| My Love of Stereotypes |
| Saturday, August 30, 2008 |
My Love of Stereotypes
I truly love stereotypes, I find them extremely useful tool in making decisions. I see the lumping together of individuals and labeling the group as one of my greatest skills.
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Bangkok, Thailand - Khao Sarn Road
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Blog of Andy HoboTraveler.com --- Add a Hotel --- Backpack Design Survey --- Backpack
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We are told all our lives we should not stereotype, and let us be real, stereotyping in the mind happens in seconds, a person cannot go two seconds without making a stereotypical opinion in their mind.
The newscaster says,
“The Republican Presidential Candidate…”
The listener instantly lump this "Republican" into a box, then is anticipating the Republican Stereotypes to be explained by the newscaster in a what I would say is not intellectual and permeated with bias ways, truly spin Kings these reporters.
What I do with Stereotype, I make a good solid clearly defined stereotype.
I tell myself,
“Andy, this is stereotype you have made of this person.”
I now take my list of specific characteristics,
Republicans
1. Big money
2. Support Oil Companies
3. Conservative, whatever that means.
4. Nuclear Family
Forgive me, I am not very good at Stereotyping Republicans or Democrats because to me they both seem the same.
However, after I have a list, I now know I have a bias, I am looking now to see where the person deviates from the list.
(Note, Michael Moore is the CHAMPION of using Stereotypes in a truly nasty, premeditated. manipulative way against people. He recognizes the biases of people, and feeds them, creating hate…, what a bad boy.)
Now, I always think of George W. Bush, when I read this.
“President Bush has already allocated approximately $2 billion in hydrogen highway research.”
Quote here.
http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/
I thought to myself, for a guy who is supposed to be supporting Oil Companies, I am not sure what he is doing, hey George, you did not do the stereotypical thing of Republicans.
Now here is a good example of how to use Stereotypes as a tool, you recognize your you own biases, you admit to yourself that you stereotype, then you premeditated see if you are passing judgment on a person. A great way to become objective and help to remove biases.
In the end, this is the problem with stereotypes, they put people in boxes whereby they cannot escape, they are forever in the role of the stereotype, even when a person reads or hears something against the stereotype, the stereotype still prevails.
Now, I will leave the Hotel room, go find a Stereotypical greedy, lying cheating Taxi Driver, and hope I can see the signs of this before I enter the taxi, then hope I choose the one that does not demonstrate the signs of a greedy, lying, cheating Taxi Driver.
Note, the taxi waiting outside the hotel, is 90 percent of the time a problem, they normally and generally are the nasty stereotype of a taxi driver. They are trying to prey on the naïve stupid, fat, too lazy to work tourist, being greedy the taxi driver is trying to get the big money stupid tourist to use their taxi. (I stay in cheap hotels, not many of these taxi drivers around.)
I need a good list of my biases to make a well informed objective opinion. I know for example, I trust Farm boys above City Boys, but that does not preclude a City boy from having a few morals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes
http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/
A person tells me they do not stereotype, I think to myself,
"Wow, a person that will lies and say he doe not, a truly delusional belief system."
My Love of Stereotypes |
posted by Andy HoboTraveler.com @ 9:55 AM   |
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3 Comments: |
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I was a Philosophy Major in University.
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Hi Mr. Andy,
I think you being a bit too humble or maybe unaware of the level of your survival skills. I tend to see most of your advice as something like helping folks go stomping through the woods for the first time. You do your level best to explain how to recognize a copperhead, a rattlesnake, a water mocasin, etc. When all else fails you then pretty much just say..stay out of the woods where these ornery things thrive. Im fine with stereotyping, being biased, prejudiced or whatever the enlightened want to call it. In my world we call it presence of mind, situational awareness, among other things.
I was once selected for embassy guard training. In the interview, one of the Marine Corps officers asked me a question after seeing Im born and raised in Georgia. He squinted his eyes and asked me if I was prejudiced. My response..Im not too awfully fond of sour kraut.
Nothing there was a recognizable danger to me, but I was hungry and at that moment I was biased against sour kraut. I was selected for training.
You are in a constant situation similar to embassy guard. Only an insane fool would not arm himself with preconceptions, then adjust and adapt. I just wish I could make bets on the bunch that will or will not get snake bit.
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Only an insane fool would not arm himself with preconceptions, then adjust and adapt
Perfect, preconceptions of what could happen.
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I was a Philosophy Major in University.