Your Experiences with Diversity

cmitchell wrote:I would have to say my interactions with different people is bitter sweet...I dont know probably because i come off as an asshole to most people, but i cant help it. After i get to know ppl it is a good experiance in most cases. I always like to talk to different people to hear their views or perspective on things. Even if it is just to argue with them, but at the end of the day i usually learn something!

Somewhere in this is an excellent argument for getting to know more about people before forming judgments of them.

Yes, i would say i have meet a lot of different people...some experiances were good and others really bad, but i believe that we give a piece of ourselves to every person we come in contact with..i also think that we take somthing away as well..it may be something good or bad but with every different person we meet we learn something new.

BrandyM wrote:Yes. Direct experience should be how you create your view of people, opposed to allowing stereotypes to dictate what you should believe. That could teach you more than any book can.

While I agree that we shouldn't let stereotypes dictate the way we treat people, I also very much believe stereotypes help the world keep spinning. Without them, we would have a harder time saying this area is of town is dangerous, that state is very liberal, that state isn't. I understand that those labels shouldn't speak for everyone clumped in them, but I believe stereotypes help us generalize a world that is very vast.

Okay how about Question #2 then?

What is stereotyping? Where do stereotypes come from? Have you or a friend ever been the victim of stereotyping? If so, how did it make you or your friend feel?

Stereotypes are general assumptions about a group of people (usually negative). I guess I am not sure where it actually comes from - maybe how you were raised, who you associate with, etc. I have been a "victim" of sterotyping (granted it has been a long time). I was a cheerleader in jr high and high school. Many thought that I was dumb and "snooty" because I was associated with that group, when the reality was that I was an honor student and was not part of the popular crowd at all.

AshleyWoo wrote:

Melanie2008 wrote:

BrandyM wrote:Yes. Direct experience should be how you create your view of people, opposed to allowing stereotypes to dictate what you should believe. That could teach you more than any book can.

Right,anyone can have a degree but if they're never in the field why does it matter?

What do u meen by that?

If a person just sits behind a book and reads it,they're not truly experiencing anything.They have to acutally get out and see for themselves what something is like.Say,for example, if I based all my knowledge of people from Africa on a magazine article I read.I would sound pretty bias in discussing them in a conversation b/c I never took the opprotunity to study more into their culture or meet one of them.That's stereotyping to me.

Judging before getting to know.

I totally agree, but i do see myself as harsh sometime. So I really dont know i guess this is just my way of talking to people that are different than me. I can see their views and learn things that i didnt know even though i hate to be wrong...

Judging people before you really get to know who the real person is isn't right. You dont know whats gone on in their life or how that person will treat you. You might miss out on a really good friendship

BrandyM wrote:Stereotypes are general assumptions about a group of people (usually negative). I guess I am not sure where it actually comes from - maybe how you were raised, who you associate with, etc. I have been a "victim" of sterotyping (granted it has been a long time). I was a cheerleader in jr high and high school. Many thought that I was dumb and "snooty" because I was associated with that group, when the reality was that I was an honor student and was not part of the popular crowd at all.

Great example of a stereotype. Do you think that view of cheerleaders has changed any since you were in jr high and high school or is it pretty much the same?

BrookeC wrote:Judging people before you really get to know who the real person is isn't right. You dont know whats gone on in their life or how that person will treat you. You might miss out on a really good friendship

Yes,even when people offend you they might only do it because of their own insecurites.Typical bullying.

I don't recall ever being "victim" to stereotyping, but maybe someone has stereotyped me and I wasn't aware of it. I think that people unconsciously stereotype people sometimes. I agree with Jarrod that the world wouldn't be the way it is without stereotypes, but i dont think that is necessarily always good. I think that there are alot of stereotypes that are negative and hurtful in a sense.

BrookeC wrote:Judging people before you really get to know who the real person is isn't right. You dont know whats gone on in their life or how that person will treat you. You might miss out on a really good friendship

Good point.

Everyone says how bad it is but realisticly we all have done it atleast once.

jaredr wrote:

BrandyM wrote:Yes. Direct experience should be how you create your view of people, opposed to allowing stereotypes to dictate what you should believe. That could teach you more than any book can.

While I agree that we shouldn't let stereotypes dictate the way we treat people, I also very much believe stereotypes help the world keep spinning. Without them, we would have a harder time saying this area is of town is dangerous, that state is very liberal, that state isn't. I understand that those labels shouldn't speak for everyone clumped in them, but I believe stereotypes help us generalize a world that is very vast.

I understand your point, but in my opinon I think those examples can be somewhat attributed to factual information (such as crime or voting records), not necessarily stereotyping.

KaitlinD wrote:I don't recall ever being "victim" to stereotyping, but maybe someone has stereotyped me and I wasn't aware of it. I think that people unconsciously stereotype people sometimes. I agree with Jarrod that the world wouldn't be the way it is without stereotypes, but i dont think that is necessarily always good. I think that there are alot of stereotypes that are negative and hurtful in a sense.

It isn't,but you're right.

I wouldn't say sterotype makes our world go around but we couldn't really make it go away. Everything you do u will have an opinion bout something. Will you keep it to yourself is the question

Im pretty sure the cheerleader stereotype is still the same.. I was on the dance team all through school(I just graduated this year) Cheerleaders and Dance team members are treated almost the same. They feel like we are stuck up, mean, and stupid. This wasn't the case for me either. I graduated with honors and didn't associate myself with many of the popular kids either. I really wasn't even friends with any of the cheerleaders or dancers, it was just what i loved to do.

johnfmichael wrote:

BrandyM wrote:Stereotypes are general assumptions about a group of people (usually negative). I guess I am not sure where it actually comes from - maybe how you were raised, who you associate with, etc. I have been a "victim" of sterotyping (granted it has been a long time). I was a cheerleader in jr high and high school. Many thought that I was dumb and "snooty" because I was associated with that group, when the reality was that I was an honor student and was not part of the popular crowd at all.

Great example of a stereotype. Do you think that view of cheerleaders has changed any since you were in jr high and high school or is it pretty much the same?

Maybe the younger students can answer that question better than I can since I have not been in school for over 10 years. What do you all think about this? Has this changed or not?

I was a cheerleader also. I dont think that much has changed. People do not understand the hard work and thought that goes into it. And that you can do cheerleading and still be smart lol

KaitlinD wrote:I don't recall ever being "victim" to stereotyping, but maybe someone has stereotyped me and I wasn't aware of it. I think that people unconsciously stereotype people sometimes. I agree with Jarrod that the world wouldn't be the way it is without stereotypes, but i dont think that is necessarily always good. I think that there are alot of stereotypes that are negative and hurtful in a sense.

Is it possible that stereotyping can manifest itself in other ways that are indirect?

KaitlinD wrote:I don't recall ever being "victim" to stereotyping, but maybe someone has stereotyped me and I wasn't aware of it. I think that people unconsciously stereotype people sometimes. I agree with Jarrod that the world wouldn't be the way it is without stereotypes, but i dont think that is necessarily always good. I think that there are alot of stereotypes that are negative and hurtful in a sense.

i agree... i think we all end up doing it at some point without knowing

johnfmichael wrote:

KaitlinD wrote:I don't recall ever being "victim" to stereotyping, but maybe someone has stereotyped me and I wasn't aware of it. I think that people unconsciously stereotype people sometimes. I agree with Jarrod that the world wouldn't be the way it is without stereotypes, but i dont think that is necessarily always good. I think that there are alot of stereotypes that are negative and hurtful in a sense.

Is it possible that stereotyping can manifest itself in other ways that are indirect?

Well,I think people kind of 'go with the flow'.They see their friends acting stuck-up towards someone else and they act unkindly to that person without thinking about it.I,personally,have began analyzing my own experiences with stereotypes.

KaitlinD wrote:Im pretty sure the cheerleader stereotype is still the same.. I was on the dance team all through school(I just graduated this year) Cheerleaders and Dance team members are treated almost the same. They feel like we are stuck up, mean, and stupid. This wasn't the case for me either. I graduated with honors and didn't associate myself with many of the popular kids either. I really wasn't even friends with any of the cheerleaders or dancers, it was just what i loved to do.

Not tryin to be mean: If you were just a dance team member, how do you know what cheerleaders go throw? Wouldn't that be a sterotype?

Like I said earlier i think people unconsciously stereotype people..lol sorry!

I knew some people in high school who thought i was goth because i was wearing a black T-shirt and i had my little cousin call a freind of mine evil because of the way she dressed. Regarding the comment about myself i was just mildly amused by the persons ignorance. as for my cousins comment i was upset that she was so quick to judge someone simply by what she was wearing