Posted by Isaac | Posted in Life, Religion and Philosophy | Posted on 01-19-2006
Tags: Life, stereotypes
This may be a repeat, but I want to rant a little about labels in general. I hinted at some thoughts yesterday, but it’s been a while since I’ve talked about it, so perhaps it is time for a refresher.
I hate labels. I hate stereotypes. I had anything that predispositions a person towards something else, especially if it is another person. A person should be judged as a person, as an individual, not by his or her specific race, nationality, etc. This is not simply anti-descrimination rhetoric. This is the simple truth that all too often on a person-to-person level, people pre-judge because of meaningless and trite things.
Yesterday, I said that I might be labeled as a “compassionate atheist moderate conservative”. Two of those labels are almost ANTI labels. If you break it apart, it is really “compassionate atheist” and “moderate conservative”. In addition, we might add “atheist conservative”. You see, when someone announces they are a conservative, the stereotype associated with it is a radical religious “right-winger” … so it need to be quailified.. I am neither radical nor religious. But THAT needs qualifying, because the stereotype associated with atheist is huuuuuuge.
I can’t avoid acknowledging that they exist. At one point in my life, I tried. I wouldn’t even respond to certain words or phrases. But, that is simply ridiculous. Someone (or perhaps many people) once argued that it is human nature to categorize things. I spent a lot of energy arguing against that viewpoint… but I have perhaps a better answer to it now: who cares?
I mean really, so what if it is natural to categorize things, even humans based off of traits? What I care about is how an individual judges another individual. I don’t care if you think that all poor people are just lazy leeches… if you genuinely interact with poor people, you will find one (and more than one!) that is not. And if you think that all right people are insensitive, money-grubbers.. again, if you genuinely interact with rich people, you will find one (and more than one!) that is not.
So what it comes down to for me is not wether or not it is human nature to categorize things. What is comes down to is that it is a learned behavior to pre-judge an individual because of some lame categorization.
And a bad one at that.
dave got interviewed by my sister-in-law for a diversity project she had to do. she asked him what were some positive stereotypes about his race/culture, and he responded, “I don’t believe there is any such thing as a positive stereotype.”
I agree that some labels are bad, such as stereotypes regarding a person’s race or political viewpoint, but not ALL labels are bad. If someone sexually molested a child and we label that person a child abuser, you think I’m going to take time and get to know that individual to see if he/she has some good qualities? Heck no. Oh, well maybe they have done charity work all their life, or they are really smart, or, or, or. I don’t care. Child abusers are evil and destructive, and if I ever met one, I would judge them as a child abuser and never let themselves be expressed as an individual. NEVER. Once they make the choice to hurt a child like that, they relinquish any rights that they have to be judged as an individual. They can die alone and rot by themselves for all I care. We NEED those kinds of labels, because people need to know.
Bao, your post seems forcefully contrary.
I don’t think stereotypes and labels as mentioned by Isaac refer to criminal activity or registered sex offenders.
The point is that there is no positive stereotype. Even if the stereotype is “positive,” all it does is allow the user of the stereotype to fit someone into a predetermined box, without taking the time to get to know the individual.
My point was that not all labeling is bad and hateful, as Isaac pointed out. Child abusers are just an example that I happen to feel strongly about.
In certain circumstances, labeling and stereotyping might not be as inappropriate as you may think. For instance, let’s say I were the CEO of a big company, and we deal with many people from Japan. It would be appropriate for me to assume that since they are Japanese, I would need to adhere to certain etiquettes that are different from the American culture. In order to do this, and without any information regarding the people that I am meeting, I would need to assume certain things about them using only their culture to guide me, thus stereotyping them regardless of whether or not my acting differently from these etiquettes would offend them or not – because I don’t know.
I just don’t think that stereotypes and labels are all bad. That was my point.
hmm… cultural awareness vs. stereotyping… isaac??
Sorry for the delay in the reponse to this..
The point is not in the act of labeling; this is not something necessarily avoidable nor desirable. The problem is when those labels are used to pre-judge an individual.
Let’s look deeper into the issue. Bao brought up the idea of the child molester. This is not the same issue as what I mean. We label a person as a child molester because of action performed by the individual–i.e. we are judging the person on his or her own merits. It is true that people can change, but we DO need to be aware of their past. If we were to put the issue into context, it would be something like: “I knew a guy who had brown eyes who was a child molester, therefore everyone with brown eyes must be a child molester.” While the logical fallacy in this statement is easily clear, set it aside for a moment. The problem I have with labels and stereotypes is that they are used to pre-judge an individual before that person’s merits and flaws are allowed to be individually understood.
stereotypin sucks yeah but its a nessisary evil. you use it to describe someone. and i works for profiling which is another hot button but once again a nessisary evil. i dont like it bein half black and half greek. as im sure some asian doesnt like it when ppl think hes good at math just cuz hes asian. but some stereotypes are true. like i like chicken and beer. and i talk loud sometimes. and im late to work sometimes. i just laugh and brush it off.
I’ve written extensively on my blog about my discomfort with stereotypes about the disabled. A few of my posts:
http://pilgrimgirl.blogspot.com/2005/07/walking.html
http://pilgrimgirl.blogspot.com/2007/06/please-dont.html
That said, I will admit that because of some childhood experiences, there are men that just scare me–for example, I have a strong aversion to bald men or men with shaved heads. I work hard to get over my aversion and I happen to know many wonderful bald men. But it is hard to get over a feeling that’s almost instinctual because of past pain/trauma.
What I try to do is to get to know people–talk to them about their lives, understand where they’re coming from. That’s the best way to move beyond labels and stereotypes, IMO.