Are people pressured into believing racial stereotypes?

16 Dec

Posted by indifferentx5590 as General

We’ve all heard about them-racial stereotypes. Maybe not using that title. I want you to sit here right now and think about all the stereotypes you have seen or heard of. It is surprising how many they are, and how untrue most of them are. Now, I’m not writing this article as a racist. I am writing it to prove a point, so no person of any background should be offended by what I’m saying.

Here are a few that come to mind: black (okay, let’s do it right-African Americans) people are loud and obnoxious, only listen to rap music, are “ghetto,” and love attention; Asian, Chinese, Korean, Oriental, and other similar backgrounds are all smart and read those books that are written backwards in japanese….i dont know what they are…manga?; all white girls who walk around in revealing clothing must be sluts; all Indians must own a gas station; and that’s just naming a few. Now I’m going to explain myself. My understanding is, that “ghetto” is not a type of person. It could possibly be a style of clothing, but it is not a person. Not all African Americans listen to rap music. I have AA friends who go to heavy metal shows with me, and they are no different from anyone else. And quite honestly, not all AA people are loud-I know pleanty of white people who are just as loud, if not louder.

Asians, Koreans, and all other cultures (i dont know what they all are…) are not always smart. There are pleanty of smart African American, white, Indian, smart people. Just as there are pleanty of Asians and similar people who are not very bright. We have Indian doctors. Sorry, did you not think they would give a medical degree to someone who could potentially own a gas station? Times have definitely changed.

Most people do not realize that stereotypes are just that-stereotypes. It is natural for us to judge others, however, our judges are extremely innacurate. How a person is stereotyped is how peers see them-not how they really are. Every person is different and no two people are alike….unless of course you’re identical twins.

So, are we forced into believing them? Or do we believe them on our own? My take on this, is that people believe what their friends say. If a friend says, “Oh, do you know how many guys that girl has slept with?” And the truth may be that the girl never did sleep with anyone. But you are still going to listen to your friend’s word-just because she is your friend.

We feel like we are going to be rejected by our peers if we do not agree to the flow of our world with its stereotypes. But I am against that. People need to have their own opinions about things. That is what makes us who we are, and our own person. If we continue to follow in our friend’s footsteps about judging others, we will not be creating a better world with better educated people-it will just be the same old world, with a bunch of clones of everyone else.

So think about it: do you think you are pressured into believing racial stereotypes? Are you a cause of racial stereotypes, or do you promote them? Hopefully this article has opened up some eyes and allowed people to see that stereotypes are just words that are used to judge-not how an entire race is reflected. One person is one person, not their entire race.

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Teen Magazine Writer

2 Responses

David Kantonix Manfreddy

December 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
1

That people are individuals capable of making decisions placing them outside of any ’stereotype’ is a real insight. Unfortunately most people (teens or otherwise) actively look for some sort of group affiliation if only for an image to present that identifies them at a glance. We live in an image obsessed society. One that is actively promoted by every form of media (especially television as it’s essentially a visual medium) and perhaps to a lesser extent by radio (through stereotypical music and advertising) or magazines through (also through advertising designed to target the widest audience).

While people may be capable of breaking free from what used to be a much more subtle sort of social engineering it probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon. People of all ages like to identify with one group or another. An easy to identify image not only helps others arrive at easy and quick conclusions about them (acceptance/rejection/fear) but it gives a supposed individual an off the rack costume and self image as well. It’s easy and saves a lazy consumer the trouble of having to use their imagination or come up with something that really suits them.

The advertising media treats people and groups as stereotypes and so if people want to be accepted they look for an image they feel comfortable with. In a little while they can talk the talk and walk the walk that goes so well with their new uniform. The consumer is happy because he/she doesn’t have to know themselves at all to present a typical and convincing falsified persona. Advertisers are happy because now they have a walking talking billboard for their client’s products and everybody the pseudo-stereotype encounters is happy because the media has already told them everything they need to know about this ‘individual’s’ beliefs through the magic of music videos, magazines, sitcoms… Life is wonderful and everyone knows where they belong. Yay!

Breaking free of stereotypical illusions will require insight from the consumers who perpetuate the lie.
caio and leonardo

March 24th, 2008 at 8:55 am
2

Sir David is absolutely right in my opinion.
Most of the times, a person doesn’t actually thinks like that, this stereotypical way. But it feels forced to think like that, you know? So he or she can me accepted by the society.

Nowadays, It’s kind of hard to express your true thoughts. It’s not about some kind of political opression, but it’s about our own friends. More and more, you start thinking that way too.