Stereotypewriter

[JakeD]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?

What do you think about stereotypes?

I ask these questions because I just read a breakdown of an old attack ad on the Howard Dean campaign that portrayed them as a ''latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing'' freakshow. My immediate response is "What the fuck is wrong with lattes and sushi? And Volvos? And the NYT? Body piercings?"

Which sort of explains it all, I guess.

I just wonder who comes up with this shit sometimes - is it some angry caveman throwing rocks at a typewriter? It's like either side of the political spectrum can't decide whether the opposition can barely tie their own shoes without nearly suffering a cognitive breakdown, or they're secret geniuses only rivaled by the likes of Niccolo Machiavelli.

[Bones]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?

Dirty long haired hippy. I never understood that one. I'm the most likely to start a war. (Never put me in charge)

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?

I use a lot of stereotypes when it comes to crackheads. But the stereotypes are true.

What do you think about stereotypes?

Waste of time.

[HeavensAngel]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?

Being a single mom, ALOT of people judge me. They think all single moms are on welfare and their kids are out of control. Im not on any kind of welfare, I have a kick ass job and my daughter is an angel. People around here are very surprised when they actually take the time to know me.

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?

Well, in the area around me (Kansas City) there is alot of crime. Im not prejudice in any way and I hope this isnt offending to anyone, but, when there is a shooting or whatever crime here, it is 99% of the time a black man.

What do you think about stereotypes?

I think that there are alot of stereo types but there are also exceptions. Some people are your typical stereotype and some are not. Its wrong to judge if ya dont really know.

[Diva]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?
The Jewish stereotype, the blonde stereotype, the being a woman stereotype.

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?
The one thing that comes to mind is patients calling for the Pain Management Center. Most of them are chronic illness patients, but there is a large enough group that are simply addicts trying to get drug refills that I automatically put the patient in the latter group when they exert certain behaviors.

What do you think about stereotypes?
We can learn from them, but they aren't healthy to have.

[Isotrip]

I am stereotypically unconcerned with being stereotyped.

[thestarsfall]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?
Oh, probably a lot of them...I'm with Diva with the blonde and woman thing....(when I am actually blonde), and then the Christian stereotype, and the Canadian stereotypes, and probably something in there with a "punk, body-pierced, attention seeking whatever" stereotype...moreso when I had pink hair...or blue hair..

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?
I probably stereotype everyone as to "they are dumb asses" so I expect people to do dumb things and it surprises me when they don't. And also I expect people dressed a certain "ghetto" fab to talk a certain way and act a certain way. And I expect the men in the fancy cars who care more about their looks than a typical female to act like pricks...

What do you think about stereotypes?
I kinda like some of them...the ones that actually fit are hilarious and stuff...and I hate it when people get all "I hate stereotypes, they never fit, blah blah blah" because...They are what they are for a reason. Someone obviously fits the stereotype, otherwise there would be no stereotype.

and I am always afraid people are going to call me racist or something because I sometimes look like I would be giving the "black man has gun and is criminal" stereotype...but really...I am just paranoid about everyone.

[James]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?
Well, I'm a 245 lb guy (and still growing), built like a fucking ox and half the time I've got day old stubble, and the other half I've got a chuck norris beard. I'm the last person that you would expect to be a nerd.
When I work my magic on computers, or talk about something nerdy people are honestly amazed.

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?

I'll admit that I expect women to either be whiney, useless little princesses, or trying so hard to prove themselves that they will refuse assistance despite it being the logical thing to do (read: when i'm being inconvenienced because they're taking too long to do something alone that should be done by two people). I'm very happy when I find women who do not fit those stereotypes, and yes I admit there are alot of them, so dont chew my balls off for coming clean.

What do you think about stereotypes?
I think stereotypes are fine in general, as long as you are willing to give individuals a chance.
It's ok to say "all guys are dicks" but not ok to say "you are a dick because you're a guy".
It's ok to say "Black people commit more violent crimes than asians" but it's not ok to say "You can't come into my store because you are black and are probably a criminal".
It's ok to say "White people oppress every other race" but it's not ok to say "You are a racist because you are white"

Stereotypes are fine for theoretical discussions, but should never be applied to reality because they only represent a very vocal and active minority within that group.

[Reliquiae]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?
Due to my very blatant "Nordic" descent, I have been stereotyped as a "German Nazi" or the "perfect Aryan" by ignorant peers, and ignorant students (especially when I put on my big girl voice and take the kids down a few notches when they ain't following directives....) Frankly, it pisses me off for a number of reasons.

1.) Just because I'm blond hair and blue eyed, IT DOESN'T MAKE ME A FUCKING GERMAN! My ancestry hails from Luxembourg (among a few other countries -- NOT GERMANY), and my family has been in this country since the mid 1800's. We fought World War I and II protecting the rights and existences of those who were being extinguished. My Great Great Grandfather BARELY survived the war, his gas mask was riddled with bullets and he eventually went nuts and claimed he could see dead people. BUT WE DEFENDED THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!! (And have done so every generation since the Civil War.)

2.) They don't even know my ancestry, and because of the way I look I'm categorized with a group of fuck heads whom I'd of joined the war effort to defeat them had I been around that long ago.

3.) BE ORIGINAL. I'm white. GET OVER IT! But am I a "Nazi"? I'd like to punch the next person who calls me that in the balls, because they are too stupid in my book to procreate anymore.


What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?
I expect Mexicans to be dirty, illegal, and doing something bad. I think it came from this one time when I was visiting this little girl client of mine (I worked for an abused and special needs children association at the time) and I saw this Mexican watching me and my client have a therapeutic session at the playground. He was in the laundry room, watching us ... and masturbating. It didn't help I was in a VERY bad part of town and was the only white woman who wasn't strung out on meth for miles....


What do you think about stereotypes?
Everyone has stereotypes. What one needs to decide is to either get over themselves and don't persecute everyone for ONE jack ass's bad behavior or they let it impede their life and keep them from meeting some of the most awesome people in this world.

(I've concluded this rant.)

[trekbugging]

What stereotypes have been forced on you in the past?
kind of think many "sterotypes we state are from previous experience-- i am a typical brown haired blue eyed white make so i must be a former slave owner/ wife beater/ arsehole--yeah like i am any of those--well cept the arsehole part...

What stereotypical behavior have you expected from others?
same thing have learned from experience...i believe there are arseholes in any race group so whatever bad ethnic racial slur you use on them is incorrect and can be applied to other races--but it does seem than a white male can't be prejudiced against as he is the ultimate racist himself

What do you think about stereotypes? they are wrong --but as stated before we form them from experience and from learning from others-- maybe parents/friends/gangs whomever--so they will be always there until we are all the same colour, same eye colour same hair colour same size-height and weight- same sex--and since i don't see that happening sterotyped will always be around

[James]

and I am always afraid people are going to call me racist or something because I sometimes look like I would be giving the "black man has gun and is criminal" stereotype...but really...I am just paranoid about everyone.


and I am always afraid people are going to call me racist or something because I sometimes look like I would be giving the "black man has gun and is criminal" stereotype...but really...I am just paranoid about everyone.

Copy cat! Copy cat! :angel:

edit: lol he removed it... pretty sneaky sis.

[trekbugging]

what are you talking about?

[Amaurote]

I ask these questions because I just read a breakdown of an old attack ad on the Howard Dean campaign that portrayed them as a ''latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing'' freakshow. My immediate response is "What the fuck is wrong with lattes and sushi? And Volvos? And the NYT? Body piercings?

And the confederate flag, don't forget that - Dean was easily the most interesting Democratic candidate in years, but in a way it's probably a good thing that his campaign imploded, because the one thing the Democrats need is more steel and nous in their organization, and I think he can provide it.

I've been getting sicker and sicker reading the foxnews responses, and I think I'm going to have to stop soon and breathe purer air: half of them are sly jibes about Obama being a Muslim (not a crypto-Muslim, even, but an open Muslim), and the other half are predictable denunciations of the most right-wing hawk Democrats as communists and defeatists. The irony is that this is going to backfire sooner or later: there's so little interest in real socialism and communism in the USA at present that such interest in them as there is relies mainly on reverse glamour: if I was reading some ridiculous comment like that for the first time from such obviously narrow-minded sources, I'd be inclined to pay a few bucks for a copy of Kropotkin, Lenin or GDH Cole to find out just how awful these evil socialists, anarchists and communists who have such a lot in common with Hillary Clinton really are. And from there flows the realization that not only does she not have anything much in common with them, but...the ideas in some of those books aren't all that bad.

I was thinking earlier on how differently the same kind of political type plays in ostensibly similar countries governed by very different systems, in particular relation to Barry Goldwater. It's not placing too extreme an emphasis on it to say that Barry Goldwater is a major factor behind the corruption of America's political landscape over the last forty years, despite (or because of) the fact that he himself was an intelligent and honourable man. The same kind of character emerged here in the form of Enoch Powell, and again, the result was identical: failure of that individual, virtual deification of that individual by extreme right-wing elements who managed to con sections of the working class into thinking that Enoch Powell was somehow "the answer". But even though Powellism was co-opted by Mrs Thatcher, it never really caught on like Goldwaterist backlashism caught on post-LBJ in the US, because British politics is smaller, more socialized, more patrician, more oligarchical. The nearest we ever had to the John Birch Society was The Monday Club, and again, none of this really caught on, because conservatism is still more patrician and less populist than its American counterparts, which makes it more obnoxious in power, and more craven in opposition (at least George Bush pretends to be middle class, even if did buy himself a deferment and idle his way through Harvard all the way to the Oval Office). Clearly stereotypes function differently in different systems - neither Powell nor Goldwater were happy with theirs, and the nature of those stereotypes was vivified by the kind of people who wanted to turn them into prisoners of their own collective class aspirations.

[JakeD]

if I was reading some ridiculous comment like that for the first time from such obviously narrow-minded sources, I'd be inclined to pay a few bucks for a copy of Kropotkin, Lenin or GDH Cole to find out just how awful these evil socialists, anarchists and communists who have such a lot in common with Hillary Clinton really are. And from there flows the realization that not only does she not have anything much in common with them, but...the ideas in some of those books aren't all that bad.

Right, but that follows the assumption that you're intellectually curious enough to actually examine such accusations before blindly picking them up and swinging them around like a big retarded mace.

The people who give such accusations any more than a passing glance are generally not the type to harbor any intellectual curiosity short of "Why does my hand smell like balls?".

Plus there's the surprisingly common school of thought that believes any sort of curiosity about something is a tacit endorsement of that very thing - reading books about terrorism means that you're two steps away from strapping plastique to your torso and going out in a blaze of Allah-punctuated invective, or even studying the Qur'an is enough to get you branded as an aspiring insurgent.

I'll respond to the rest of your post later tonight - I need to finish up some stuff here at work and then I have my lovely Sociology class until ten.