Some of us love stereotypes because it allows us to group people into descriptions to make up the entirety of that population. Generally these people who enjoy grouping are bullies, but sometimes even we do it. How many of you have at one point or another thought Muslims were terrorists? Hopefully not many of you, but perhaps there are many of you, and it's because of what the media has given to us as a portrayal. However, I myself have friends who are muslim and they are some of the nicest people I know. What about gay people? Are they all limp-wristed, flamboyant people? No. They are a variety from actors, to football players, to parents. What about in school, how we categorize people into groups? Just because someone isn't a certain race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender, doesn't mean they aren't stereotyped. In high school and university alone we stereotype people as the "dumb jock" or the "brainy nerd" or the "loners", etc. We even do it in our Facebooks, even if we claim it as "fun".
So why do we do it? Why do we feel the need to stereotype people and automatically assume they're one thing? It's quite simply my friends, it's called the media. Every day we are given a view of a person or group of people who act a certain way and as a result that makes us believe that if these people are acting this way, then anyone who has that label: "Gay", "Black", "Muslim", "Nerd", "Loner", "Jock" is the same way. But let me tell you something, I've met a lot of jocks who are in fact quite smart, "Nerds" who actually have failed more than one test, and gay people who are just like the rest of us.
So before you stereotype someone, here's something to think about, what are you being stereotyped as?
Sean :)
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