Way People Stereotype example essay topic

Both men and women stereotype, it is not something that you can control. Stereotyping happens when a person looks at another person as different or dangerous. In school there is different types of kids, such as nerds and jocks. The jocks tend to be around other jocks and the nerds tend to be around other nerds, this is a form of stereotyping. When people stereotype they don't normally realize it, such as when you avoid someone because of the fact that they are looking suspicious of doing something or are carrying something that can harm you. The way a person reacts, in regards to another person's looks or behavior would be considered stereotyping such as a person who looks intimidating can be profiled as dangerous.

Most people have a prejudice reaction towards stereotyping and the end result is that we judge the people that we see as a threat or just singling out groups of people because of their differences, another word for this is called profiling. For example if a woman was walking down the street and a big muscular man comes walking up the road the other way just looking like he could be dangerous and wearing a big over coat, that women would stereotype him as dangerous. That woman most likely would just unconsciously act by going around the man. If the same woman from before was to walk by an older woman that was walking down the road, then that woman would probably not really even notice that she was there. This is an example of a reaction taken by most people in the United States. It should not be the first woman's fault that she played it safe and walked around the man because what if that man was a rapist or even a mugger.

In the view of the person being stereotyped there is a different reaction. There is also a different reaction if the person was of a different race. Referring back to the man in the last paragraph that was walking down the other side of the street, it could be he was just coming home from a baseball game and had a coat over his uniform. In this case he would probably be embarrassed about having the woman go around him. Like in the famous saying by Dr. Savage, "it is better to error on the side of safety, then it is to be fair and politically correct". In my opinion not all people are as understanding when being stereotyped, but it is still better to be safe than sorry even if the other person is completely innocent.

I have even caught myself trying to avoid men and even women that look suspicious in the hopes of being safe. There are other ways of understanding stereotyping, such as when people stereotype and are completely conscious of it. The way people stereotype on purpose is not morally right due to the fact that they are taking the categorization of people too seriously. An example of this would be, after the September 11th terrorist attack, the people in airports looked at Arabs as a threat and not profiling them properly. Like in the words of the essay and novelist writer Edward Hoagland, "where some see mere panhandlers, I see a mugger who is clearly screwing up his nerve to do more then just ask for money". In the view of the person getting stereotyped, there would be a quote such as, "I chose to, perhaps even unconsciously, to remain a shadow-timid, but a survivor", from the words of the author.

There is also the way you look at someone and just because he / she has a different look or action to something you avoid him / her. All people stereotype in one way or another, some people are unaware of their actions. If people have different looks or actions from your own you look at them differently and most likely avoid them. For example there is a guy who hangs out with people that you would classify as nerds, you would most likely not want to be friends with this guy because of what other people would call you for being friends with this person. The other way people stereotype is when somebody picks a certain group of people because of an act that they have caused.

An example is, in the airports after the September 11th terrorist attack the F.B. I were only stereotyping 20-50 year old male Arabs, that bought a one-way ticket with cash, because they were the ones that most likely would be high jacking the plans. This is a case of stereotyping that is needed in today's society as well as back when the wars taking place, in able to protect the people of this country. The use of stereotyping is good up to a point but you should not abuse the power. When people use stereotyping they should only be using it to root out the group of people that will most likely do something. For example, 70 percent of shop lifting is done by middle age African American women so it would be easier for security officers to watch that group more carefully then to concentrate on everyone in the mall. Just how much stereotyping is too much stereotyping?

There is also an extensive use of stereotyping such as when the U.S. put the Japanese in internment camps without even giving a thought to other ways. There was only a very small percentage of Japanese that actually were loyal to Japan. The U.S. should have used some of it's other ways to root them out, such as using the CIA to search back grounds..