Stereotypes and prejudices

In the past several months we all have been challenged at the way we view the world. Recently the owner of a professional basketball team made some highly racial comments which then became public and right now, we have the on-going racial situation in Ferguson, Missouri. If we are even vaguely familiar with either one of these news items, we have personal feelings about them. And to be honest, there are continuous incidents such as these, perhaps to a lesser degree sometimes, but then again often not.
Words like racism and bigotry come up. Harsh words with harsh connotations to be sure. But if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we all carry pre-conceived notions, ideas and thoughts about groups of people. Don’t we often lump an entire group of people because of some generalizations we grew up with. How we were raised, our environment around us, things we have read or seen on television and personal experiences all make up our very own personal stereotypes, prejudices and biases. Notice those ugly words I didn’t use!
For example, haven’t we given blondes a bad shake? Especially blonde woman? Are Asian boys and girls all gifted in Math? The several times I traveled to Africa, people there assume all Americans are rich. The French are romantic, the Irish love to drink, Italians good lovers, Jewish people are cheap and red-necks aren’t very bright. When you think of an Iowan, what do you think? How about a New Yorker or a Californian? Heh, heh…..what about those politicians? What stereotypes conjures up about them?
A while back, I watched “42” the movie about Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player to play in the Major Leagues. In one scene when Robinson came to bat, the crowd hurled horrible insults toward him. One 12 year-old son watched and listened to his father shout all kinds of racial slurs to Robinson. The boy looked flabbergasted and confused but soon cupped his hands and started shouting the same insults at Robinson. He watched and learned how to develop hatred.
The stereotypes are myriad. Kids that wear glasses are nerdy and smart; Brazilians are great at soccer; nurses are female; surgeons are male. We get bits and pieces of “Knowledge” from who knows where and then we develop a generalization about that entire group. Heck, I’m 62 years old and when growing up, tattoos were mostly taboo. Only men from the Navy got them or tough hoodlums against mainstream society. And nice girls never would even think of getting one! Today just about everyone has one. Do you? Back in my day, only guys rode motorcycles and for the most part they were part of some biker gang. Remember the movie “Easy Rider” and those Billy Jack movies?
So what do we do? First of all, acknowledge that we do have certain biases. Nothing wrong with that as long as we don’t use those biases to pass judgment on an entire group of people. And secondly, we all should try hard to see everyone as individuals and not lump them into an entire group.
Finally we should as well as we can to live by one simple rule, which is probably found in every religion and faith….”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
That’s The Way I See It.
Let me know what you think at jsheda@indytel.com or call me at 319.327.4640. Have a great week.