You have all heard of these stereotypes before, am I right? Are they all true? No. Are some partially true? Yes. They are generalizations born from billions of observations and experiences from people. Stereotypes are here because they have some truth in them. If they were not true, they would not be able to survive long. For example, "One in every three black males born today can expect to go to prison at some point in their life, compared with one in every six Latino males, and one in every 17 white males"(Huffingtonpost.com). This just reinforces the stigma that most African American males are criminals. But wait a second, isn't generalizing a person based on their race immoral or even dehumanizing? Yes and no. If you act on these stereotypes and treat people based on their stereotypes then yes, it is immoral. For instance, when Betty Towle, Sherman Alexie's second grade teacher, makes him cut off his hair. However, if you use stereotypes as observations on how certain groups of people act or are then no, it isn't mean to do so.
I agree with you about the fact that stereotypes may have some truth, and we shouldn't treat other people based on stereotypes. Someone once argued that the only reason more African American people go to jail, is because they are often discriminated. I mean, it's hard to believe that black people as a race are worse than white people. I feel like sometimes police officers and other law officials are more lenient towards caucasians when it comes to enforcing the law.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely right about how most stereotypes are based off of truth. I also really liked your conclusion--I agree that stereotypes are always bad, but are only offensive if you judge people based on them.
ReplyDelete