     Gadflie | Friday, February 16, 2001 - 03:49 am
I have noticed on these boards quite a bit of confusion as to exactly what is stereotyping. To begin with, here is the definition courtesy of www.dictionary.com
Stereotyping - A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.
Let me give my simplified definition. Stereotyping is the use of a group average (whether based on
reality or not) to predict the characteristics of an individual. I.E. Green people are better sculptors so Abdi, who is green, must be better than Ali who is blue.
Obviously, this is no more accurate than stating that Amina is going to live longer than Abdi because women (on the average) live longer than men.
And, to make it worse, stereotypes are often based on FALSE averages. There is the PERCEPTION that one race is better or worse at something so the stereotypes flow from that even when there is nothing in reality to base it on.
And, it gets even worse when people of limited mental capacity end up relying on these stereotypes to help them cope with their daily lives. Since they can't judge people as individuals, they need to use these stereotypes to place people into convenient mental files. All the Blacks go into one, all the Women into another, Hippies in a third, etc..
As hard as it may be, people deserve to be judged on their own accomplishments or lack thereof. Not
on the basis of some mythical group average person.
How do we combat this tendency of the mentally inadequate? I feel that the best way is by pointing their error out to them whenever they do it. Take your time and explain to them exactly WHY their assumptions are not valid. Do it publicly if possible to embarrass them into actually thinking before they talk the next time. Most of all, do NOT just overlook it. Racism has it's basis in ignorance, but the key to it is stereotyping.
Gadflie |
