Stereotypes

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Everyone uses stereotypes. Our brain automatically tags people and matches them an attribute, mostly a negative one. For example, it's "not right" for a woman to work as a handyman, one prefers to date with a white girl, or all south americans use/make drugs.

There is such thing called the Freedom of thought, so everyone has the right to hold an opinion regarding a certain group of people. But when it comes to actions, like killing black people because they are black or swearing gays because they are gays I think it is morally wrong. Opinions kept in one's brain are harmless. But actions against a certain group can result in serious damage to that group. Think about that when you protest against someone, when you write an article to the newspaper about someone, when you make a rumour against someone, when you write on WP about a certain group or a certain individual.

Are you an easy pray to stereotypes? do you act according to them?

leejosepho -

I am reminded of the Desert Father who heard of a man who was said to have attained the highest level of spirituality.

He went to visit the paragon, asked him "If you came across a nakede woman by the roadside had had to carry her in your arms to get help, would you be able to ignore her nakedness?"

"No," was the reply, "but I would focus my thoughts and attention so as not to let my body be stirred."

"Ah" said the old man, then you have NOT attained freedom from temptation, you simply have a degree of mastery over your body."

I'm shortening this.

Anyhow - I will not call you a liar to your face nor assume you are mistaken - but for me, and most of us, and if you are an exception congratulations, I respond individually to the individuals I meet, but I am also aware [though like the man in the story I may not act on it] of the groups to which they belong.

Thus Number 1 Son had as a friend a young person who was in manner of speech and expression a near clone of a formewr student of mine. I could not interact with her without constant awareness of my interactions with the other.

I don't do that stuff probably because I was raised with watching these stereotypical roles constantly broken. My mom was the one who not only worked but fixed cars. My dad watched musicals and buffed his fingers before picking a guitar. My cousin came out of the closet to his family and lived with us for a while and helped my mom fix cars. We were raised not to judge a person by the color of their skin. The only few friends I had as a kid were colored and hispanic. I never have been able to identify with the stereotypical roles women play in the media. But to some degree when I see a guy with a bunch of tattoos cussing his brains out with hardly any clothes on I begin to stereotype. This is something I'm still working on.

Observable similarities and stereotyping have virtually nothing on common ... and of all places for stereotyping to be completely silly, here we are right here on WP!

But of course, yes, all posters in PPR do post ...

I stereotype everybody, even my own kind.

It's my way of quickly weeding through people with whom I have not had the opportunity to get to know on an individual basis so as to develop a real opinion on them. If I do get a chance to learn about someone, I will my opinion evolve as a result of that interaction. So, despite the fact that I stereotype, my stereotypes are not so strong as to prevent my getting to know people as individuals.

I think that saying you do not have stereotypes of any kind, whatsoever is lying to yourself.