Generalities and stereotypes

When someone from another country says "you Americans..." I want to ask "which of the 300 million of us did you have in mind?" In general, generalities are not true. Stereotypically, stereotypes are exaggerated.

My wife is of Japanese descent. Her father once told me: "Japanese think orientals are superior to all other races, Japanese are superior to other orientals, the people of Honshu are superior to other Japanese, and those who graduated from Tokyo University are the best of all." He too was known to exaggerate.

My former partner was Swiss-American. He believed Europeans are superior to Americans, the Swiss are superior to other Europeans, Swiss-Germans are superior to other Swiss, and the people of Bern (his home town) are superior to other Swiss-Germans. He now has dual citizenship, but those generalities are still his belief.

What generalities and/or stereotypes bother you most? Please, don't mention male-female; that is endless.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anand Krishna on February 14, 2010 at 8:25pm

Thank you for initiating this discussion Ron....
Interestingly, here in Indonesia the situation is very, very different....

THe most blessed of all beings are the human beings.
The most blessed of all human beings are the arabs.
The most blessed of all arabs, is Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him...

I love Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him, as Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Zarathustra and others.... i love the arabs as much as i love the indians, japanese, chinese, westerners and others....

Permalink Reply by Ron Krumpos on February 15, 2010 at 7:48pm

The two examples of Japanese and Swiss were foolish. Very few people in either country believe that. Unfortunately, there are many foolish people in the world. Most of them we ignore, but some drive us crazy with their generalities and stereotypes. I just wanted to hear from your members which bother them most.

Permalink Reply by David Linton on February 9, 2011 at 9:53pm

I realize this discussion is quite far in the past. Nevertheless, it did incite me to respond. It is only the lazy who will view the world that way. If I don't need to think about things, if I don't need to encounter challenges to my simple, preconceived notions, then my prejudices neatly describe the world. If, however, I actually do travel and get to meet other people of other cultures at a real level, then I am forced to realize that my prejudices don't work, that not everyone of a particular culture behave in one way, and that I and "my people" are not uniformly better than everyone else.

This business of overcoming stereotypes takes work. For me, it begins when I realize that the world is much more complex and more interesting than I had ever imagined; it continues when I meet people who I would have assumed that I was superior to, and yet discover strengths they have which are beyond my weaknesses.

I work with people who tend to have rather rigid and racist stereotypical views. When I talk with them, I realize that their worldview is shaped by very little actual contact with the world. In other words, they are in contact primarily with people just like them, which just reinforces their concepts.

I come from a nature spirituality tradition, which has no holy books. We view the world to be our scripture; perhaps we would all be better off to look to the holy in the world around us, that scripture and divine revelation which is being written anew every day.

Brightest blessings to all,

Dave

Permalink Reply by Ron Krumpos on February 10, 2011 at 8:44am

David, thanks for your thoughtful reply. You might be interested in my comments on this topic in the Harvard Business Review blog: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/04/talking_across_cultures.html#comments

Permalink Reply by Mystic Tourist on February 14, 2011 at 12:46pm

Hi Ron. Hope you are well.

The generality and stereotype that I think is most troubling is our determination to be, or to think, something is right. Being right always and only assures wrong. That is the only difference it makes. Because things can only be as they are it is a completely useless position. We can accept that things are as they are, proceed to do what is best, and abandon the failure of being right. It seems we prefer to imagine being right and continue to struggle with wrong. To me it seems a waste of time.

Permalink Reply by Ron Krumpos on February 14, 2011 at 3:34pm

I am not absolutely, totally right today...just a little less wrong than yesterday. To judge the right or wrong of other people is an exercise in futility. Sorry to have been absent from your blog; I'm busy commenting on Stephen Hawking's recent book.

Permalink Reply by Larry Lagrone on February 17, 2012 at 11:00pm

Permalink Reply by Larry Lagrone on February 17, 2012 at 11:10pm

Thank you for initiating this question...My thought is that the list would be endless..

I believe the real issue is that ALL STEREOTYPE IS a form of murder...murder of the spirit. My dream is that everyone will stop and THINK before they roll out the carpet of discrimination,stereotype, and bigotry.

Permalink Reply by Ron Krumpos on February 18, 2012 at 10:01am

Larry, I loved your God quote. Some people seem to feel that the Ten Commandments only apply to others.

Unfortunately, too many people do not stop and think before they speak. They just want to express their opinion, regardless of its accuracy or of their being informed. Sweeping statements about cultural, racial or religious differences are just the tip of the iceburg. As you say, the list would be endless.