Stereotypes

by Brian Youngblood

Stereotypes are assumptions that are made due to one's race, appearance, name, clothing, and or their overall way of doing and seeing things. It can also be made based on one's mental state and their outlook on life.  However, I think as a society, in order to evolve into something smarter and more in line with truth, we must stop making assumptions on people and things, for we are all human, and any social norm we currently have does not fit the description of a human, man, or woman, but the description of what they want a man and woman to be. Which is something that is out of line with truth, nor is it in any sort of way logical.                                                               

Origin of stereotypes

I believe that stereotypes originated from a couple of things: miseducation, uneducated people, and people following others and society because everyone else is doing it. People are indoctrinated to believe, think, and see things in a certain way, and not question and learn for themselves how things really are. I also believe that since people who have control over us want us to believe certain things, they implant stereotypes in things like media and stuff to control the narrative.                                                              

Peoples' thoughts on stereotypes

I have interviewed a few of my friends to see their thoughts on this topic, and this is all that they had to say about it.

One of my friends, J, is one of the people I chose to interview. I asked him to do this because I believe that is a pretty smart guy, who is the kind of person who you could converse with for hours about anything. That's why I chose him, he’s bound to give a good and well thought out response. This is what J had to say about the topic of stereotypes.

“I think people have both a bias and a stereotype. People, either from their own experiences, the media they consume, or both, can give them an assumption or bias about something or someone. So it's just the overall thing that they could have been misinformed and told false information about something, causing them to have a stereotype about something.”   

Ways we can minimize stereotypes

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-seeing-negative-stereotypes-of-asian-americans-can-affect-mental-health

Getting rid of our own preconceived notions and exposing ourselves to people from diverse backgrounds will make a great impact. All these things we do not only shape our own way of dealing with others but also help in the transformation of the community.

Opening oneself up to and knowing about the people and ways of different cultures, and educating everyone from root levels is without doubt the surest way of changing the view of one region to the other.

Also, raising awareness through social media can serve as a catalyst in influencing many people on diversity. It is also vital to have empathy with people close to us to decrease stereotyping.