# Stereotypes about people **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 9, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158 "2005-02-09T07:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/21 "2005-02-12T06:49:15Z")
> [@Kaitlyn](#): > > Confession time: When I see a group of young men congregated on the sidewalk wearing their pants around their upper thighs with underwear hanging out, plaid flannel shirts, do rags, baseball caps turned at an angle, and other “gang chic” clothing, I’ll cross the street rather than walk past them. My first instinct when seeing people dressed like that is to laugh, but to try not to attract too much attention because (here I’m stereotyping again) it’s not only plausible, but some would say it’s also quite _likely_ that one or more of these persons is armed, possibly with long-range weapons - so I think most people would find my assessment of the situation (whether or not it’s judgmental, prejudiced, and/or correct) rather justified. Except for the laughing part. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/22 "2005-02-12T07:17:26Z")
I’m not so sure how I feel about stereotypes. I definitely think they breed ignorance and maybe even hate occasionally, but I also find them fascinating. Let me tell you, for instance, that I’ve met and had the chance to get closely acquainted with no less than 30 New Yorkers in my life, from all over the state (but mostly from the Binghamton, Buffalo, and Syracuse areas) and - **to a T** - they all fit the rude, arrogant, abrasive New Yorker stereotype. I mean, I can sit here and run through them in my head and, while I’ve liked a few of them, I would generally classify every single one of them as a “rude” person and someone whom I would not prefer to spend much time with. I’ve had similar experiences with Christians in my lifetime, though not to a T like the New Yorkers, I would say somewhere in the 85-95% range. In fact, almost all of what I would consider “good” Christians that I’ve come across have been here at the SDMB. Does this mean that all New Yorkers and Christians are rude, hateful, arrogant, and abrasive? Fuck no, not even close, and I fully realize that. At the same time though, I do not believe that most stereotypes arise out of thin air. In my experience, there is almost always a basis for them and ignoring them is just as simple-minded and one-sided as blatantly and ignorantly propagating them. Stereotypes are definitely an interesting subject that I would eventually like to look into deeply. > [@Kaitlyn](#): > > What differentiates the reasonable people from the bigots isn’t a complete lack of predjudice, but the degree to which our predjudices affect how we treat each other, the degree to which we recognize our predjudices and work to overcome them, and the degree to which we treat people as individuals and not as groups. I can honestly say that everyone I come across has a clean slate with me from the start. I don’t care if you’re young, old, short, tall, fat, skinny, black, white, yellow, red, punk, urban, male, female, Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc, etc, etc. I will admit though that just tonight I saw a couple of “extreme” goth kids (one had short hair in the back but really long bangs in the front and he kept slinging them back _exactly_ like the kid on South Park) and I was mentally rolling my eyes at them for taking so much time and effort - not to mention money - _just_ to look different. Then I actually ended up talking to them for a minute and they were really nice kids. I sort of felt bad later for thinking right up front that they were probably dickwads, and I reminded myself that I shouldn’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/23 "2005-02-12T09:41:55Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > What does that part of your post mean exactly? I’m a transsexual lesbian married to another woman. The boys next door knew this and would shout sexual and racist expletives at us as we would walk in front of their house holding hands. They hated us for what we were without knowing anything other than a few superficial facts about us. I see a little of that predjudice in myself when I cross the street to avoid the teenage boys dressed in “gang chic” clothes, and I don’t like it, but I don’t feel safe or comfortable walking past them on the sidewalk. That’s my problem, not theirs, and I’m working on it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/24 "2005-02-12T13:02:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I see a little of that predjudice in myself when I cross the street to avoid the teenage boys dressed in “gang chic” clothes, and I don’t like it, but I don’t feel safe or comfortable walking past them on the sidewalk. That’s my problem, not theirs, and I’m working on it. You’re a transsexual lesbian in Texas? You are certainly a lot tougher than any of those wanna be gangstas. A little prejudice on my part. An apology to my neighbors in Texas, couldn’t resist. Oh, and not that I think transsexual lesbians are tough, but, in Texas, I’d suspect you would have to be. Oh hell, now I’ve insulted everyone. :smack: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/25 "2005-02-12T17:01:01Z")
Which stereotype? Hmmm so many to choose from. Born and raised in New York - rude, pushy, probably a con man. Sicilian background - gangster New York Sicilian - the worst kind - the Frank Nitti sort. More evil than that New Jersey Joey Soprano wannabe. Between whackings, eats only spaghetti. After moving to Texas - the foul creature known as a Yankee. Having lived in Texas, talking to people up north - no, we don’t all wear boots and hats, no we don’t all ride the range or start showdowns in the saloon. We aren’t all oil millionaires. We don’t all have pickup trucks with gunracks either. Moved to California - Like dude, surf’s up. Whoa. Duuuuuuude. Sorry, mostly that’s just in the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/26 "2005-02-12T17:46:58Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I see you only used 3. How self-deprecating of you. > 🙂😃😉😛 And then there are those folks who never learned to count. What’s that thing after “:YEEEEHAA” when excited."? Whooooshhhhhhhhh! All in fun! I almost pulled that same boner. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/27 "2005-02-12T19:27:21Z")
> [@Kaitlyn](#): > > I’m a transsexual lesbian married to another woman. The boys next door knew this and would shout sexual and racist expletives at us as we would walk in front of their house holding hands. They hated us for what we were without knowing anything other than a few superficial facts about us. > > I see a little of that predjudice in myself when I cross the street to avoid the teenage boys dressed in “gang chic” clothes, and I don’t like it, but I don’t feel safe or comfortable walking past them on the sidewalk. That’s my problem, not theirs, and I’m working on it. But on the other hand it might be better to be safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/28 "2005-02-12T19:38:25Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’m not so sure how I feel about stereotypes. I definitely think they breed ignorance and maybe even hate occasionally, but I also find them fascinating. Well, the thing about stereotypes and generalizations are that, they aren’t true for all of the people in a given group, but they are usually true for a large segment of it. For example, guys being into sports. I’m a guy, and the only sporting events I look forward to seeing are the Summer Olympics every 4 years. Other than that, I don’t watch football (American), baseball, or basketball. I don’t know that much about the players, except for the ones who get famous, say, Dennis Rodman or Shaquille O’Neal. I don’t even watch the Super Bowl for the adds. Of course, negative stereotypes, or stereotypes used to look down on people are wrong. For example, while I think it’s safe to say that men are more interested in sex than women, it’s wrong to say that we have a one tract mind. Or that New Yorkers or Christians are jerks. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/29 "2005-02-12T19:45:25Z")
White woman wearing Birkenstock/Tevas: Probably a vegetarian or wannabe vegetarian (you know…people who don’t eat meat except for ham, chicken, turkey, fish, pepporoni, and hamburgers). Probably an avid environmentalist who recycles everything, including tampon applicators, but drives an SUV so that they can carry their kayak. Probably listens to weird music groups you’ve never heard of. Has a cat, friend, or closed relative named Chloe. Shops at a co-op and pays five dollars for a loaf of organic bread. Doesn’t know the words to “Mama Said Knock You Out”. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/30 "2005-02-12T19:47:43Z")
Oh, and my previous post, make that one **track** mind :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/31 "2005-02-12T20:38:02Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > You’re a transsexual lesbian in Texas? You are certainly a lot tougher than any of those wanna be gangstas. > > A little prejudice on my part. An apology to my neighbors in Texas, couldn’t resist. > > Oh, and not that I think transsexual lesbians are tough, but, in Texas, I’d suspect you would have to be. Oh hell, now I’ve insulted everyone. :smack: 😉 Nah, I’m a big sissy. Mrs. Six is the tough one. I once saw her dislocate the shoulder of a guy twice her size in Tae Kwon Do class. > [@Master Control](#): > > But on the other hand it might be better to be safe than sorry. That’s how I feel, too. In this case, there’s no harm done, but I can see the potential for such an attitude to lead to judgmental thinking in other areas, and I want to avoid that. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/32 "2005-02-13T01:31:02Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > it’s wrong to say that New Yorkers or Christians are jerks. Just to clarify: I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158/33 "2005-02-13T01:45:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Just to clarify: I agree. Whoops. Strike that. Lots of Christians and New Yorkers are jerks, but not all of them, and not necessarily _because_ they’re from New York or believe in Jesus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-about-people/289158.md?page=1)