Everyone has the capacity to engage in negative stereotyping. The idea that we can filter out assertions or relationships, or diminish the standing of a whole group, race or religion by virtue of their appearance, ethnicity, religion, or in fact any attribute we deem to be negative.
The reality is however is that the problem is not stereotyping, the problem is a lack of thinking. Stereoyping is in fact the interim step towards the creation of new knowledge. When we stereotype, we are actually trying to form new laws or principles to explain how the world is. This is a positive thing.
Unfortunately most of us receive no explicit instruction in how to think from our parents. Instead we develop wisdom passively. We accept 'recieved wisdom' because it comes from some authority, whether its the thinking of our president, or the popular wisdom of our social group. The most courageous thing a person can do is to express a personal opinion. More courageous is expressing one that alienates you form your social network. Fortunately with the internet we don't have to be so remote from people whom will accept us for whom we are - if we know how to promote yourself.
Its unfortunate that the negative impact of stereotyping has caused people to withdrawal from self expression, particularly critical thinking, as it is self-criticism that actually prevents people from acting settling with negative stereoptypes. By that I mean, a negative stereotype is one which is not open to revision, that exists as a dogma. The problem is not that a person thinks 'All black people are thieves', the problem is why he needs to believe that. Such a person accepts this premise because they place perceptions above reality, because they derive a false sense of pride by accepting a relativist notion that they are superior to black people because they have isolated a certain 'subjective' opinion (taken as fact) to support their view, whilst evading any facts or opinions which might contradict their view.
So the problem is not sterotyping, its that people think so little of reality, that they would evade or discount new knowledge that would alter their view. They do this because they lack self esteem. They lack self esteem because they dont trust their capacity to think. They dont trust their capacity to think because it was never a valued skill whilst they were developing their mind. In fact in the playground, the smart kids were beat up. People just wanted to get along.
When you understand that, you will understand that legislation to stop discrimination will not help, it will merely drive it underground, only to surface as a different set of rationalisations. Thats not to say that the public perception of blacks has diminished - it has. It has not because of the legislation, which might otherwise have been perceived as charity. Blacks have been standing in the US community because of the education - moral, scientific and statistical info that went with it.
Consider that the political process - which is fundamentally based on popular perceptions - can so little to help the plight of blacks or other minorities. Recent examples include Australia's previous Howard government, which subtly used 'immigrants overboard' as a 'vote catcher', creating fears of an immigration invasion. These fears were created with respect to the Mexicans as well. The idea that our borders are so porous, that these people present such a grave threat.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
The reality is however is that the problem is not stereotyping, the problem is a lack of thinking. Stereoyping is in fact the interim step towards the creation of new knowledge. When we stereotype, we are actually trying to form new laws or principles to explain how the world is. This is a positive thing.
Unfortunately most of us receive no explicit instruction in how to think from our parents. Instead we develop wisdom passively. We accept 'recieved wisdom' because it comes from some authority, whether its the thinking of our president, or the popular wisdom of our social group. The most courageous thing a person can do is to express a personal opinion. More courageous is expressing one that alienates you form your social network. Fortunately with the internet we don't have to be so remote from people whom will accept us for whom we are - if we know how to promote yourself.
Its unfortunate that the negative impact of stereotyping has caused people to withdrawal from self expression, particularly critical thinking, as it is self-criticism that actually prevents people from acting settling with negative stereoptypes. By that I mean, a negative stereotype is one which is not open to revision, that exists as a dogma. The problem is not that a person thinks 'All black people are thieves', the problem is why he needs to believe that. Such a person accepts this premise because they place perceptions above reality, because they derive a false sense of pride by accepting a relativist notion that they are superior to black people because they have isolated a certain 'subjective' opinion (taken as fact) to support their view, whilst evading any facts or opinions which might contradict their view.
So the problem is not sterotyping, its that people think so little of reality, that they would evade or discount new knowledge that would alter their view. They do this because they lack self esteem. They lack self esteem because they dont trust their capacity to think. They dont trust their capacity to think because it was never a valued skill whilst they were developing their mind. In fact in the playground, the smart kids were beat up. People just wanted to get along.
When you understand that, you will understand that legislation to stop discrimination will not help, it will merely drive it underground, only to surface as a different set of rationalisations. Thats not to say that the public perception of blacks has diminished - it has. It has not because of the legislation, which might otherwise have been perceived as charity. Blacks have been standing in the US community because of the education - moral, scientific and statistical info that went with it.
Consider that the political process - which is fundamentally based on popular perceptions - can so little to help the plight of blacks or other minorities. Recent examples include Australia's previous Howard government, which subtly used 'immigrants overboard' as a 'vote catcher', creating fears of an immigration invasion. These fears were created with respect to the Mexicans as well. The idea that our borders are so porous, that these people present such a grave threat.
-----------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
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