Analyzing Stereotypes And Lightheartedly Poking Fun At Other Races

[mickill]

If you don't feel like reading all of this, that's great. Thanks for your input in advance. I only feel like hearing from certain kinds of people anyway.

There's the common, cliched, sometimes completely false stereotypes like the ones about Japanese tourists never being without cameras, Black dudes having 13 inch wangs, White people not being able to clap on beat and Filipino people eating dogs etc. But what about all the stereotypes nobody acknowledges? Like how Chinese people seem to take really small steps when they walk or how a lot of Middle Eastern guys call people 'boss' and 'guy' a lot. A lot of it's generalizing, yes, but that doesn't automatically make it counterfactual, I don't think.

For example, I've only had 3 Korean friends in my whole life, all at different points in time. And each of their families owned a corner store/market at one stage or another. Could be coincidental, I suppose. But even they would recognize that commonality in their race. I acknowledge the ones for mine as well. I don't see how ignoring the common implications of these insignificant traits and similarities really empowers or protects anyone. I don't think they need to be discussed at great length, but recognizing that they exist doesn't necessarily kill anybody. Or does it?

When I was a child I read somewhere that the first stage of racism is stereotyping. And that stereotyping inevitably leads to discrimination, which in turn eventually leads to segregation, which can lead to apartheid, and if all hell breaks loose, even genocide.

But stereotyping itself isn't necessarily offensive. Like if I claimed that a lot of Greeks have sex with sheep, that would upset some people. But if I said that the majority of Greek people are very friendly, it just seems so much less insulting. Nobody would necessarily want to stab me in the face for it. Both are still generalizations, though. The lines are still for the most part blurry. What might or might not be construed as appropriate or politically correct depends on who you're talking to.

Do all stereotpyes just bother you, regardless of their implications? Does it matter if it's a positive or negative remark? Is their any validity to it ever? Do people need to lighten up? Is it okay as long as it's not a white person making the comment? Just wondering what you think.

[abcdefz]

Some really bug me, but I can't help but notice some things which seem very true.

Like: the Korean folks at the supermarket use public space as their own, man. They just don't care if they block the entrance or whatever. Some will push their cart into checkout line (with or without babies in the seat) and then go back down the aisle, still shopping. I have no idea what that's about.

And Americans of Asian descent will ferociously cling together, man. It's hell getting them to let whitey into their cliques, although some blacks get honorary Asian status for some reason. Mainly 'cause I think American Asian youth want to be black.

And, yeah, if there's a loud mouth yelling into the cell phone or having a screaming match with their S.O. on a public street, it's almost always a black person. If not black, it's a Latino woman. No idea why that is, but they have to make sure everyone's in on their business and how hard they are or something.

[Ms Crafty]

Originally Posted by abcdefz

And Americans of Asian descent will ferociously cling together, man. It's hell getting them to let whitey into their cliques, although some blacks get honorary Asian status for some reason. Mainly 'cause I think American Asian youth want to be black.

it's a similar story over here. the oriental people over here more or less hang out with eachother exclusively but sometimes they'll have a token white/black guy in there group. i don't think it's the oriental youth wanting to be white/black though, infact i think it's the opposite.

i didn't start hanging around oriental people until i was about 16-17 years old but there was a group of oriental boys in my class who had a white guy in their group. i hadn't seen them for years but i went to a chinese wedding last year and those guys were there including that white guy. so after all these years they haven't lost touch and i saw another white dude at their table who was obviously a friend of theirs and this new guy got up to sing a karaoke song in chinese! all the guests were surprised to see him sing the song so well and he got the biggest round of applause too.

then there was my old flatmate's group of boys, they had a token whitey and he spoke more chinese than i do. even when he's hurt instead of saying "ow!" or "ouch!" he'll say it the chinese way which is like "ai-ya!"

Originally Posted by abcdefz

And, yeah, if there's a loud mouth yelling into the cell phone or having a screaming match with their S.O. on a public street, it's almost always a black person. If not black, it's a Latino woman. No idea why that is, but they have to make sure everyone's in on their business and how hard they are or something.

all chavs, no matter what colour they are do that over here

[DroppinScience]

Originally Posted by Ms Crafty

it's a similar story over here. the oriental people over here more or less hang out with eachother exclusively but sometimes they'll have a token white/black guy in there group.

Hmm, maybe I'm the token white guy among my Asian friends?

I do gotta admit that even though we live in a society that is striving for integration, we all tend to hang around the same groups of people.

Lots of Asians with other Asians. East Indians with other East Indians, etc.

I try my best to be integrative, but even I have more white friends than non-white friends...

We just gotta rise above, y'know.

[vickista]

Originally Posted by DroppinScience

Hmm, maybe I'm the token white guy among my Asian friends?

I do gotta admit that even though we live in a society that is striving for integration, we all tend to hang around the same groups of people.

Lots of Asians with other Asians. East Indians with other East Indians, etc.

I try my best to be integrative, but even I have more white friends than non-white friends...

We just gotta rise above, y'know.

we all tend to hang around the same groups of people because we feel safer with them because we subconciously believe that they ARE like us because they LOOK like us, of course thats not true.


however i find that i prfer to mix my friends, like in my group i have asians, aussies,an african australian, and then me and im greek, however i would still like to have more greek friends at english school, because im the only greek inmy entire grade so its funny everyone else has someone like them and i dont.

[Bob]

see, black guys drive like this

and white guys drive like this

also black guys walk really slow what's up with that

[skinnybutphat]

Originally Posted by mickill

Do people need to lighten up?

Imagine all the great comedic routines we wouldn't have without stereotypes.

[abcdefz]

Black men saying "nigger" are hella funny.

Anxious Jews, too.

[hpdrifter]

I often think about what people's true colors would be without laws and social restrictions that reign people in. That was the most interesting thing to me about 28 days later, that the men all were up to rape the two women, one of which was a teenager. It was like this was bubbling beneath the surface the whole time for these men.

I often wonder that about people and races. I mean, Seattle is not known for its progressive race relations, for better or worse it is a super stratified city and occasionally it rears its ugly head (the riots on Mardi Gras a few years back). So is it the fear of jail and social rejection that keeps the blacks and the whites around here from murderizing each other?

I guess what I'm trying to say is related to your slippery slope discussion: stereotypes inevitably lead to discrimination, which in turn eventually lead to segregation, which can lead to apartheid, and if all hell breaks loose, even genocide. Is it really the other way around and people want to go straight to genocide but they can't so they content themselves with stereotyping and discrimination until a hoarde of zombies renders all social structure null and void.

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by cmute rhyme

Playing basketball where I did, I got called "white boy" and "cracker" a lot. Sometimes, there was hate and discrimination behind it, sometimes there was genuine love.

The Band almost called themselves The Crackers.

True story.

[Qdrop]

stereotyping groups is enevitable....and often necessary.
our human minds have evolved to make rash, generalized assumptions and classifications...that's how we are wired.

and stereotypes themselves, ON A GROUP LEVEL, are often correct or at least have some truth to them on the average.

the real problem is when we take a stereotype of a group, and put it on the INDIVIDUAL.

for example, like it or not, the stereo type that lots of blacks commit crimes has truth to it.
the % of black americans involved in criminal activity is exceptionally higher than any other race.
the % of crimes committed in ANY major city tends to a majority of black americans.

the may upset many people, and CERTAINLY there are many historical and social reasons for it( and NOT biological ones)....but that stereotype still rings true.

the problem really arrises, when we take that stereotype....and put it on one black man that we meet on the street one night....or a black male interviewing for a job at your company. the true unfairness is when you judge that individual on the stereotype of a much larger group.

[guerillaGardner]

Originally Posted by hpdrifter

That was the most interesting thing to me about 28 days later, that the men all were up to rape the two women, one of which was a teenager. It was like this was bubbling beneath the surface the whole time for these men.

Bear in mind that 1) its a fictitious scenario for the purposes of drama and 2) if it reflects reality then perhaps (at risk of stereotyping military types) aren't soldiers more likely to indulge this way.

For one the military has recognised there is a natural abhorrence of violence in most normal people and they actually initiate programmes to remove these natural scruples - part of that, acclimatising soldiers to blood and violence, and also breaking down their personalities in training in order to replace them with a persona of the military's choosing.

Bear in mind the most suitable mindset of any joining the military - a predispositon to aggressive behaviour, a willingness to kill, lack of prospects in the real world (because after all who would join the military at this point in time if it wasn't a last desparate option or a need to be handed a gun and given the chance to shoot someone.)

[beastieangel01]

Originally Posted by mickill

But stereotyping itself isn't necessarily offensive. Like if I claimed that a lot of Greeks have sex with sheep, that would upset some people. But if I said that the majority of Greek people are very friendly, it just seems so much less insulting. Nobody would necessarily want to stab me in the face for it. Both are still generalizations, though.

yep.


For the most part, stereotypes are based on some sort of truth. When bringing those stereotypes up, joking around lightheartedly about them is something that doesn't bother me. Someone who takes it to another level and applies it to EVERY single person with a stereotyped group is another thing though and doing so in a malicious manner is awful.

However, in general, I think people need to lighten up a bit about it. Like in the Simpsons. They make fun of everyone.

[bigblu89]

I'm in the same boat here with BA01 and mickill, most sterotypes are based off of some sort of truth.

[roosta]

yeah, like Irish people are all drunks.

it's more or less true. it's very funny when the simpsons make fun of it.

[yeahwho]

I do on occaision poke fun a scandinavian's, but I really feel that only a true scandinavian can call a fellow scandinavian "His Viking".

[CrankItUp!]

I thought Filipinos ate pinos to filli up on....hmmm didn't know they ate dogs though ! But what kinda ?..slaw or chilli on their labradoors ?

[hpdrifter]

Isn't it funny that English people say sport and maths and people from the U.S. say sports and math?

[HEIRESS]

I love my friends

stereotype #93234249234938274: cant see asian eyes in photossssss

comment buddy on the right made post seeing pic "FUCK I CAN EVEN KEEP EM HELD OPEN"

[Ms Crafty]

Originally Posted by mickill

Do all stereotpyes just bother you, regardless of their implications? Does it matter if it's a positive or negative remark? Is their any validity to it ever? Do people need to lighten up? Is it okay as long as it's not a white person making the comment? Just wondering what you think.

stereotyping doesn't bother me as much as it used to. especially when meeting new people and they stereotype me straightaway, i'm not sure how to feel. when i meet new people, i've had several ask if my parents own a takeaway and a few asked if i did kung-fu/karate. and then i get people saying "all chinese people are good at drawing" or "you're good at spellings/maths/whatever cos you're chinese". and i really don't know how to take those comments (good or bad) so i just brush it off and don't think too much about what they've said.

but when i hear people stereotype another race in front of me, inside i feel offended for that other race

[Freebasser]

Last time I said anything about stereotypes on here, Mickill called me racist.

FACT.

I love you, Mike

[Nuzzolese]

Originally Posted by mickill

Do all stereotpyes just bother you, regardless of their implications? Does it matter if it's a positive or negative remark? Is their any validity to it ever? Do people need to lighten up? Is it okay as long as it's not a white person making the comment? Just wondering what you think.

Even the positive ones bother me because of the closedmindedness they insinuate. There has to be validity to it somewhere but it's like everyone has to have a selectively heightened label or stigma in order to be recognized on a large scale. Without a short generalized summation of a population, they can hardly exist in a comprehensible way to outsiders. And it seems to help the individual to identify themselves by contrasting with others - I am this but you are that. I think everything we're aware of depends on a binary relationship, or a tension between opposites. So you can't be aware of one thing without being aware of it's reverse or its counter role. And this is why I think it's inevitable but it still bothers me on a fundamental level because I wouldn't be able to enjoy a sense of righteous justice without the necessary injustice. It's there because it has to be, so we can believe that it shouldn't be there.

Also, and this is related to what hpdrifter said about the violent urges under the surface, Maybe the stereotyping does come from the same basic urge as the rape because it's an urge to impose order and control and domination as a response to a seemingly lawless and orderless world. So the desire to have laws and etiquette and decorum and rules is similar to the desire to stigmatize and label and condem someone or even rape them - because it's from a desire to control and order things, it's just that we have these two conflicted ways to express that desire for control, and one is dependant on the other. Without social rules there is social lawlessness and violence. But the social rules come from the preexisting violence we fear in ourselves. h fuck I've totally lost myself in this rant. Why do middle eastern guys wear so much cologne and make such creepy eye contact with women?

[DapperDiverge]

Originally Posted by Nuzzolese

Why do middle eastern guys wear so much cologne and make such creepy eye contact with women?

I know... there's sandwich place at the mall that have really good phillies but the guys there are middle eastern and everytime I order they always give me this creepy look and start making small talk with what they think is "flattery"... I mean some of them are cute... but damn they're direct!! SLOW DOWN!! be more subtle... you're in america now... plenty of women here... no shortages, alright!!

I think Paul Mooney said it best when he said,

everybody wants to act like a nigga, but nobody wants to be a nigga

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by DapperDiverge

I think Paul Mooney said it best

Paul Mooney.

I thought, for a second, that you meant Paul Dooley.

[fucktopgirl]

marocain guys are pervert in a bad sense.I was working at this little restaurant and the cook was a fat marocain.HE's cooking was awsome but he was disgusting.And one day he just grabs my ass,i was like"what the fuck",he was all like "what did i do wrong.I say "you know fucker,dont do that again".Next day,there was another girl in training,i loose my job.BEcause i did not want a fucking pervert grab my ass,but i was happy to be out..There was this other girl working there,A french(france),she did not have a working permit,therefore she was illegal to work.BUt she she find this place,,she had to let herself grab by this pervert fuck.

or when i did travel in france,thoses marocain guys where all over myself,i was travelling alone for the first couples of days.I had to back them off with anger and karate moves

[Nuzzolese]

No kidding, what's with the Morrocan dudes all over the touristing women? Tunisians too. Their favorite hook "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." And shirt of choice, anything Italian.