Cambridge Mass. Now there's a stereotype we down in Connecticut all love to hate.
Stereotyping isn't necessarily a bad thing. The idea that it is is a bit of a stereotype in itself.
Back in my Sociology classes the texts all point to stereotyping steming from the need for humans to be able to organize data. We sort everything we come in contact with and label it so that it gets sorted into out memory. If we didn't it would take much longer for us to learn and memorize.
Where we get into problems is that people don't look at stereotypes as being a case of "probable" but turn them into 100% certainty. Once a stereotype is reinforced a few times our brain stops sorting the information and just pidgeon-holes it and we make assumptions from there. That works as long as the assumption is true but when you run into the situation where the assumption doesn't hold then you have friction.
Back in the 1700s if you ran into a 25 year old woman on the steet that you didn't know you would probably have stereotyped her as a wife, mother and homemaker and in most cases you'd have been correct. Times change and women's roles have changed. The stereotype doesn't hold up any more. If you made that assumption today you'd probably be wrong as often (or maybe even more often) as you'd be right.
Letty, I know you started this because of that little faux pas we both shared. The thing with me was that I don't think there was a single aspect of Drom that led me to believe that she was a man. It had more to do with maybe a writing style or a perspective she exhibited.
Acq - pttthththt!
fishin', I had never thought about the "sorting" aspect of stereotyping. That's a totally different slant on the entire subject. Thanks, buddy.
LittleK, I do believe that I "pigeon-holed" Drom as being male before the musician aspect came in to play. In looking back, the fact that she played sax was just a reaffirmation of that in my mind. Well, I know this. In the modern world, all the old attributes previously held are no longer viable.
The stereotype of French being great lovers is wrong.
The ones abt the Italians and the Brits......well....
Once one guy told me all Indians smell of curry and that is why he does not date them
He was a brit and I replied that I dont date brits because the only thing stiff abt them is their upper lip
Gautam, I swear you are the funniest thing. You have just eradicated my idea of East Indians having no sense of humor, and certainly the idea of the dour Scotsman has long since vanished. Hmmmm, perhaps it's the fact that you've been properly assimilated.
What about "blacks can sing"? That's one of the things that annoys me so much about rap. So many have got such magnificent voices, and waste it on that crap.
Wilso, I think many rappers go more for the rhythm than the vocal chords. Wonder if emnem can sing? and don't forget--only eyetalians can sing opera.
Letty wrote:Gautam, I swear you are the funniest thing. You have just eradicated my idea of East Indians having no sense of humor, and certainly the idea of the dour Scotsman has long since vanished. Hmmmm, perhaps it's the fact that you've been properly assimilated.
1. I am north Indian - u r right, east Indians do not have a sense of humor
2. I like to think that UK has finally assimilated to me
And, of course:
All German women are immaculate housekeepers.
(except for Raggedyaggie who got done in by the computer and too much Irish blood, which was probably 90% alcohol anyway :wink: )
Lol, Raggedy. We'll have to ask Walter about his hussy (original meaning house frau, I think--or in English--housewife)
All pc nuts are non domestic...
I'm afraid we'll all have to agree with that one.
All A2K'rs are argumentative. (mmm. I see the beginning of A2K stereotypes. :wink: )
All cows eat grass, Raggedy, and that ain't hay, 'cause the spaces on the bass clef of music become a mnemonic device.
Well, some A2K'er are argumentative, but they only hover around in the debate category--or the religious category--or the philosophy category.
Duh, what are we doing here?
I think that stereotypes can be useful because of social trends such as conformity and self-fulfilling prophecy. But it would be ridiculous to expect them to hold true to all individuals. Certain cultural and genetic differences do display across certain groups. For instance, Japanese and Korean students -do- generally do better in school for a number of reasons. But this doesn't mean that I will treat any of them differently. However, if I were in a classroom filled with smart looking japanese students, and the class was graded on a curve, and I absolutely had to get an "A," it might be a good idea to switch classrooms. For the same reasons, if I see a tall muscular person walking towards me in a dark alley, I will bolt. Sure, I don't know them, but they will probably mean trouble! Stereotypes are helpful for dealings on a non-individual basis, assumptions that can be used for safety purposes pre-introduction.
For that reason, I was suprised to look at Wilso's profile and see that he lives in Alaska, not California. His views are very similar to those expressed by Californians. But having been given the information, I will accept that he is from Alaska, and it would be stupid for me to assume that he really lives in California.
[Replace Alaska with Australia. Alaska -is- an awfully cold place to be a liberal.]
The government should have absolutely no dealings in stereotypes. (nor school applications or skewing standardized testing, for that matter.) In a way, race/nationality is all stereotyping. It's all about judging a human book by its cover.
Stereotyping is like listening to your favorite CD while at the keyboard.
Portal Star, of course we are not claiming that each individual by virtue of his race, creed, color or ethnicity fits into the slot, but, as you say, and as many have noted, stereotyping can be beneficial. It is up to each individual to know the pitfalls and the attributes and to separate the wheat from the chafe.
Hmm, Wilso is from Australia...
On alcoholism... I have read that some populations have trouble metabolizing alcohol. If the genetic marker regarding alcohol metabolism is true, I don't know if that does or doesn't affect alcoholism prevalence/or tendency in that population..
Hmm, Wilso is from Australia...
On alcoholism... I have read that some populations have trouble metabolizing alcohol. If the genetic marker regarding alcohol metabolism is true, I don't know if that does or doesn't relate to alcoholism prevalence in that population..
