# Can an ethnic group ever have a collective reputation which is deserved? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049 "2013-02-22T03:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/21 "2013-02-23T22:28:46Z")
The question is a bit oblique to the point that some traditions and ways of being can be more typical for some ethnic groups. Sociologists study “archetypes” that members of the group accept as their own, even though everybody accepts that belonging to the group does not mean an individual necessarily fits the archetype. This is one reason why multiculturalism is valuable. Members of groups who tend to have the same experiences in the world at large will bring new viewpoints to an otherwise homogeneous group that didn’t already have any members like them. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/22 "2013-02-25T08:25:29Z")
Thanks all for the replies. Is anyone shocked that the consensus of this board so far seems to be, “at least in some circumstances, yes” – to the tune of **75%**? Yet that might not be what you’d gather from the majority of posts in this thread. “Fascinating.” :dubious: \<-- raised Spock eyebrow. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/23 "2013-02-25T11:52:03Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “_You . . . you are seriously asking this?! Wow. Just . . . wow._” says it for me. You appear to be in the minority…which is saying something for this board. What I don’t understand is the “Unfortunately” part of the leading vote getter. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/24 "2013-02-25T11:58:30Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > a bottle of grape soda–an unwanted gift from the confused vending machine. O.K., black President or not, I say we as a society still have a significant amount of progress we need to achieve if even our vending machines are assuming that the black woman wants a grape soda. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/25 "2013-02-25T13:28:51Z")
This is exactly the sort of thread _you people_ would make. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/26 "2013-02-25T13:36:10Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > You appear to be in the minority…which is saying something for this board. > > What I don’t understand is the “Unfortunately” part of the leading vote getter. I don’t even know what _“You . . . you are seriously asking this?! Wow. Just . . . wow,”_ is supposed to mean. Does it represent shock that the OP is asking something so obviously true or so obviously false? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/27 "2013-02-25T13:44:45Z")
It means, “The answer is obviously ‘no’ in all circumstances; why would you even ask this?” ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/28 "2013-02-25T16:25:00Z")
There is a difference between an ethnic group having a collective reputation and making assumptions about a person based on ethnic group membership. Black people like basketball and Canadians like hockey. This is obviously true as seen in participation rates and television ratings. But if we take any individual black person they might not like basketball and an individual Canadian might not like hockey. We should not assume they like a sport based on a group membership but treat the person like an individual and ask. However, there is nothing pernicious about noticing certain groups differ from other groups in various ways. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/29 "2013-02-25T16:42:59Z")
When members of a particular ethnic group or culture THINK they’re alone and nobody else is listening, they’ll acknowledge the accuracy of many stereotypes about themselves, and sometimes even laugh about them. Black comedians regularly appear in front of all-black audiences and make jokes about this-or-that cultural trait of black Americans (to use one common, silly example, the tendency to make a lot of noise at movies), and the audiences laugh loudly in recognition. Jewish comics, performing in front of all-Jewish audiences, make jokes about stereotypical Jewish behavior, and audiences eat it up. When Irish Catholics are together, and think they’re alone, they tell Pope jokes and will readily admit that many stereotypes about the Irish (think of alcoholism) are, sadly, based in truth. All three groups, however, would be infuriated to hear outsiders talk about these stereotypes, and would angrily deny to outsiders that such stereotypes have any validity. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049/30 "2013-02-26T05:26:30Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > This is exactly the sort of thread _you people_ would make. What do _you_ mean, “you people?” :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-ethnic-group-ever-have-a-collective-reputation-which-is-deserved/651049.md?page=1)