Content Disclaimer: The below text uses words, which are considered harmful by many authoritarians. It is wrong to use words to convince people, as every opinion has the same value, no matter how completely ridiculously fucked up it is.
Stereotypes have such a bad reputation and yet they evolved for a reason. It helps - especially kids and us when we are new to a domain - to think in simplifications. Otherwise the whole of human knowledge is just too large and complex to comprehend.
And successful stereotypes often have a big grain of truth to them as well, that's why they work. The stereotypical German actually does have features that are present in many Germans. Same for stereotypical other countries, races, religions, professions, dogs, houses, cars,...
There's a good reason that in school, we are taught the general principles, then usually (physics is famous for that) the next year they teach you "well yes, except..." and unravel more of the details.
There's currently a culture developing around us, which focusses too much on bringing all the complexity and differentiation into everything, from the beginning.
Should we teach kids that all black people are dangerous? Of course not. Should we be allowed to include in a show that Germans like sausage? Why the heck not? Later in life they can still learn that there are Vegetarians in Germany, too.
Many of us were brought up on stereotypes, and we aren't haters of everything. In fact, tolerance often develops when we discover by ourselves that our stereotypes don't always apply. That learning process when you actually meet a person from minority X for the first time and figure out within a few seconds that they're just another person, have a quick (internal) laugh about your stereotype and go on with your life - don't take that from people. It's a better teacher than all your diversity programs.
stereotypes (Score:4, Insightful)
Content Disclaimer: The below text uses words, which are considered harmful by many authoritarians. It is wrong to use words to convince people, as every opinion has the same value, no matter how completely ridiculously fucked up it is.
Stereotypes have such a bad reputation and yet they evolved for a reason. It helps - especially kids and us when we are new to a domain - to think in simplifications. Otherwise the whole of human knowledge is just too large and complex to comprehend.
And successful stereotypes often have a big grain of truth to them as well, that's why they work. The stereotypical German actually does have features that are present in many Germans. Same for stereotypical other countries, races, religions, professions, dogs, houses, cars, ...
There's a good reason that in school, we are taught the general principles, then usually (physics is famous for that) the next year they teach you "well yes, except..." and unravel more of the details.
There's currently a culture developing around us, which focusses too much on bringing all the complexity and differentiation into everything, from the beginning.
Should we teach kids that all black people are dangerous? Of course not. Should we be allowed to include in a show that Germans like sausage? Why the heck not? Later in life they can still learn that there are Vegetarians in Germany, too.
Many of us were brought up on stereotypes, and we aren't haters of everything. In fact, tolerance often develops when we discover by ourselves that our stereotypes don't always apply. That learning process when you actually meet a person from minority X for the first time and figure out within a few seconds that they're just another person, have a quick (internal) laugh about your stereotype and go on with your life - don't take that from people. It's a better teacher than all your diversity programs.