Stereotypes: Essay, Research Paper

Stereotypes:

To Judge or Not To Judge

If a man commits a crime is he bad? A person with pink hair is a drug user? Interracial relationships make unnatural children? These are all types of stereotypical comments that make life hard for people to deal with in many ways. To judge or not to judge it s a simple concept that many of us take for granted. Joining together to make precise conclusions is better for all parties involved.

Look into your past and recall how many times you have looked at a person or a situation and assumed the outcome before weighing all the circumstances. You will find a large percentage of people that make quick opinions of people, events and nationalities based on little or no knowledge. Assumption is a common problem among people in society. There are many people in the world that are behind prison walls because of stereotypical outcomes. Stereotyping someone is a problem because it leads to a conclusion based solely on a person s appearance, surroundings or other aspects that should not matter in your opinion a person.

Growing up in an all white community was a painful experience for me. Many people of the opposite race would look at me and see all the evils of someone else. How can you make one person responsible for something you believe an entire race committed? There are many different types of people in the world and that is what makes it so unique. Walking into a grocery store and having all the clerks follow me around the store, assuming I would steal something is only one of the small tortures I had to endure.

One of the hardest things I had to experience as a child was trying out for a cheerleading squad. Before I could even perform, the judges started marking the scores. How could they decide my score before my audition? By looking at me, seeing a black teenager, their minds were decided when I walked onto the stage. The judges assumed that because I was black I could not embarrass them by representing the 90% white population for our high school. This is a common example of how many people with ethic backgrounds are treated.

After dealing with the hard reality that many people form preconceived ideas about many different races. I have learned that the first thing one must do is realize that many people do not form these ideas or prejudices on their own. Most prejudice people are taught at an early age. Stereotyping people is a learned form of prejudice. To judge or not to judge is a decision we, as people have the power to control.