Stereotyping

As anyone knows who reads my notes, I do tend to stereotype. Some people feel that it's wrong to do this. To some it's viewed as a sort of prejudice and to others it might even look like an attempt at socially controlling people.

First I have to say that most of my stereotyping is only for fun. There are hints of truth but only for the purpose of humor. Just trying to imagine someone taking my notes completely serious, is a bit disturbing to me.

As for those who view stereotyping as a form of prejudism, I think it CAN be related but not necessarily. Stereotyping is an observation of consisitant patterns. It's placing what we see in little boxes for the purpose of making sense of the world around us. It's also helpful in quickly describing a person that someone has never met before. People categorize each and every day. It doesn't matter if you're a scientist or a security guard. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stating your personal observations. I believe where stereotyping CAN become wrong is when you use these stereotypes to develope a prejudice. An example of what I mean is that it's okay to say many black people can play basketball well. That's just a general observation and there is almost never anything wrong with the truth. It's only wrong or incorrect if you see a black person walking up that you've never met and say, "Oh, he is black, he's definitely good at basketball." I guess you can say, "Oh, he's black, so I speculate that he may be good at basketball" but it's never good to use stereotypes as a way of knowing something before you actually know it. Especially if it's something negative (the only exception I can think of is if you're walking down a public street and you see someone you assess to be shady, and you cross the street as a precaution). When I see a prissy young girl wearing hoop earrings and thick makeup, I try to ignore the fact that she could be a poptart (vain and selfish). I always try to give each and every individual person the benefit of the doubt. There are so many different types of people out there, you really can't go completely off of stored generalization.

As for my posts being used in some indirect way to attempt social control, well THAT was never my intention. Obviously what I'm saying is an attempt to change things but that doesn't mean I want to CONTROL people. As I see it, there's never anything wrong with stating your dislike for certain things. Often it's helpful if people know that other people can't stand their behavior. We are all entitled to our opinion. In most of my posts I don't really emphasize on change anyway. If you notice, I just merely describe a certain stereotype and then ask you if you've ever met someone like that before.

In closing I just want to AGAIN make it clear that most of my posts are just in light hearted fun, and are not intended to be taken seriously.