Which one is more likely to rob a bank?
They are as likely as each other. An item of clothing can't change a persons intentions, nor can show someone's motive.
Applied to the above case they are in fact the same person, shame on you for thinking that Bob wearing a cap would rob a bank. Bob's head gets cold sometimes and other times he struggles to read his computer...
Applied to the above case they are in fact the same person, shame on you for thinking that Bob wearing a cap would rob a bank. Bob's head gets cold sometimes and other times he struggles to read his computer...
Stereotypes.
No matter whether we disagree or agree with stereotyping, we all have fallen victim to stereotyping people. Stereotyping is deeply embedded in everyday society and hardwired into our brains via the constant stream from media. It's the foundations of socialising, entertainment, advertising, comedy...
Whilst writing this and watching 'American Dad' the character Steve Smith has just been labelled as a geek; I find it unfair to use this for entertainment purposes. But why do I continue to laugh? This to me is proof that even though we understand stereotyping is wrong, we continue to use it to make ourselves feel better and increasingly worthy by diminishing others. The same as why we watch comedy. If there was a ban on stereotyping, BBC Three would have no shows... Then what would I watch every night... As humans we need people to laugh at and push down to boost our own confidence; to make us feel that we have the best life going. When in fact we don't.
I have personally been labeled a geek the majority of my life. I try in desperation to convince myself that I don't mind this as 'there's nothing wrong with being slightly clever or wearing glasses', but yet I still deter myself from wearing my glasses... My subconscious wants me to be 'normal' (whatever that is) and to be normal I must laugh at others so that their differences are highlighted instead of mine. We are all guilty of this. But yet we are all only different by 0.1%. Well genetically at least. But our choices that makes us who we are shouldn't influence us to have an opinion over anybody before you know them.
An open mind should be kept until evidence is given to justify any opinions you have about a stranger. Don't listen to me though. I'm probably writing this in order to ease some sort of guilty conscious. I far too quickly judge people and hate this flaw. On many occasions I have severely misjudged the characteristics of many people who I thought to be bone-idle stupid chavs... Surprisingly enough their excessive wearing of tracksuits didn't hinder their intelligence.
Because we know the race, faith, customs, sexuality, fashion styles and other differences of a person, we shouldn't have the privilege of being able to judge their personality or degree of intelligence. Jumping to conclusions over someone's character and then degrading them does not make us civilised.
The most civilised specie?
I enjoyed that and thought it brought up some interesting issues.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that our inclination to stereotype against people also has natural roots. For our hunter-gatherer ancestors the ability to make quick judgements on people based on how they look, what they wear and how they act might have been very important, if not vital. For example, they might have seen a group of people wearing a particular type of headress and thought "Hey, he's a member of the kluck-kluck tribe. He probably wants to kill us." So in the modern age this part of the human psyche manifests itself with the enemy tribes being replaced with entire social, religious or national groups (which are often built up by the media as you quite rightly said). Well, at least that's my take on it.
'Geeks' put a man on the moon, so be proud of your geekiness!
I look forward to your future posts :-)
You logic is very notable, the fact that we may still use many of our ancestral habits in our modern lives is really interesting. :) Thank you very much for your comment.
ReplyDelete