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How often does history repeat itself
Concept of stereotype
Stereotyping and the influence it has on how we react to one another
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During the course of human history enslavement has repeatedly materialized into a silent beast with incredible, destructive abilities. Taking form in many different ways, all people across the globe are enslaved in ways not always clearly visible upon the surface. Perhaps the most universally noticeable form of enslavement on the human race is the use of stereotypes. According to the Cambridge dictionary a stereotype is defined to be, “ a set idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong”. Stereotypes have created molds that cause generalizations, distorted versions of the truth, and conflicts that are only fueled by conformity, the media, and fear.
Stereotypes have led to the
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formation of generalizing every situation, event, or encounter one experiences throughout their lifespan. Generalization steals the individuality of people and also traps them into becoming dehumanized individuals. Character and uniqueness have been stripped away until the individual no longer is human but just a number in a category. Along with this disastrous toll on personage, stereotypes have caused simplification of the social world. Before seven seconds have even passed, one has already provided a first impression to or received a first impression of a stranger based upon appearances. This limited time frame is caused by stereotype’s influence on people to jump to conclusions and make quick assumptions before obtaining all the information available. Stereotypes have taken the vast, unequalled, and extraordinary social world and compressed it into groupings. This heightened natural part of social perception is called social categorization. These now ordinary, day-to-day activities have become the new normal, and because majority of the population sees them as standard, they have become the silent and invisible chains of enslavement on the human race. These branches of stereotypes, generalization and social categorization, are seen to be customary and the set boundaries of individualism; therefore, it becomes easier to conform to the expectation rather than stand out all-alone. Distorted truths about cultures and peoples stem from the heart of stereotypes. Stretching past the ever-popular differentiations between race and gender, distorted truths cover a many subjects such as ethnicity, employment, and education. Stereotype’s main way to spoon-feed the public her information is through the world of media. With a black and white point of view and a well-respected reputation, media outlets, taking a bias stand, provide only one side of the stories covered. Audiences accept these opinions and thoughts universally as fact without questioning the accuracy or truth of the matter. In addition to this, human nature tends to see what it expects to see causing tunnel vision on issues; furthermore, the “especially an idea that is wrong” part of the Cambridge Dictionary definition explains that these pre-formed, one sided ideas are often times lies. Stereotypes are strengthened and widened by using the media to reinforce and strengthen these ideas. Enslaved by this force-feeding, the public is transformed into plebeians becoming incapable to form their own opinions and ideas about events and situations. Stereotypes at their most detrimental and influential point lead to conflict both with and without conflict.
When the prejudices caused by stereotypes continue on unchecked for too long they will lead to discrimination, violence, and genocide. Historically, the Holocaust during World War II was one of the ultimate examples of unchecked stereotype influenced prejudices. Adolf Hitler’s unhindered disposition towards the world’s population of Jews sequentially led to the most extreme version of enslavement ending in death. Fear of calling out a flaw in such a large system aids the continual growth of distorted stereotypes. There was no one to step in the way of Hitler’s plan until it was too late for thousands of Jews who had already been persecuted prior to the Allies entrance to the picture. A closer to home example of discrimination and conflict without violence would be the Civil Rights movement from 1954-1968. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out with thousands of others against the unfair partiality against the African American communities. These people had been enslaved by the stereotypes and labels placed upon them from the beginning of the settlement of the New World. Since these unequal right stereotypes went unchallenged for almost two centuries, the stereotype grew and grew. Enslaved by unmerited assumptions these minorities were treated inhumanely and were sometimes forced to pay the ultimate price of death to end the
enslavement. Enslaved in multiple ways from the pure, real truth, stereotypes have prevented the human population from choosing for itself who people are, what situations are dangerous, and who to avoid. Instead, from birth to death people are following in the footsteps of those who followed stereotypes before them, only making the path harder to resist and harder to change. Generalization and conformity walk side by side in the degrading of the distinctiveness of individuals and society itself. Media and distorted truths work in turning the public into blind, following sheep. Finally, conflict is the result of the revolt against the utmost form of enslavement.
In the essay The Way We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson writes that “All the ‘isms’-racism, sexism, ageism, et al.-are founded on and fueled by the stereotype and the cliché, which are lies of exaggeration, omission, and ignorance. They are always dangerous. They take a single tree and make it a landscape.” This quote is important due to the fact that stereotypes play a major role in many aspects of our society. In American society we have a tendency to pass judgment on people just because of a pre-existing stereotype that our society has formed on particular groups over the years. American Society tends to create stereotypes because of the simplicity it adds to our lives, but stereotypes can cause us to oversimplify the characteristics of others, encourage prejudice, and can even create many more severe dangers.
Did you know that even though Hitler had brown hair and blue eyes, his idea of a superior race was those with blond hair and blue eyes? He wanted this group of people to be superior to all other races because they represented a clean view of Germany. Hitler used his power to achieve this goal by enforcing many rules and creating many different projects. He wanted the people of Germany to believe that they were superior to all other races and they must do everything to maintain the standards of living in Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler and his Nazis created the perfect race by influencing the education of children and creating bride schools, the Hitler Youth Program, and Lebensborn birthing homes.
Stephen Bonnycastle in his criticism, In Search of Authority, explains stereotypes as, "The system (sometimes known as “the patriarchal order”) that causes the majority of men and women to take on these different roles ... hidden, like the rules of grammar in a language."(10). When a stereotype is introduced into a situation for a extended period of time, it is psychologically proven that it will become an expectation. Stereotypes prove to act as an obscuring lens into which most people view the world. When a person is unaware of a culture, race, gender they mainly use the stereotypes to judge them against. Stereotypes are not just a generalization of a group of people, "stereotypes warrant a closer analysis, because they powerfully shape the reality of gender differences..."(Brody 396). The effects of stereotypes go deeper than just male and female, race against race, "everyone is vulnerable to stereotype threat, at least in some circumstances"(reducingstereotypethreat.org). Stereotypes overall cause negative side effects, some fatal. These side effects are psychological as well as physical. People who
Stereotypes are the shackles of mankind. Personally, after racism, I really detest stereotypes; I just don’t understand why people in this world judge each other so much, it’s aggravating, irritating and infuriating. You can’t and shouldn’t judged someone over someone else’s actions; hence being the reason as to why God created everyone to be different and unique. For instance, one of the most common stereotypes that Indians are labelled with is that they love curry. “Oh I’m sorry” I didn’t know you get judged for liking a type of food. Individually, I love food and I also love curry but I am African, so does that make me an Indian? NO! Stereotypes can’t define a person and it shouldn’t define a race either. Why let someone else’s actions falsely define another person or why let someone’s skin colour define that person? For example: an albino is white but what if both of his parents are black, how would you define him, Black or White? Also, another thing that I hate, which I think a lot of teenagers can relate to, is when you’re walking down the street wearing a hoodie or a tracksuit and an older person in front of you sees you but chooses to cross over to the other side of the road because “you’re dangerous” or “a drug dealer” or maybe even “a serial killer” just for wearing that type of clothing. It’s actually truly pathetic classifying someone else by their choice of clothing as the last time I checked it was a free Country and you can wear as you please. I admit some of these stereotypes might be true but that doesn’t mean they relate to everyone. As, sometimes even I get quite terrified when I’m walking by myself and a see a gang of teenage boys in hoodies and tracksuits, but it’s because my brain is brain washed with all the negative things that’s said about them. Peoples’ personal characters can be unpredictable but it still doesn’t
Many thoughts come into the mind when hearing the word stereotype. The society has been exposed to too many stereotypes. These stereotypes result in controversial issues, which in turn, affect adults and children. The TV shows, internet, and social media are sources that expose children, as well as the adults, to stereotypes. Examples of those stereotypes are religion, sexism, and race. As children grow up by, the age of four they are able to pick up many stereotypes through those sources and without the perception and knowledge these children carry these stereotypes along with them in their long term memory. Moreover, children are not able to know or distinguish whether those thoughts are negative or positive stereotypes, which in turn, cause
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.
Stereotype is a sweeping statement standardized image about a person or group with little or no evidence. The primary purpose is to hurt one’s feelings or to attack one’s character. Have you ever stereotyped someone or felt like you were being stereotyped against? How did being stereotyped affect you, or how did it make you feel once you got to know the person or persons? All kind of people make up our society. Within society, there are a massive amount of groups, most of which have been stereotyped in one way or another. We develop stereotypes when we are reluctant or incapable to obtain all information needed to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the unknown statistics, stereotyping allow us to “bridge the gaps.” Four of many different groups of people are the prime sources of stereotypes in our society are politicians, tattooed persons, feminists and senior citizens. If the thought of these groups of people mentioned directed some sort of negative icon within you then you are a protagonist of stereotype.
“Stereotypes unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account” (Schaefer 40). Stereotypes can be positive, but are usually associated with negative beliefs or actions such as racial profiling.
As Hodson and Victoria (p.344) note, human beings are not born prejudiced. They develop prejudice through socialization process. The role of family, media, and education is crucial in the prejudice in individuals. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thoughts concerning an individual. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thought concerning an individual in the same social context (Farley, p.21). The development of stereotypes revolves around the association of individuals with particular labels of identity. The truth is such ideas and propositions cannot be proven in most situations (Brown, p.68). Hence, the individuals who uphold stereotypes in society become prejudiced toward the victims. The difficulty associated with changing stereotypes is connected to the length of time required for internalization. Individuals in particular classes of society are exposed to stereotypes in their social environment for a considerable amount of time. In consideration of the Emmanuel Church shooting, the perpetrator expressed stereotypical idealization of the African American community. He expressed biased attitude through the sole target of African
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.
Stereotypes are a fixed image of all members of a culture, group, or race, usually based on limited and inaccurate information resulting from the minimal contact with these stereotyped groups. Stereotypes have many forms: people are stereotyped according to their religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender, color, or national origins. This kind of intolerance is focused on the easily observable characteristics of groups of people. In general, stereotypes reduce individuals to a rigid and inflexible image that doesn't account for the multi-dimensional nature of human beings. One example of stereotypes is the categorization of the Jews in the Elizabethan era.
Stereotypes are assumptions that are made about an entire group of people based on observations of a few; they act as scapegoats for prejudice behaviour and ideologies.
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.
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.
With the modern day fad of being politically correct, stereotyping is seen with a negative view. Oversimplifying people can spawn many different reactions, but many aspects of the world are built upon the foundation of stereotyping. It can not only be a useful thing, but it can also be a very effective way of deciding how to react to someone. While stereotypes may seem rash and uneducated, many of them have been created for a reason.