Stereotypes - Their not just for tapes anymore...

[jdotmi]

I was thinking of something as I drove into work today. I was thinking about some fairly silly things we as humans do in our lives. Chief among them was stereotypes and our abhorrance of them.

People hate stereotypes! With a passion! They decry them at every opportunity and say how horrible and misrepresentative they are! They are totally unfair and completely ignore the rich diversity of a people and their beliefs!!!

...

So, why is it, I ask, that the people who break the stereotypes and don't fit into the mold are the most reviled people in the world?

I think the only stereotype that holds true in this world and that everyone seems to enjoy and accept is that it's full of a bunch of hypocrites.

Let's do some digging, shall we?

Stereotypes. Pretty simple concept, eh? A preconceived notion of the behavior of a person based on their race, sex, age, physical attributes, sexual orientation, financial standing, religion, educational background, or pereceived intelligence. Socio-economic factors as their called in more edumacated circles.

Say you're walking through, oh, Detroit Michigan, you see an early 20s african american male in baggy shorts and a t-shirt walking down the street, getting his groove on, and you instantly go "OMG GANGSTER!!!" You just took a serious turn down the stereotype express. You probably totally ignored the fact that he's got a notebook in one hand and the backback that he's wearing that has his college logo on it.

So, I'm sure most people just went "oh my god I would never do something like that!" You really think so, eh? I don't.

Let's play word association. Well, ok phrase association.

Phrase: Born Again Christian

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Did you just get a mental image of Jerry Falwell with spittle spewing from his mouth as he rages on and on about the depravity of the American public? You did? Hypocrite.

Next Phrase: Catholic Priest

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Ok, that one was unfair. But you know what you thought and as sarcastic as you all may be you still are falling prey to stereotypes.

Next Phrase: Asian American

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You might be a hypocrite if you thought of one of the following things: Violin prodigy, Computer whiz, Rice patties, or Woody Allen.

So, people hate stereotypes. We use them all the time, but we hate them.

So, my question to you then. If we hate stereotypes so much and think they are so degrading and unfair, why do we hate people who don't conform to the stereotypes even more?

Say you meet a guy. Ok, clarification, you meet a gay guy. Things are going well and you're hitting it off, and suddenly your talking about the joys of Judy Garland or something and he just rolls his eyes and says, "Whatever."

*GASP* Whatever??? WHATEVER?!?!?! Uh-uh, no-way bitch, you do NOT just "Whatever" my Judy, you hear me? And suddenly, because the gay guy accross from you miraculously isn't a Judy Garland fan he's the scum of the earth. Now, mind you, any guy saying "Whatever" in the midst of a conversation is worthy of some scorn, but seriously now?

Or, back to my example of the young, african american college student, say he doesn't speak in that "member of da hood" kind of way that seems popular in blaxploitation flicks. Say he doesn't like Rap music. Suddenly, none of the people in the neighborhood really feel like hanging out with him. He's a sell-out.

See, they're not hated by the rest of the world. Their hated by their own people. It's that special, home-brewed, internal form of Racism and Sexism and Homophobia. That special brand of hatred that can only be expressed by people who are supposedly like you. Not only do you not fit the "majority" but you're too fucked up to be part of their "minority".

I think Margaret Cho said it best. In 1996 she was the star of her own sitcom, called "All American Girl". She recounts the horrors of this experience in her one-woman show, "I'm the One That I Want". She mentions how she received so much criticism for being a woman on television and how she was fat and wasn't funny, but the worst of her crtics were her fellow Asian Americans. She said: "They had never seen a role-model like me before. I didn't play Violin. I didn't fuck Woody Allen."

We hate stereotypes, but we hate those things that don't fit the norm. Yeah. We're all just a bunch of hypocrites.

Comments

[taintedpork.livejournal.com]

All well and good, but every stereotype has at least its genesis in truth, otherwise it would never have become a stereotype to begin with. I say why hate em, embrace em for what they are... just try not to paint everyone with the same brush.

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It always amuses me how much people go "don't stereotype people" and I'm like "I'm not doing it, they're doing it to themselves!"