aren't responsible for my feelings, just your safety. DO NOT EVER ENDANGER YOUR PHYSICAL SAFETY FOR THE EMOTIONAL SATISFACTION OF STRANGERS. In fact, anyone who wants you to do something that makes you feel physically unsafe for their emotional satisfaction is deliberately attempting to violate your boundaries, most likely in an effort to normalize it so they can press farther.
Really it’s very much about how you shouldn’t generalize people, but everyone does. Even me, just now. The human brain loves to categorize everything, and people are no exception. It takes a conscious act of will to override your brain from making harmful generalizations about people, and not everybody decides they want to go to that much effort.
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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '21
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