I was walking down Solano Ave. yesterday, which is probably the busiest street in Albany CA and I noticed that a parked Mercedes rolled forward. I thought at first that it was just figment of my imagination, but then a car drove by and the Mercedes rolled forward again. "Huh, this could be bad." I tried to figure out how I was going to let the driver know that his car was not staying put. I didn't know who owned the car and I certainly wasn't going to start knocking on house doors. How was I going to find him? I was certainly at a loss, but then I looked up. Across the street was a shop and inside was a man buying a tennis racket. Perfect! I entered the shop and said "Does anyone own a Mercedes?"
"I do" answered the tennis enthusiast.
"Well it is rolling."
"Oh Hell" and he ran outside and secured his vehicle.
The End
Lets sum up. Would his car have rolled into oncoming traffic? Probably not. It was still about 3' from the intersection. Did I fix a problem? Yes I did and it was due to the fact that I made a judgment based on a stereotype that turned out to be accurate.
12 comments:
Nice one!
Does Blogust have another example of how stereotyping is good? -SD
Actually Anonymous, I am confident you can come up with a few of your own
I don't agree with you that stereotyping is good, so I can't come up with any examples of my own why it would be. This is because I think it puts our brains to sleep to "judge a book by its cover."
Stereotyping or labelling automatically ascribes attributes and characteristics to a person based on how they look on the surface. Is your experience that people are always how they seem to be at your first impression? How dull that would be.
Labels should be for inanimate objects like cans of peas, not people. No "People Labels," I say.
Stereotyping is superficiality at its worst. Blogust, why are you hesitant to share another example of why stereotyping is good? Surely you have thought of one by now! -SD
I had you pegged as a bleeding heart liberal vegan know-it-all. Mostly because of your shirt. Stereotyping is a wonderful timesaver.
OK...Gay men like to be with men. There, happy?
No, it has to be something like, "All gay men have great fashion sense," or "Republicans are all Bible-humping freedom haters." Are you following me?
Ooh, ooh! Or, "All music played on the radio sucks."
How bout this. Men with fashion sense are Gay and Gay men enjoy the company of men...therefore Men with fashion sense enjoy the company of men.
That's just a fact. I don't think you get get this stereotyping thing at all.
Is there a difference between a generalization and a stereotype?
"All music played on the radio sucks" is a generalization because a stereotype applies to a person, not a thing like radio, "sad" as radio is in this day and age.
Is there a difference between stereotyping and prejudice?
This is the (bleeding) heart of the matter because prejudice is to prejudge a person and harm them with your preconceived idea of them. But to stereotype a person is an oversimplification, and may not necessarily be harmful. I think oversimplification is for dummies, I'll just take good old simplification.
BTW, another generalization is that "stereotyping is ALWAYS bad." Who started this?
Lord Kingly, you noted my shirt - perhaps you too are interested in fashion and are a bit fashionable yourself in what clothing you wear? What does this mean?
Back to generalizations we find a blatantly false example in Blogust's pudding-head oversimplification:
"Men with fashion sense are Gay and Gay men enjoy the company of men...therefore Men with fashion sense enjoy the company of men."
This false generalizatin denies that well-dressed dudes clock the females daily, while also stating that male sports fans are all gay if they don't like to watch the game alone.
*Look Out!* That well-dressed (even fashionable) guy who you thought was gay just stole your girlfriend while you were busy watching the game with your buddies! -SD
Awesome! Totally awesome! Ummm...I can't actually see your shirt, you know?
Post a Comment