Stereotyping...kinda like water

Stereotyping. It's everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. But is it necessarily bad? Yes, some stereotypes are rude, or mean, or just plain stupid, but I'm not gonna lie, but if I'm going down South Bailey and I see some kids standing in the middle of the street with black hoodies and pants down to their ankles at midnight, I'm locking my car door. That may seem horrible, but I've read the news.

Ok, ok, so now you think I'm a bad person. And most of the time I don't agree with stereotypes. As someone else mentioned, Asians have a rep for being good at math, but I know a lot of people who aren't. Teenagers are apparently all sex crazed, drug filled, hooligans, but I know plenty of teens who weren't. In a society like today, majority rules, and that is why stereotypes exist. Yeah, there probably are a lot of Asians that are good at math, but does that mean you can just go up to any Asian looking person on the street and ask them for help with your calculus homework...because in all honesty they probably won't know how (that sounded bad too! oops :( ).

But lets face it. Are stereotypes ever going to go away? Probably not. Its a part of life, and it doesn't only happen in America. Should they go away? Yes. Taking away someones individuality because they are a certain way, well its just not good.

Now stereotypes vs. racism, thats where things get sticky. I know you guys probably talked about this in class, but I wasn't there! I personally have a hard time distinguishing between the two, at least stereotypes about race. Although now that we have defined racism in this class, I think I understand a little better. There might be a stereotype that Asians are good at math, but that doesn't mean we hate Asians for it.

People just aren't nice. Nowhere in the history of the human race is there a place where people survived by being altruistic. Its not natural to be. Conveniently we have frontal lobes that allow us to be in certain cases... but people just...aren't nice.