Stereotypes

After considering all of the information about stereotypes that I have been receiving lately this is the best definition that I can make. A stereotype is a group of people which are classified together and have a set of characteristics that are thought to be known of all of them. However, I am coming to realize that although stereotypes are often used and are not necessarily negative, they can lead to confusion if applied the wrong circumstance. In the words of Walter Lippmann,

“If we cannot fully understand the acts of other people, until we know what they think they know, then in order to do justice we have to appraise no only the information which has been at their disposal, the minds through which they have filtered it.”

I think this is dead on in that stereotypes can be misleading when applied to a people because although their acts may seem strange there may be a perfectly logical explanation behind it. Also, until you understand the culture and the reasoning of that culture, it is difficult to see why they are taking the actions that they do. Also, when stereotypes are applied they may be too broad and general for a specific people. For instance, often people have pre-conceived notions of immigrants. However, immigrants come from many different backgrounds and are not necessarily similar at all. The only necessary commonality is that they moved to this country from another. There are still stereotypes associated with this group. So, I do not think that stereotypes are necessarily a bad think, but I feel they must be constantly re-evaluated so that they may be accurate or in some cases be flexible enough in one’s mind that they may be cast aside.