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Stereotypes
by Lindsey
Paparello,
Staff Writer
Stereotyping will always be around, no matter how much we say we
hate it, deny it, or ban it. There are so many different types of
people and so many different ideas that there are rarely people who
fit the stereotypical ideal. From Goths to preps and all the groups
in between, stereotypical comments have always made their way to the
surface.
Although many say how they hate those
who stereotype, we, ourselves, stereotype others. Those with blonder
hair are more stupid than those with other hair colors; students who
get good grades are nerds, and so on and so forth. Many times people
judge others on their appearance. Name brands such as Abercrombie
and Hollister mean preppy, black clothes mean you're hardcore,
earthy colors mean you're a hippy. Thoughts such as theses diminish
our ability to see the person as a whole, we judge a person by the
interior instead of the exterior. For example, if you were walking
through a park at night and saw some old people walking towards you
with a cane, there is no threatening feeling, but when you're
walking through the park at night and you see a group of people in
leather jackets, the feeling of a threat is much stronger. Why? This
is because the media and magazines have created many stereotypical
views of groups such as preps, punks, Goths, "emo", nerds, etc. In
movies you don't see punks going to pop concerts; you see them going
to hardcore concerts, drinking, causing riots and the sort. There is
also an underlying discrimination in stereotyping.
Nazis thought Jewish people were
lesser, stupid, and unimportant. For centuries, other religions,
atheists and Jews were persecuted for alternative beliefs. During
the time of the slaves, blacks were perceived as stupid and were not
considered good enough to do the same things as white people. Later,
they were segregated in schools, forced to drink from different
water fountains, and terrorized. Women in history were not allowed
to go to school or to work a job. They had to stay at home and care
for the children because their "purpose" in life was to have
children and make them happy. During WW2, Japanese Americans were
locked up merely because of the ancestry. Now we don't practice
forced segregation or genocide but the root for stereotyping is
still with us.
The stereotyping of teens in the
news, television, and books is also ridiculous. In newspapers, there
are headlines that read, "Out of Control Teens", books that say,
"Now I Know Why Tigers Eat Their Young: Surviving a New Generation
of Teenagers." A parental survey read that parent chose words such
as "selfish" and "materialistic" to describe teenagers today. Not
all teenagers are going around having babies, smoking, and running
away. Many teenagers in fact, are stay in school, and getting jobs,
driving around, and having as much fun as possible. For parents and
the media to judge teenagers depicting them in movies such as
"Thirteen" where all of a sudden kids are out of control doing drugs
and whatever. Stereotyping is hard for teens to endure with parents
no matter what the situation is.
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