Stereotyping and racism

[Drazo]

http://racerelations.about.com/library/ ... otypes.htm

From what I know already, as well as from the link above, stereotyping a form of false images created by the media for a quick way of recognising particular groups. But, IMO stereotyping can lead to racism and discrimination. Especially to those idiots out there somewhere who thinks it's real.

Firstly, has anyone every seen an Australian IRL wearing a hat with corks and first saying "G'd day mate"? I haven't. I can assure you here in England, NO ONE speaks with a posh, suave, phoney accent (except for the screwed up royal family) and we don't have 'tea parties' or whatever (I certainly don't! ). From what I know of the U.S, and the streets of my town, both are very similar. I also don't believe that all Texas civilians wear 'cowboy' hats, ride horses and have phoney accents. And then there are many other countries such as Japan....

So, any opinions in favour or against this topic?

[TerraFrost]

as my and giga's AI teacher explained it...

minorities are, by definition, pretty rare. things that are pretty rare within those minority groups (or just overall) are that much rarer. for example, let's say 5% of people were minorities, and an unrelated 5% had committed a crime. .05*.05=2.5%.

this, coupled with the fact that our brains are wired to notice things that are out of place, means that stereotypes pretty much have to be incorrect.

as an example of how our brains are wired to notice things that are out of place...

if the sky were blue when you went outside, you probably wouldn't be able to tell someone, ten years from then, that it was blue (as opposed to, say, cloudy). if, however, the sky were purple, you probably would remember it ten years down the line.

[Drazo]

Terra, that post didn't make much sense in relation to the subject.

[TerraFrost]

i was pretty much trying to say that although it may not be justifiable, it does make sense that stereotypes are typically in defiance of the norm...

[Wolfie]

I agree with Terra, but on another note...


-Visualizes Drazo with a posh/suave phoney accent drinking tea- xD; -falls out of chair laughing-

Somehow I don't think I've ever thought of Drazo like that, though for a very long time I thought that in TX people didn't have cars and wore hats and had gun fights all the time xD;...

[Dracofrost]

Well, if you count Counter-Strike, I actually had lots of gunfights when I lived in texas, and I didn't own a car. Didn't have the hat, though...

Anyways though, I tend to either ignore stereotypes, or somehow find amusement in their falseness. *says the school dropout with the two junked cars and one junked motorcycle on his front gravel driveway* Yeap, I ain't no kinda redneck.

[Wolfie]

Yes,

Has been noted as a... bitch/prep/redneck/goth/freak/girl/tomboy/goody2shoes/knowitall/geek.

N' alot of other things x_x'.


Stereotypes.. can be funny at times, but still it's kind of annoying to be called a goth 90% of the time. xD

[Drazo]

For all the Japanese, Australian, French, American, Italian etc people I met, none conducted themselves to their nation’s mutual stereotypes.

[Wolfie]

Japan has a stereo type? oo'

[Drazo]

Yeah, the most typical one is where they wear huge flat dish shaped hats and have 'lines' as eyes.

[Wolfie]

Weiirdd... Oo...


None of Junkos friends even wore hats. xD;

Though Junko wore an english baseball cap alot..

Also.. I don't think many Japanese have lines for eyes.. though a few do.. =/

Kita did.. her eyes were like always closed. x_x'''

[Nuxius]

Yeah, the most typical one is where they wear huge flat dish shaped hats and have 'lines' as eyes.

Err, that's the stereotype for the Chinese, silly.

And thus Drazo brings up another stereotype, most non-Asians assume that all Asians they see are going to be Japanese.

[tsian]

Heres the thing: Most stereotypes are based on some amount of truth, however small. This doesn't mean they can't be horrible (though positive ones also exist), just that in most cases there is *some* basis for thei belief.

Similarly, just because some members of a group exhibit a quality, doesn't mean all member do.

Edit: Wow, do you really think most non-asians think most asians are Japanese? If I would have tilted any direction I would have thought people would assume Chinese... but *shrug* since I've grown up being able to generally tell the difference, that is hard to imagine.

[Drazo]

Heres the thing: Most stereotypes are based on some amount of truth, however small. This doesn't mean they can't be horrible (though positive ones also exist), just that in most cases there is *some* basis for thei belief.

Interesting point. I believe that leads up to 'first impressions'.

[OmegaFrost]

*ahem*

*Perepares to dispence all his knowledge of psychology and sociology relating to this subject..... well all that he has time to despence.*

Stereo types dispite their incorectness are an necessity for human beings. People are limited by excperience, they have to use stereotypes, other wise they wouldnt have the proper anchors to hold onto. People cannot go aroudn a meet everyone from Texas jsut to form a good opinion about them, theyc an however form a stereotype as a basis for their reactions. However people often tend to cling too strongly to stereotypes. Even positive stereotypes are bad as they may exepect too much from the person. For Example, Asians have the stereotype of being smart, I happen to be in class with atleast four of them in it (I beleive most of them are vietnemese but I'm not sure) any perhaps one of them MIGHT be doing good in the class... obviously not many people fitting into the stereotype there.