Stereotypes can they be good or are they inherently bad?
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽聽Well this week鈥檚 鈥淪eeing things differently,鈥� takes a bit of a turn. Lynne was feeling a little under the weather and so prepare for me to give you both sides of the argument this week.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The topic? Stereotypes. Can they be good or are they inherently bad?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A stereotype is a cognitive shortcut, which lets you come to a quick conclusion about someone based on their gender, race, age, nationality, etc鈥� Brains are hardwired to make this snap decisions and impulsively apply stereotypes to people, which creates a bias.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Is there such a thing as a good stereotype? Well being Canadian I feel as though our reputations and the stereotype that it has created is positive. Canadians are cold weather acclimatized, polite, say 鈥渆h鈥� a lot, and are generally quite nice. I hold the door open for people, sometimes at that awkward stage of 鈥渢hey鈥檙e almost too far away but they鈥檙e close enough that if I just let the door close a little and reopen it they鈥檒l be here, which results in them having to do a couple of hurried jogging steps.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 According to a CBC article too, our politeness sets us apart from our neighbours to the south. CBC looked at a study from McMaster University focused on using the internet in a way to help understand our global neighbours.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Commonly used words from Canadians on Twitter and Americans on Twitter discovering Canadians used the words 鈥済reat,鈥� 鈥渂eautiful,鈥� and 鈥渁mazing鈥� the most, being kind words.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The American tweets, however, were focused on unkind words: 鈥渉ate,鈥� 鈥渉ell,鈥� 鈥渢ired,鈥� 鈥渉urt,鈥� and 鈥渁nnoying.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The other top Canadian words included favourite, 鈥淗abs,鈥� 鈥淟eafs,鈥� 鈥淩aptors,鈥� 鈥淛ays,鈥� 鈥渉ockey,鈥� 鈥渆h,鈥� 鈥済orgeous,鈥� 鈥渄reams,鈥� and 鈥渕orning.鈥� While our neighbours to the south went with 鈥渄amn,鈥� 鈥渨anna,鈥� 鈥渂ored,鈥� 鈥渟leep,鈥� 鈥渟chool,鈥� 鈥渄ude,鈥� and 鈥淐hipotle.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The stereotypical Canadian likes hockey, lives in an igloo, and knows that the beaver, despite being a rodent, is a 鈥渢ruly, proud and noble animal鈥� 鈥� to quote the Molson Canadian ad from years ago.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Canadians were so well liked that you used to hear about Americans travelling and affixing Canadian flags to their backpacks, so they wouldn鈥檛 get flack about being American because being stereotyped as a Canadian was better than being stereotyped as an American.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I鈥檓 not sure if that鈥檚 still common practice, but I鈥檝e learned to accept the stereotype of being Canadian and I鈥檝e definitely noticed that people do have preconceived images of what you should be like when they find out you鈥檙e Canadian.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Two years ago I headed out to Toronto just because I wanted to go to a Blue Jays game and decided I wanted to see Niagra Falls. So, off I went. I booked a tour to Niagra Falls and on the small bus tour I was the only Canadian. An American girl was sitting across and one row behind me, she threw up in a large Ziploc bag, proceeded to dump the bag out the window without concern that we were on the highway and the vomit - since the bag wasn鈥檛 closed - smeared across the side of the window.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If I were feeling that sick before getting on the tour I don鈥檛 think I would have went first off. Had I gone and thrown up in a Ziploc bag I likely would have sealed it and waited until we stopped to throw it out. However, despite not agreeing with how that situation developed, when we stopped I bought her a water. She had stayed on the bus, so I figured I鈥檇 be nice. Immediately I heard her start talking to her family, saying that act of kindness would never have happened in the States.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Later on that same trip, these two ladies who were from Europe on their annual trip together noticed by our third or fourth stop that I would let everyone off the bus before I got up, so they 鈥渇orced鈥� me off the bus before them at one point, which made me laugh, and yes I thanked them for letting me off first after saying that it was fine they could go first.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I was actually quite happy that I was holding up to my Canadian stereotype.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, in this sense stereotypes aren鈥檛 the worst things in the world, but as with anything there is a flipside to that coin. A stereotype is not bad IF the stereotype being used is positive.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There are countless stereotypes out there, however, that are bad 鈥� in fact they can be downright damaging.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The idea that certain races of people are drunkards and lazy, that women are inherently bad drivers or terrible at math, and, a very popular one in the media since 2001, that all Muslims are terrorists are all examples of bad stereotypes that hurt people.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Not all women are terrible drivers and are bad at math. Not all Americans are rude and not all Muslims are terrorists, however, these seem to be the perpetuated ideas of the globe towards them, so they are singled out and fingers are pointed at them for being as such even though it鈥檚 not true.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What happens though is that we鈥檝e been told these things are true, so our brain makes the shortcut and associates these negative connotations towards random people. You鈥檙e prejudged based on something that you鈥檙e not. There are professional drivers out there that are women, female scientists have become more prevalent 鈥� I in fact have a friend doing a master鈥檚 in Neurobiology 鈥� there are a lot of very polite and kind Americans out there, and women wearing burqa鈥檚 are not inherently more dangerous than a woman of a different faith.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Today I walked into a business after walking there from my house, I was completely bundled up because it was -20 something. Literally all you could see were my eyes, but nobody thought twice about me walking in, however had I been covered in a burqa would that have drawn different looks? Maybe, maybe not, I鈥檓 not about to assume anything about anyone, it鈥檚 simply one of those existential questions to ponder. However, why does it being cold out mean I can cover up my face and it be ok, when these people over here are covered up for religious reasons? Each are dressed in a certain way for a specific reason, but oftentimes one is judged more harshly than another.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That is where the stereotype comes in. I was a cold Canadian, where as they are a Muslim so they are to be considered with concern according to stereotypes.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There have also been studies on positive stereotypes and how they affect people in negative ways. For example, people sometimes say that African American descendants are much better at sports than anyone else. Since the stereotype was positive it is welcomed by African Americans, however, we don鈥檛 think about the larger connotations always.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Saying that 鈥淏lack people are better at sports,鈥� is really saying that there is a biological difference between African American people and other races, which actually reinforces negative stereotypes. So, even when something seems like it could be a positive stereotype, it may still have negative effects.
