Stereotypes

[lillibet]

As a liberal, part of my creed is that stereotypes are generally untrue and that my assumptions about people based on two or three labels I have to hang on them are probably false. Since I know so few conservatives personally, I tend to assume that they can't possibly be as ignorant and evil as it's all-too-easy to think.

And then we get this sort of racist crap:

"During the September 19 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, discussing his recent trip to have dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's, a famous restaurant in Harlem, Bill O'Reilly reported that he "had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful," adding: "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." Later, during a discussion with National Public Radio senior correspondent and Fox News contributor Juan Williams about the effect of rap on culture, O'Reilly asserted: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' You know, I mean, everybody was -- it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all."

I remember hearing this sort of thing from older people when I was a child, but I didn't really think anyone born in the twentieth century could actually say it with a straight face.

Comments

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

omgwtf?

sounds like they've been watching too many dumb movies. and believing them!

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Since I know so few conservatives personally, I tend to assume that they can't possibly be as ignorant and evil as it's all-too-easy to think.

Except when they are, apparently, like Bill O'Reilly. I can't believe he's not too embarrassed to say shit like that on the air.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Could you elaborate on what you're suggesting about stereotypes? My thinking: the fact that one conservative fits a stereotype about conservatives of course doesn't mean that they all do... Some members of a group may very well fit the stereotypes about that group; that's where the stereotypes come from. Perhaps the mistake is when people unthinkingly absorb a sterotype about a group, meet a small number of people in that group who fit the stereotype, and then go on to assume that therefore the stereotype IS correct about all members of the group.

In my last apartment I was thinking about stereotypes as well, because I've never really known any straight-from-the-island Irish folks before, but the Irish boys who were our upstairs neighbors not only fit, but were the living embodiments of EVERY drunken-fightin'-Irish stereotype I've ever heard of, and some I hadn't. They reveled and gloried in it!

I kept asking myself: is it wrong for me to refer to them jokingly as "the jovial Irish upstairs neighbors," as if the fact that they're Irish is necessarily connected to their, er, (euphemistically) "joviality," when in fact many Irish people are jovial and some are not, just as many non-Irish people are jovial and some are not? To me it seemed funny to call them the JIUNs -- perhaps partly because it doesn't occur to me regard stereotypes against the Irish as potentially harmful because, I've never lived in a place or time when the Irish were treated badly/couldn't get jobs/housing/faced other discriminations etc because of other people's stereotypes about their culture -- or, if I did (or do now) live in such an atmosphere, I'm not directly aware of it, not being Irish myself. (Rather, I tend to hang out with people who regard Ireland and Irish culture most romantically, perhaps because we read a lot of Celtic fantasy novels.)

Anyway... yeah. So I also had difficulty figuring out how to react when I met people who totally embodied a stereotype I'd always assumed was unfair and exaggerated.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I think the problem I have is that I'd really rather not believe that *anyone* can fit the stereotype of the selfish, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, false-Christian caricature that is all too tempting in the polarized nature of the national conversation.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Ahh, gotcha. Yeah...

[dpolicar]

I suspect a lot more people think this kind of thing than are willing to say it in our community.

Though admittedly, we'd be more likely to turn it on its ear and mutter something about the inherent racism of expecting the black community to behave like the white community, or some such thing.

Though I do think I could get away with saying "Yeah, I went to this fancy restaurant and all the clients were billionaire Republicans, and I was really surprised by how little difference there was between them and normal people... you know, they weren't rude to their waiters or anything!" without raising too many eyebrows.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

While I sadly must agree with Mr. Policar re: the hidden thoughts of many (hut hey, better hidden out of a realization that they're vulgar and wrong than blared widely, I guess), I take some comfort in knowing that Mr. O'Reilly is a special kind of human wastewater. Even though I'm emphatically not a fan of conservatism in any case, if I were a conservative, I'd be aghast to discover O'Reilly had appointed himself my spokesperson. I can only hope there are many real conservatives who feel the same.

Though I unfortunately kinda doubt it.

[jimmystagger.livejournal.com]

Normally I stay away from posting my first emotional response when I read things and take time to think about what I'm going to say and how to phrase it in an intelligent manner. I'm an educated person and was raised by two fine human beings.

However, I can't help myself this time.

Bill O'Reilly's life has gone on too long.

There I said it.