The Validity of Stereotyping

Do you ever stereotype people?

Of course you do.

I asked AI if there are people who don’t stereotype and it said, “only liars.”

A better question is: Does stereotyping people make you a bad person?

I speculate that a relatively high percentage of people think stereotyping is immoral behavior. Of course, they exclude when they stereotype, because they only stereotype the “bad guys,” which somehow makes them “good people.”

Anyway, you’re probably thinking, “What is this guy getting at? Of course we all stereotype, so what? And why does he think he knows what I’m thinking?”

Well, obviously I knew what you were thinking, because great minds think alike. Plus I asked AI to tell me what you were thinking and it said you’ve been feeling guilty about your persistent stereotyping.

Thoughts are provoked by other thoughts, and you’ve provoked AI to provoke me into writing this piece.

Following?

So, I was reading this book called The Wager. It’s a miraculous story about an 18th century British naval ship that shipwrecked off Patagonia, and a handful of crew members survived and returned to England at different times.

Not to go to far into the story, but there were mutinies, more shipwrecks, abandonments and the like, that divided the original shipwrecked crew into various shipwrecked groups. Members of at least 3 of those groups made it all the way back across the Atlantic to England. Some took as long as 5 years to return.

What does this have to do with stereotyping?

Well, this narrative non-fiction book was comprised mostly of shipman’s journals. The author then weaves the journals together into a book. The author’s voice should rarely be heard. And for the most part, it isn’t. Except at a few different periods within the book when the journalist’s discussed encounters with “savages,” at which point the author always felt compelled to insert his SJW terminology, with words like “racist” and such.

The author seemed to go out of his way to pretentiously correct the crewman when they used “savage” or “indian,” and made sure the reader knew that these people were actually “indigenous,” who were in many ways superior to the pale skin castaways.

Maybe they were superior. Maybe they were “indigenous,” and not “savages.”

Personally, I don’t really care that the author used modern politically-biased language in his narrative non-fiction book. The book was still a worthy read. But during the times I was reading these particular parts during the book, I couldn’t help but stereotype the author. My intuition kept telling me, “this author has to be Jewish.”

A quick look at his “early life” and sure enough.

So, the question becomes, how did I know he was Jewish? Is it because I’m a genius?

Perhaps.

But even geniuses stereotype.

The only other possible valid stereotype would have been if the author had a female’s name, then I would’ve said, “The author is either Jewish, an overweight single White female, or both.” But since the author’s name was David, I could rule out the “overweight single White female.” Ok, maybe not, but still.

Now, mind you, I haven’t said anything negative about the author, or his views. Maybe I share the same views. But, I would speculate that a good percentage of people would immediately stereotype me as an “antisemite,” or whatever the term is for recognizing Jewish behavior, even though I didn’t say anything negative about Jews. Furthermore, where was I wrong? My stereotype was accurate.

If the truth is “antisemitic” does that make it false?

Ironically, the same people whom would have a negative opinion about my stereotyping of others would negatively stereotype me.

I don’t know what the term is for recognizing White Christian male behavior, but I assume it would be “racist” or something like that.

If there was no validity to stereotyping, the word stereotype wouldn’t exist.

So, the point is, we all stereotype, because stereotyping is the result of knowledgeable intuition, based primarily on pattern recognition, that is subconsciously computed by the human psyche. There’s nothing wrong with it until one’s subjectivity gives it a positive or negative charge, and that charge is primarily stereotypical.

Have an amazing day!