Stereotypes?

[Rachel Baum]

Everywhere you go, there seems to always be stereotypes. Dumb blondes, smart Asians, immigrants can't speak English, the hateful mother-in-law, loud obnoxious and fat Americans, etc. There's even stereotypes that only apply to our area, like everyone in Inverness is filthy rich. Why do people stereotype? Just because some people with a certain hair color or ethnicity act one way doesn't mean they all do. Stereotypes aren't all bad though, such as smart Asains, romantic French, and good Italian cooks. But just because these aren't mean doesn't make it a confidence booster for everyone. Say, for example, you are Italian, but you can't cook to save your life. How would it make you feel if you just met someone and mentioned that you were Italian and they automatically assume you can cook? Pretty bad, right? And what if you were Asian but math wasn't you're best subject? So just because in context it seems positive, it's still just as hurtful as a bad stereotype.

Why do people stereotype anyways? Is there any true purpose to it or is just human nature? Yea, they can be funny and often true, but just it's true for one person doens't mean it's true for everyone. Maybe it's not something we can control. Maybe it's just human nature and there's nothing stopping us from making these stereotypes, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure you can stop yourself from making these stereotypes. I know it's not easy, I do it too. But maybe you should think before you automatically make a judgement about someone because of race, hair color, where they're from, etc. Me? I just laugh at them. I'm a natural blonde, and yea I admit it, I can sometimes be a ditz, but that doesn't mean I'm dumb all the time. And ok, dumb blonde jokes and stereotypes are funny but they hurt me sometimes. I pretend like it doesn't hurt, and usually they don't, but I get in those moods sometimes when they do hurt and it's not fun being called stupid when you're clearly not just because of hair color. One of the things that bothers me the most, though, isn't that people stereotype. It's the fact that they hate is when people stereotype them, but then they turn around and stereotype others. Hypocrisy anyone? If you can't deal with it, don't do it.

[Joey Marasco]

i agree with you i just think it's human nature for us to stereotpye, i don't like it either, but unfortunately it's just the way our world works right now and somewhere down the road we are going to have to do something to fix that