Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Stereotypes

raeanna74 · 07-04-2004, 06:39 AM

Let me say up front that derogatory and discriminatory stereotypes are not a good thing.

My thoughts are in regard to stereotyping benefitting communication. Communication is really a relaying of mental pictures from one person to another. Those pictures are converted into a set of words which are received by the listener and then converted once again into pictures in the mind. Is it any wonder that we have so many problems with communication? My thoughts are this - a stereotype can give you a mental picture with just one word. Someone who is communicating can use that mental picture to get their point across much more quickly and clearly. Could we automatically turn to stereotyping to hasten our communication? Is it lazy? or it is simplifying things so that our communication can be more clear?

For example: A simple stereotype (I can use this one cause I am blonde) is using the term "blonde" in reference to a person's mental ability. I myself have said "I'm having a blonde day." That expresses to my friends that I'm just not on the top of my game and feel a little out of it. I just don't have to use so many words. I'm not using it in a derogatory manner. I'm simply using the stereotypical picture to express my feelings and state of mind. Would you say this is oversimplifying things? or it is good communication? Being verbose simply bores people and eventually the communication breaks down because the listener stops receiving the words or converting them into a mental image. It's as much the speaker as the listeners fault most of the time when communication breaks down.

Can you think of other "positive" uses of stereotypes? Are there some stereotypes that have NO positive use?

Maybe I'm just rambling. This thought popped into my head juts yesterday and I haven't ruminated on it long. Hope you don't mind me dwelling on it here. Writing/typing it out helps me think it through.

07-04-2004, 06:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	Stereotypes - positive or just lazy Let me say up front that derogatory and discriminatory stereotypes are not a good thing. My thoughts are in regard to stereotyping benefitting communication. Communication is really a relaying of mental pictures from one person to another. Those pictures are converted into a set of words which are received by the listener and then converted once again into pictures in the mind. Is it any wonder that we have so many problems with communication? My thoughts are this - a stereotype can give you a mental picture with just one word. Someone who is communicating can use that mental picture to get their point across much more quickly and clearly. Could we automatically turn to stereotyping to hasten our communication? Is it lazy? or it is simplifying things so that our communication can be more clear? For example: A simple stereotype (I can use this one cause I am blonde) is using the term "blonde" in reference to a person's mental ability. I myself have said "I'm having a blonde day." That expresses to my friends that I'm just not on the top of my game and feel a little out of it. I just don't have to use so many words. I'm not using it in a derogatory manner. I'm simply using the stereotypical picture to express my feelings and state of mind. Would you say this is oversimplifying things? or it is good communication? Being verbose simply bores people and eventually the communication breaks down because the listener stops receiving the words or converting them into a mental image. It's as much the speaker as the listeners fault most of the time when communication breaks down. Can you think of other "positive" uses of stereotypes? Are there some stereotypes that have NO positive use? Maybe I'm just rambling. This thought popped into my head juts yesterday and I haven't ruminated on it long. Hope you don't mind me dwelling on it here. Writing/typing it out helps me think it through. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.