Just thought I’d ask. Not that I care.
Are you on drugs? Just thought that I’d ask.
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Google ads:
“Native American Females–Meet Native Americans Online Today!”
“What’s Your Tribe? Discover your genetic ancestry”
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Nope. I’m just being bitchy about a trend.
Because if they weren’t generally true at basic levels most of the time, they wouldn’t be stereotypes and generalities to begin with, so by even existing as stereotypes and generalizations, that makes them…uhm…them. Yeah. That’s the ticket. 
If they weren’t, then they wouldn’t be stereotypes in the first place.
I can’t even tell if that was a good answer or not, but it works for me.
Could you please please be more specific? What trend are you talking about? Are you saying that Jews are all greedy? Fuck you, you anti-Semitic bastard. I’ll have you know that I gave my waiter a 14-cent tip at dinner earlier. Oy, it wasn’t easy, but I figured after eating 78 dollars worth of gefilte fish and matzo balls, I owed the poor guy a little something extra, you know?
A blank slate needs something to fill it in.
[Sesame Street] One of these things is not like the other … one of these things does not belong.[/ss]
Some stereotypes are based on cultural differences, and thus have a fair possibility of being true. For example, it’s pretty safe to say that the vast majority of Latin Americans, except for Brazillians, speak Spanish. It’s less certain but still a good bet that a given individual is Catholic.
Other stereotypes are based on self-selected groups, and there is a long culture lag on these. For example, hen I was a kid in the late fifties and sixties, the only women who bleached their hair, especially platinum blonde, really were kind of trashy - manchasers, golddiggers, or utterly tasteless, and the only men who would have colored their hair were either actors or very effeminate. Neither of these assessments is really true these days (although I still cringe at platinum blonde), but the image - the *stereotype * - goes on.
Then there is labeling with intent to tear down. Remember in 2004 when no one had heard about flip-flops except for the feet, and then suddenly in about two weeks, all people talked about was John Kerry’s flip-flopping? He really wasn’t someone who changed his position any more than most senators do over time, but the people who didn’t want him to win were able to weave this narrative effectively, and it stuck. People usually dislike other people they have wronged, or who are in need and they haven’t helped. It’s so much better to make sure that they can be viewed as undeserving of anything better. Hence the bad opinion of African Americans, Mexicans, the poor, and so on. And since poverty is the thing most of these groups have in common, and crime is high in poor urban areas, the people who want to see them in a bad light have no problem ‘proving’ their point.
Well, they’re true to the extent that if you are too lazy to put more than a thought or two together to get beyond the initial blurt of thudding concrete exclaimation on an observance, well, yeah, Hell Yeah!
Then, there’s this sweet little technique called rational thought, and it’s tossed and turned bedfellow, discussion. Oftentimes, Voila!, the patterns are broken down to not so much the stereotype. Of course, you’ll have to give specific examples for that to work.
Because most stereotypes are created in the first place because they are usually true, and therefore useful shortcuts. If a screaming man is waving a gun in your direction, the stereotype that he’s dangerous is a lot safer and more reliable to act on than assuming some scenario where he’s harmless. If someone sends you e-mail claiming that they can sell you pills to make your penis bigger, the stereotype that it’s a scam is probably true. Stereotypes aren’t automatically wrong, the way people like to claim.
The fact is, we live in a complex, dangerous world where we don’t have the time and often can’t afford to treat every person and circumstance with deliberate, objective investigation. Stereotypes are a necessary shortcut; the mistake people make is in either creating false stereotypes, or in holding to them when they have the time to do things right and/or the immediate facts contradict them.
And generalities are often true because we live in a universe with consistent laws of physics, and a great many things that are just variations on a theme.
A “stereotype” by its definition is “a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.”
I regret the apparent necessity of throwing in a definition from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Usually we can expect Dopers to understand the definition of commonly used words. But this one seems to be misused more and more. Stereotypes are based on prejudices. One may claim to have had experiences which verify stereotypes, but that experience is always anecdotal and not comprehensive.
You can find someone who fits the stereotype, but the stereotype remains an oversimplification. They aren’t usually true and they aren’t useful shortcuts. They throw up walls and make people blind. They see attributes that aren’t there.
Zoe Hussein Phithian-Thayer
See the scrambledeggs threads.
So stereotypes are generally true because we live in a universe with consistent laws of physics? Give me a break, DT. Even you don’t buy that one.
Hmm, tryin’ to follow ya… how 'bout , well, three complete sentences to give a clue here.
But we can’t exist without stereotype, although some I would be delighted to ge . We can’t check out every tree in the forests of the world to assume that all threes have tree rings. We can’t say for sure that no one has or is living, say, 150 years. According to a recent program on Nova, they said that based on stud neurologests testing test subject by showing them various pictures; According to this show, it appears that only twenty-two % actually reaches the part of the brain that makes sense, and our minds fill in the rest. That requires one hell of a lot of stereotyping!
Well, you have to understand how persuasive a stud neurolegist can be.
OK, Oy, well, ya get the information, and then you choose to process it and make a call on it’s importance, or ignore it and label and stuff it for later. To my mind, especially with decisions that are important for others(even, and perhaps more importantly, species, beyond oneself), you weigh those decisions, and go beyond stereotypes to better thought. Try to think of life outside of what’s important for Humans.
They ARE usually true, and they ARE usually useful shortcuts. That’s why they are so pervasive. You wouldn’t be able to function out of your own house without using stereotypes; the world, as I said, is just too complex for anything else.
I said generalities, not stereotypes in the very passage you quote. And I also mentioned the fact that the world’s filled with things that are just variations on one another as well - a part you snipped out. In fact, what I said bears little resemblance to what you are complaining about.
Does anyone else here cringe when they see a living stereotype?
A few days ago, at the grocery store, I saw a very large black woman pushing a cart with a watermelon in the seat. She uttered loudly to her shopping companion “I’m gonna’ get me someuhdem barbecue ribs … MMM MMMMM M!” Mammy-type, watermelon, ribs, speaking AAVE loudly, and the MMM MMMMM M call … yeah, I cringed. Looking at the diversity of people in the store, and in the community where I live, I kept confirmation bias at bay; others, though, I’m not always so sure about.
Good. I’m glad to know that stereotypes don’t exist because of the laws of physics…only generalities do. My head hurts.
That reminds me of the SNL takeoff on 10,000 Pyramid. It was similar to this:
“a cheeseburger, your medical records, Switzerland, hot monkey love…”
“Things in the universe!!!” ding! ding! ding! ding!
Some of you are confusing demographics with stereotypes. The demographics are the statistical characteristics of a population: The majority of Latin Americans speak Spanish. That is a demographic, not a stereotype. I believe it is true that a majority of Latin Americans are also Catholic. (It is a matter of record. Either it is statistically true or not true.)
In the 1950s there was a common stereotype held of Mexican men that they were lazy. This stereotype has been changed by migrant workers who hold jobs in such areas as construction.
It isn’t the “truth” of a stereotype that makes you afraid of a man with a gun. It’s common sense and the knowledge that that person has more power than you do. I know from experience. I still talked him into letting me have my favorite purse back.
If stereotypes are true, then most British men wear dark suits and derby hats and carry pencil thin umbrellas. That’s a good shortcut to knowing them. American men are interested in nothing but sports, beer and trophy wives. Is this a shortcut to getting to know you, Der Trihs?