• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is it a good thing to be oblivious of racial stereotypes?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be oblivious to the very real stereotypes which

  • Total voters
    29
Zyphlin said:
Boy is one of those ones that I could see going either way....

I couldn't imagine a grown adult living in the South claiming that they didn't know some find "boy" offensive when said to a black person and it being anything but feigned or intentional ignorance.

But I absolutely COULD buy someone from the northern reaches of the United States being somewhat oblivious to it, because the lack of historical roots with the word as part of the lexicon in that fashion isn't nearly as strong.
Click to expand...

For ****s and giggles, respond with "Who the **** are you callin' boy?" the next time a black person calls you a "white boy".
 
Tucker Case said:
I had a smack myself against teh head moment when I learned what gypped referenced, too. :lol:
Click to expand...

I Guess that's my point though, I don't think there's a black and white answer. I think there's a large difference between "Blacks like Fried Chicken and Watermelon" or "Southerners Love NACSAR" or "Irish people Drink" and things like "Italians are momma's boys", "Blacks have nappy hair", or even "Hispanics never use cross walks".

I think the first three are examples of things that are routinely ingrained in culture in some fashion. The first is a common example of BAD stereotyping and racism, the second is a common notion about a semi-major sport, and the thidr is an oft joked about thing especially around a certain holiday.

In terms of the latter...I'm Italian and honestly it took me a moment to stop and think "yeah, I think I've heard that before" for that to even register. I had to stop and even remember what hte word "nappy" MEANT let alone that it was a stereotype of black people when the whole "Nappy headed hoes" thing came out". The latter is appparently a stereotype I had no clue about until listening to a local radio show with a hispanic host that would at times randomly bring up how bad "his people" were about doing it (Northern VA having a fairly large hispanic population, so random stories would come up that would spur conversation).

I think sometimes the stereotype in question has to be taken into account in terms of making the assumption about the likelihood of that person actually being honestly ignorant or just feigning it.
 
Tucker Case said:
For ****s and giggles, respond with "Who the **** are you callin' boy?" the next time a black person calls you a "white boy".
Click to expand...

That immedietely made me think of Tropic Thunder and "What do you mean 'you people'" :)
 
Gipper said:
Well I was born and raised in Michigan - lived there for almost 30 years
Click to expand...

Damn you people and your "pop". It's soda god damnit, stop being confusing with your language.

that is all.

;)
 
Zyphlin said:
Damn you people and your "pop". It's soda god damnit, stop being confusing with your language.

that is all.

;)
Click to expand...

Waitress: And what would you like to drink?

Me: A Coke.

Waitress: Which kind of Coke?

th
 
Zyphlin said:
Damn you people and your "pop". It's soda god damnit, stop being confusing with your language.

that is all.

;)
Click to expand...

why don't youse guys keep your soda and your pop and your yankee asses up north where you belong? :lol:
 
-edited-

I'm an idiot and thought that was gipper responding. Then noticed it was oscar. And we were part of the union damnit, don't call us that derogatory slur that absolutely positively should never be used on a sports franchises name because its insensitive ;)

Gipper...maybe they had Zero, Diet, Cherry, Vanilla, or Black Cherry Vanilla?

But this entire joking conversation kind of goes back to my point in it being hard to look at every situation in a black and white kind of sense. The region one grows up can actually have a large impact on what things may be more common or less common for you to know due to lexicon, customs, history, etc.
 
Last edited:
mak2 said:
Do stereotypes need to be combated, or simply ingnored?
Click to expand...
The question wasn't addressed to me, but I'll answer it anyway.

My thought is that they ought to be combated until the are marginalized enough to be ignored. I say this because when prejudiced attitudes and actions are pervasive, they pose significant problems in society. However, when they are marginalized to the point where the main or only people being affected by them are the people who perpetuate them, then they can just be ignored. A good example of this is how the society's reaction to the KKK has evolved.

In its heyday, the KKK needed to be and was (eventually) combated. The organization was wreaking havoc in the country and thus, its behavior could not and should not have been ignored. However, today, the KKK is largely ignored as it should be. It's not a particularly violent organization anymore and its message of overt racism has been largely marginalized. Therefore, to actively "combat" the KKK would be a waste of resources and energy as there are more pressing issues. Thus, we mostly ignore it.

Applying this line of logic to stereotypes specifically, it makes sense to combat pervasive stereotypes that harm their subjects. When those stereotypes are combated enough to be marginalized, then they can just be ignored and all the people who believe them can sit on the periphery of society with their Klansmen roommates.
 
Tucker Case said:
I was reading through this thread: http://www.debatepolitics.com/off-t...y-somebody-needs-ask-no-offence-intended.html and it occurred to me that many people are actually oblivious to some racial stereotypes which exist in this country and are often used to disparage others.

I was then curious as to whether or not people feel that being oblivious to these racial stereotypes is a good thing or a bad thing.

On one hand, a person who is truly oblivious to such stereotypes has probably not directly exposed to much racism in their lives. Which is good. On the other hand, they might be oblivious to the racism because they have not have been exposed to it because they have not had much exposure to people who belong to the stereotyped groups, which is a bad thing.

There's also the possibility that they aren't really oblivious to the stereotypes, but are simply doing the poor victimized white person routine to pretend that the poor victimized white person cannot say anything anymore without being accused of racism".

I'm leaning toward the idea that the obliviousness is feigned, because it is mind-boggling to me that someone can live and interact with other people in our society without ever being exposed to the most common racial stereotypes that exist in our society. I'd be just as shocked if a black person said "Wait, white people being bad dancers is a racial stereotype?!?!?!?!" Unless someone is living under a rock, in a cave, hidden beneath the unabombers shack, I would assume they've encountered some of the most common stereotypes that exist in our society.

Examples: White people can't dance, black people eat fried chicken, asian women can't drive, Italian men are mama's boys, Irish people drink, Polish people are stupid, WASPS have old money, Mexicans mow lawns etc. etc.

So the poll question is: Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be oblivious to the very real stereotypes which exist in the world?
Click to expand...

How are you defining stereotype?
 
Tucker Case said:
You've never heard a Polish joke? I guess in Chicago it's so normal I assumed everyone was aware of them. What region are you from?
Click to expand...

I am from southern California but live in Texas. Needless to say, the black and hispanic jokes are rampant. No polish jokes though, so far.
 
Knowledge=power said:
No polish jokes though, so far.
Click to expand...

why do little polish girls carry fish in their pockets?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
so they can smell like big Polish girls

;)
 
Tucker Case said:
I was reading through this thread: http://www.debatepolitics.com/off-t...y-somebody-needs-ask-no-offence-intended.html and it occurred to me that many people are actually oblivious to some racial stereotypes which exist in this country and are often used to disparage others.

I was then curious as to whether or not people feel that being oblivious to these racial stereotypes is a good thing or a bad thing.

On one hand, a person who is truly oblivious to such stereotypes has probably not directly exposed to much racism in their lives. Which is good. On the other hand, they might be oblivious to the racism because they have not have been exposed to it because they have not had much exposure to people who belong to the stereotyped groups, which is a bad thing.

There's also the possibility that they aren't really oblivious to the stereotypes, but are simply doing the poor victimized white person routine to pretend that the poor victimized white person cannot say anything anymore without being accused of racism".

I'm leaning toward the idea that the obliviousness is feigned, because it is mind-boggling to me that someone can live and interact with other people in our society without ever being exposed to the most common racial stereotypes that exist in our society. I'd be just as shocked if a black person said "Wait, white people being bad dancers is a racial stereotype?!?!?!?!" Unless someone is living under a rock, in a cave, hidden beneath the unabombers shack, I would assume they've encountered some of the most common stereotypes that exist in our society.

Examples: White people can't dance, black people eat fried chicken, asian women can't drive, Italian men are mama's boys, Irish people drink, Polish people are stupid, WASPS have old money, Mexicans mow lawns etc. etc.

So the poll question is: Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be oblivious to the very real stereotypes which exist in the world?
Click to expand...

I picked "other" in the poll, because I don't think it's necessarily either good or bad to be oblivious to racial stereotypes. As you explored in the post I quoted, that could mean a lot of different things, some of which are bad, some of which are not. I'll add another wrinkle:

I was watching a comedy special by a guy named Jim Jeffries recently. And as part of his routine, he was telling a story about being on a plane and getting into a contentious argument with this big black guy sitting next to him. The black guy, who had the aisle seat, was taking the inside armrest that under normal rules of plane etiquette typically belongs to the guy in the middle seat (in this case Jim Jeffries). Eventually the flight attendant comes over and decides to split these guys up. Since the big black guy was more in the wrong, she told him he needed to find another seat somewhere further back in the plane. At this point Jim - who is Australian - stands up and shouts triumphantly "get to the back of the plane!"
To a black man. On a US flight.
Now, most of the people on the plane hadn't really heard the altercation, but surely did hear a white dude loudly telling a black man to get to the back of the plane. This did not sit well with the other passengers. Jim, being Australian, didn't realize what he'd done initially. So was it better that Jim didn't really realize how racist that sounded? Personally I have no idea. But it was damn funny.
 
Aderleth said:
I picked "other" in the poll, because I don't think it's necessarily either good or bad to be oblivious to racial stereotypes. As you explored in the post I quoted, that could mean a lot of different things, some of which are bad, some of which are not. I'll add another wrinkle:

I was watching a comedy special by a guy named Jim Jeffries recently. And as part of his routine, he was telling a story about being on a plane and getting into a contentious argument with this big black guy sitting next to him. The black guy, who had the aisle seat, was taking the inside armrest that under normal rules of plane etiquette typically belongs to the guy in the middle seat (in this case Jim Jeffries). Eventually the flight attendant comes over and decides to split these guys up. Since the big black guy was more in the wrong, she told him he needed to find another seat somewhere further back in the plane. At this point Jim - who is Australian - stands up and shouts triumphantly "get to the back of the plane!"
To a black man. On a US flight.
Now, most of the people on the plane hadn't really heard the altercation, but surely did hear a white dude loudly telling a black man to get to the back of the plane. This did not sit well with the other passengers. Jim, being Australian, didn't realize what he'd done initially. So was it better that Jim didn't really realize how racist that sounded? Personally I have no idea. But it was damn funny.
Click to expand...
That's really ****ing funny.
 
Tucker Case said:
On one hand, a person who is truly oblivious to such stereotypes has probably not directly exposed to much racism in their lives. Which is good. On the other hand, they might be oblivious to the racism because they have not have been exposed to it because they have not had much exposure to people who belong to the stereotyped groups, which is a bad thing.

...

So the poll question is: Is it a good thing or a bad thing to be oblivious to the very real stereotypes which exist in the world?
Click to expand...

I think that paragraph right there is the salient point.

I was oblivious to racial stereotypes, or even race itself, for the first 12 or 13 years of my life. I grew up on the right side of the Minneapolis tracks: the side where there's still diversity, but less poverty, and thus less tension.

The preschool I went to was half Sri Lanken kids. My elementary school had a lot of Asians, and a few black people.

I didn't realize race was a thing until I was in middle school. I had a friend who was black. She was usually apprehensive to sit at the lunch table I normally sat at, so I sat at hers. And all the rest of her friends told me to go back and sit with "my own kind." At that moment, I realized most of them were black (and none were white except me), and almost everyone at my table was white. Hit me like a bucket of ice water.

I never even noticed until that moment. And I miss that.
 
'Examples: White people can't dance, black people eat fried chicken, asian women can't drive, Italian men are mama's boys, Irish people drink, Polish people are stupid, WASPS have old money, Mexicans mow lawns etc. etc.'

I see no potential improvement in my life for knowing these 'stereotypes'.

Only massively ignorant/stupid people believe them - and why would I care what they think?

The answer is, I don't.

In fact, the less my life is polluted from the bile that spews forth from minds like that - the better.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
I think that paragraph right there is the salient point.

I was oblivious to racial stereotypes, or even race itself, for the first 12 or 13 years of my life. I grew up on the right side of the Minneapolis tracks: the side where there's still diversity, but less poverty, and thus less tension.

The preschool I went to was half Sri Lanken kids. My elementary school had a lot of Asians, and a few black people.

I didn't realize race was a thing until I was in middle school. I had a friend who was black. She was usually apprehensive to sit at the lunch table I normally sat at, so I sat at hers. And all the rest of her friends told me to go back and sit with "my own kind." At that moment, I realized most of them were black (and none were white except me), and almost everyone at my table was white. Hit me like a bucket of ice water.

I never even noticed until that moment. And I miss that.
Click to expand...

There are black people in Minnesota? Are you sure?
 
the_recruit said:
There are black people in Minnesota? Are you sure?
Click to expand...

In Minneapolis? Lots of them. We have the biggest Somali immigrant population in the country. Lots of Hmong immigrants in some parts too. There's probably an "average" number African Americans.
 
MLK advocated a color-blind society, so I'd think he would be proud. The idea was for a person's race to cease to be a thing of any importance; therefore if society loses all notion of racial stereotypes then how could it not be a good thing?
 
Goshin said:
MLK advocated a color-blind society, so I'd think he would be proud. The idea was for a person's race to cease to be a thing of any importance; therefore if society loses all notion of racial stereotypes then how could it not be a good thing?
Click to expand...

That was my first thought, but the OP does have a point.

I knew a woman who was from a place that was still very racially segregated. She never saw someone who wasn't white until she moved here. It was quite an adjustment to her.

She didn't have racial stereotypes because she never encountered other races. And her first impulse was to come up with stereotypes, because she just wasn't used to being around them.

But she did have the personal insight to recognize that in herself, and she's a very well-adjusted person in most things, including, now, the way she deals with race. But that form of blindness can definitely lead someone ultimately to racism, when they inevitably encounter someone who looks different.

Not everyone is blind for the lucky reasons I was: lots of exposure with no tension. I feel very fortunate to have had the kind of upbringing I did.
 
Goshin said:
MLK advocated a color-blind society, so I'd think he would be proud.
Click to expand...
He actually didn't advocate a "colorblind" society; that is a common misinterpretation of his "content of their character" line. In fact, here's a quote from him that contradicts that interpretation, "A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him, in order to equip him to compete on a just and equal basis." That's very much the opposite of colorblindness.

Given that he was also very much against ignorance and very much in favor of race consciousness, I very much doubt that he would support the former, particularly the kind that often benefits white people at the expense of blacks.
 
SmokeAndMirrors said:
In Minneapolis? Lots of them. We have the biggest Somali immigrant population in the country. Lots of Hmong immigrants in some parts too. There's probably an "average" number African Americans.
Click to expand...

:shock: Asians too?!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom