In the modern world, it is easy to approach people from different cultures or different societies. Usually, we often react in two separate ways to those things we see different. We can either accept them (tolerance) or oppose them (intolerance). Therefore, this essay’s purpose is to clarify some issues related to the intolerance and some resolution following it in order to help the readers have a more proper understanding of these terms.
To begin with, it is essential to understand the definition of tolerance and intolerance. First, according to UNESCO’s Declaration of Principles on Tolerance (1995), tolerance is defined as “respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.
…show more content…
To be more specific, it is the term to demonstrate the erroneous overgeneralization of other people based on false assumption from media or from personal outlook rather than on facts. (Agius & Ambrosewicz, 2003, p. 32). Stereotypes convince people that if one society or a group of people shares the same value and beliefs of some certain phenomena; every single member of that society will do the same. Furthermore, stereotypes can be a fixed and rigid notion that people believe in it without questioning the authenticity of it. Consequently, stereotypes can become a huge social problem since they blind people to ignore the uniqueness of each individual and to deem that the false conception can be applied to everyone. To put it differently, stereotypes are “set of convictions associated with a group, generalized to all its members” (Agius & Ambrosewicz, 2003, p. 33). For instance, Asians mostly think that Westerners are not able to use chopsticks. Nevertheless, this stereotype turns out to be inaccurate as many Westerners pride themselves in using chopsticks excellently. “I cannot count the number of times I’ve been told I use Japanese chopsticks with skill and grace” (Wright, 2008). Furthermore, as said by Aliasis (2013), “it's true that chopsticks aren't our eating tool of choice, and many people in the West have never touched a pair. But Asian food, particularly …show more content…
Firstly, in the areas of decreasing stereotypes, focusing on the individual and having an open-minded attitude to receive the uniqueness of different cultures may be beneficial to avoid stereotype. (Agius & Ambrosewicz, 2003, p. 34) As stereotypes are the unreasonable overgeneralizations of all members in one certain group, concentrating on the uniqueness of each individual might be helpful for people who stereotype others to recognize their misleading conception and to respect each individual of the stereotyped group. Additionally, being willing to learn more about the culture and beliefs of people from different societies or different groups is considered as an appropriate solution as well. When people stereotype others, they seem to hold on tightly to their stubborn beliefs and assumptions. Consequently, when people agree to learn more about different culture, they will probably gain more knowledge about other people and other culture, and from that point, they will perhaps aware of their previous untrue perception and change their
Stereotypes are relatively fixed, overgeneralized attitudes and behaviors that are considered normal and appropriate for a person in a culture based on race, gender, and religion.They are assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image about what people in
In many circles of the world, various groups of people distinguish themselves from one another through religion, language, culture, and sometimes gender. People also develop stereotypes about a particular group of people in order to identify them. However, most of the time, these stereotypes hold true for only some members of a group. Sometimes, these stereotypes are just plain misconceptions that do not even apply to the group it claims to. Stereotypes are placed on people because it is a way to easily identify what type of person or ethnicity an individual is. At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is being perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate. Some hardly even apply to the particular group people it claims to. It is true that how people are perceived has a big impact on how other individuals interact with them; however, people are not perceiving these groups correctly.
Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.
Prejudice and discrimination have been ubiquitous throughout human history, so the battle against them seems to have no end. Most people believe that there is an inverse relationship between education and prejudice which indicates the higher education may increase the tolerance; that would wipe out prejudice. Although education plays such an important role, it is considered as one of various efforts to fight against prejudice and discrimination. In other words, it would be challenging and difficult for education to be alone in the battle of curing the world of prejudice and discrimination.
Q2) Tolerance (in a religious sense) is the ability to accept others that either practice different beliefs to your own, or have a quality about them that differs from you, that you disagree with. In the Christian Bible, it is commonly mentioned as an after-effect of things like impatience or ignorance.
Religious tolerance and religious pluralism have many different definitions, depending on the person’s interpretation of the word and where the person gets the definition. Every person of every faith and the people without a faith can have a different definition for tolerance and for pluralism. Diana L. Eck, the director of The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, gives a clear definition for pluralism. Pluralism is a two way street of dialogue, knowledge, understanding, and active participation (Eck 2 “From Diversity”). Pluralism is not meant to be an assimilation of religions or that a person of any faith has to believe all religious paths are true. Religious Tolerance is the continuous congruent relations betw...
Without respect, intolerance will continue to exist. If we do not respect each other, we cannot hope to work together to build a pluralistic society. Continued intolerance will only result in people changing their beliefs and values in order to be accepted, much like how Christians have begun to change their faith and beliefs. The type of society where people are forced to change in order to be respected is unacceptable. We must work to reverse the trend of intolerance against the Christian before it develops into a more serious issue. As we do this though, we must examine all groups to ensure that something beneficial to one group does not cause something detrimental to another. While this is a difficult task to undertake, it is necessary if we are to ever develop a truly pluralistic society that is respectful of not only the Christian, but of everyone.
Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in Propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, heldby a number of people. Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behaviour and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.
In the text, we talked about during the course of this class is stereotypes, which the text defines as “widely held beliefs about a group of people (Intercultural Communication).” In my life and in my community,
In the modern era, stereotypes seem to be the ways people justify and simplify the society. Actually, “[s]tereotypes are one way in which we ‘define’ the world in order to see it” (Heilbroner 373). People often prejudge people or objects with grouping them into the categories or styles they know, and then treat the types with their experiences or just follow what other people usually do, without truly understand what and why. Thus, all that caused miscommunication, argument or losing opportunities to broaden the life experience. Stereotypes are usually formed based on an individual’s appearance, race, and gender that would put labels on people.
Even though the world is filled with stereotypes and misconceptions about people, we can take mental steps toward overcoming those stereotypes. Being aware of our inner thoughts and feelings and how they affect our beliefs and actions is a constant battle, but will help reduce stereotypes in our own mind. Staying open minded to different religions, cultures, and races helps one get a better understanding about others for themself. Most of all, we can overcome stereotypes by taking into account individual differences and using factual information instead of assumptions (“Overcoming Stereotypes”).
Intolerance is the unwillingness or refusal to accept or acknowledge another person’s ideas and/or rights. Intolerance is shown to people due to socio-economic status, level of education and age, but is often and the most common forms of intolerance are racial intolerance (racism) and religious intolerance. Intolerance is conveyed in many texts through a number of literary and visual techniques and is demonstrated in the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, cartoon Tweets on Religious Intolerance by Angelo Lopez and Snake by DH Lawrence.
Cultural diversity is in our workplace and schools; we may encounter stereotypes while communicating with others, even though we have different opinions toward their cultures values and beliefs. We can learn from another culture, but we have to respect their differences. I think in today society, people are stereotyped others based on their race and social class because we automatically judge another person without knowing them and assume they are a certain way. Everyone is different we identify ourselves with our own social beliefs, religious beliefs and racial traits and should not be judged because we are all different
Cultural diversity is in our workplace and schools; we may encounter stereotypes while communicating with others, even though we have different opinions toward other cultural values and beliefs. We can learn from another “culture”, but we have to respect their differences. I think in today society, people are stereotyped others based on their race and social class because we automatically judge another person without knowing them and assume they are a certain way. Everyone is different we identify ourselves with our own social beliefs, religious beliefs and racial traits and should not be judged because we are all different
Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from culture differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. We are dealing with systemic problems in education, economic, government, religion and culture differences.