We live in a world full of stereotypes. Most of them happen out of ignorance, some just because of how the media portrays a certain section. You’re made to dislike a particular kind of people or assume that they are filthy or terrorists or illiterate. Which then leads to racism obviously. Most of us won’t realize it, but we do stereotype someone or a country in general. Joking to an extent is fun. I think even I do it at times. The classic pull your eyes wider so they look more slanty and you end up looking like a chinese kid or something 😛
Now let me give you an example. If I ask you to close your eyes and picture an asian kid, you’d probably picture a Chinese/Japanese kid or probably Jackie Chan and you’d have the words “ching chong ching” pop up in your head 😀
Now it’s obvious Asia is diverse and Asians are diverse. Malaysians are Asians, Indians are Asians, Pakistanis are Asians, Maldivians are Asians, Singapore, Vietnam , Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia. The list is endless. Yet, we tend to picture a very typical Oriental aspect in Chinese/Japanese or Koreans. Now each Country has a stereotype attached to it and the people that belong to there. I don’t know how it started or spread but It’s all around us now.
The Dutch are loud and vulgar, Britishers pompous and arrogant. Americans dumb and fat. Indians smell, drive cabs and run seven-elevens only. Pakistanis are terrorists, so is Afghanistan and well , all the -Stan countries. Middle East has Oil and the sheikhs, they own camels too. Africa is poor. You associate Poverty and The black people there. South America is Soccer and Coffee and beaches. We all do that and we’ve always done that.
You see a Mexican kid? you assume he’d be Jose or Juan. You’d probably start talking about tacos, sombreros. That’s just what we do and we GO to that extent where it gets annoying to everyone. No, Tea and Fish and Chips are not the only thing you associate with England. Russians do a lot more than just drink. It’s these stereotypes that piss me off at times and It’s hard to explain that not ever mexican is a Jose or a Juan.
Stereotypes can then lead to a specific mindset towards a specific race, which then leads to racism and ignorance because you start assuming that a particular race or country has terrorists, a particular country is dumb and so on. Plus it’s annoying because only a bunch of individuals or a minority shouldn’t be held accountable and shouldn’t represent a country or a race. But what the media portrays and what goes mainstream is what a Nation is judged on.
All in all, I think you should give people a chance and get to know them first before jumping on the bandwagon and let OTHERS tell you what the person would be like. No, each individual is different and he’ll have his own set of pros and cons. Find it out for yourself. Don’t look down on people just because they are from particular skin colour or have a different accent or belong to some other Country. We are all humans at the end of the day and the only thing that unites us love.
Hope you guys had a nice weekend. Till then, so long and have a stupidlyawesome week ahead 😉
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