Does anyone see the end of sterotyping or classyfing people? Will we ever be allowed to be just Humans with out a descriptive in front. Or is it our nature to pidgeonhole everyone? If it is nature can we change it?
stereotyping:
No, this is a good thing. It’s really another name for heuristics, and heuristic information can provide instant suggestions about what to do and how to do it quickly.
If you are from out of town and you happen to drive into North Philly and get thirsty and want to stop for a drink you probably won’t stop at the store where a group a rap video type thugs (who appear that way) seem to be arguing heatedly. Perhaps they are actors from a real rap video, but perhaps they are not.
So, stereotyping allows you to make quick judgments about all kinds of issues. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t at a later date challenge the assumptions.
One might first assume that movie popcorn is a healthy treat based on what we know about popcorn. Then, when one looks into the product you find that some places put so many different flavor agents into it that popcorn now has as much fat as a steak dinner. However, If I was concerned with dietary fat and had to make the choice at the movies between a chilly dog with fries and a bag of popcorn, then my stereotype of popcorn would win out.
either we mix up all of the characteristics that determine whether or not a person is stereotyped so that no characteristic corresponds to another, or we will always be able to correspond one with the other.
in america, black people are often poor. therefore if you see a black guy wearing clothes that dont immediately set him aparat as rich, its safe to bet that hes not rich, for the same reason that its a safe bet that that orange round thing 30 feet away is actually a piece of fruit and not an orange ball. orange balls are more often fruits than actual orange balls, so its safe to make that assumption.
however, it would be unwise to instantly bite into any orange ball you found without taking a closer look. (assuming youd always instantly bite oranges, which i do)
the end of stereotpyes will come about when no characteristic corresponds to another unless that characteristic is the actual cause or effect of the other. today we associate blacks with poor because america enslaved them and then stunted their post slavery development in countless ways, most importantly the continuing travesty of an education we fail to provide them. their african dna doesnt universally cause their laziness or stupidity, so it would be unfair to judge all without taking a closer look.
someday the portion of black people who are rich will be the same as the white (like when we are all poor and chinese people are rich), and at that point, it would be illogical to judge someone based on their skin unless its yellow.
Futureman You’re really good at that.
Those above are good reasons but, is it nature? Is there a physical natural wiring in us that needs to do this or is it for the sake of convienence alone?
I would say yes that it is natural.
Ancient humans saw a lion, saw one of their own get killed by it, and then passed on the notion that one cannot trust lions. We have to think fast to survive.
I suggest that the same thing has to do with race. I recall that my older relatives told me never to trust Asian people, because they’re sneaky. As I met Asian people and found them to be extremely polite, which I love, I assumed that my relatives suffered from a heuristic inspired by Pearl Harbor. Certainly, in that time period it made sense to worry about Asians.
I used to take Amtrak a lot. When I would see Arab guys with suitcases I felt like taking the thing off the guy and looking in it. It would have almost made sense to do that, because had the Arab guys that actually had bombs been attacked, a lot of people would still be alive. So, having a stereotype against Arabs in this time period could save the lives of hundreds.
It also might make sense to warn children about certain, animals, parts of town, or even certain races as children are born without stereotypes, and not having them could get them killed.
its the natural part of our brain that makes all kinds of decisions like this. i think its called pattern recognition, and it is the single actual foundation of all inductive scientific knowledge.
“i just saw it happen a bunch of times so, in the future, it will probably do it again” = all knowledge of reality
thanks adler, youre good too!
It’s natural. Not to sound like PoR, but evolutionarily speaking, there is a strong desire to concentrate traits that help the tribe survive. This desire is countered by the desire not to inbreed, so a balance is struck.
Basically it breaks down to the cave-man ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ theory, with both the ‘us’ and ‘them’ being based on arbitrary phenotypes. We fear what is different because it represents an unkown and we fear the unknown since we remember a time when we lived in caves and within the darkest part of the cave their might live an animal (most likely a cat, but a bear will do in a pinch) that could eat us.
Ending it won’t ever happen, it will just take new forms. Why do you think that homosexuals have become such a iconoclastic minority? Society can no longer acceptably say, “Well, it’s those damn N-----s” so Homos become the new scapegoat.
What we hate and fear will be ever-changing, but that we hate and fear . . . that’s human nature.
We fear what is different because it represents an unkown…"
Right and it’s also worth factoring in that sometimes the unknown really is dangerous. When that fat guy that dresses up like a creepy clown invites you over to his house for coffee maybe it’s just because he’s lonely, but maybe you’ll wake up strapped to an electrified set of bed springs with him crying on you, whilst he fucks you in the pooper.
Never
We can’t help but categorize people.
So, is it possible to change, If it is biological is it possible to modify it out of the humans? What would be the positive and negative aspects of such modification. To change our reactions toward others just because they may have a difference that we have been warned about would that not make life more peaceful for all or would it create the opposite?
Well, there’s a lot of talk about stereotypes in the media and when I was in high school the subject was heavily focused on. Learning to challenge ideas is really the only way to get rid of false ones, so we’re doing that.
However, if somehow we could magically get rid of what makes people think in terms of stereotypes, then I believe the human race would die, via many and various stupid ways, as thinking in terms of stereotypes is helpful.
Yes, but it works just the opposite in many cases also, Most people fear police world wide. When actually most police are good. Your average fresh faced lawyer just really wants to help, same with young politicians. But, somewhere things go wrong. Some of these good folks get corrupted by sterotyping , facing the crap day after day. Poor people that live in huge cities get sterotyped right into problems everyday. Poor folks out in the country face their own degradations. A person from the middle east right now is facing bigotry and sterotyping.
Is it possible that the bad outweigh the good in classing and sterotypying? If that is the case where would the line be and how to apply it?
All of the people that you mentioned actually can be very dangerous, and the question is whether or not people will ever make the jump to positivity before negativity, and why would they do it.
globalization of cultures isn’t a good thing. I like differations. Variety is the spice of life.
That is the liberal dilemma . . .
- Seperate is never equal.
- Homogeny is bad.
Anybody got a synthesis for this problem, 'cause I sure don’t. And it leaves me with my mixed feelings towards idealized globalization.
globalization of cultures isn’t a good thing. I like differations. Variety is the spice of life.
Do you like people that think you’re immoral scum and should die?
maybe religion and culture are two different things?
That’s not true, but there’s stuff like racism and isolationism that make people hate each other.
can a christian practice yoga? Or would that automatically make them a christian buddhist.
Racism and issolationism? Racism is unfounded in science except for cultural or relgious differences. Isolationism is only needed to preserve your culture.
Maybe it’s more of a cause and effect issue as science proves certain cultural things wrong,… IE the rosery isn’t the cause, but it compells the idea needed.