My Decision on Stereotyping

Last week I noted that I was uncomfortable with comments made regarding a group of people and noticed that others didn't seem to think it was out of line. I did a lot of thinking and reading about this because my knee jerk reaction was not only were we stereotyping but that we were crossing the line into racism.

Interestingly enough I found out of dozens of references 3 references that there is nothing wrong with stereotyping - since it is based in truth. All three of these references were by Christians. I will say that one of them had strict guidelines about when to use stereotypes and it was more in line with humour - for instance the Simpsons is funny because the characters are stereotypes - police are stupid and eat doughnuts, the wives are stay at home, the preacher's wife is a gossip, the East Indian runs a convenience store.

If stereotyping is okay based on "truth", then I could say that the only people who stereotype are Christians since I didn't find any non-Christian viewpoints that indicated stereotyping is okay.

Two of the writers even claimed that the Bible used stereotypes. The one example both gave was the Pharisees when Christ called them vipers. This is ridiculous for two reasons - he often spoke directly to the Pharisees and thus was not saying that all Pharisees are vipers. He was directing his speech to the one thing the Pharisees said about themselves - that they were the experts of the law. He challenged them on their own perceptions of themselves. But most importantly was that Christ was actually breaking a stereotype - the people thought the Pharisees were the wisest and the law keepers. Jesus was actually saying "this is not true". The other example was the good Samaritan and the Priest in the good Samaritan story. Again, Christ was not stereotyping - he was using an example of a stereotype to challenge his listeners.

The fact is there are few benefits to stereotypes. By saying that the Jews may be perceived as arrogant discounts every Jewish person who is very humble that is not noticeable. Just as there are many Dutch who are very careful in what they say and very gracious and would never speak out of turn. The other problem is that even if we were to accept a stereotype what exactly does it do for us? If the Dutch are blunt is that good or bad or just different? We tend to see the "other" as bad. But everything is relative. And as Christians as soon as we talk about people we have to think of them as God's children - and we all fall short of his nature.

So when Rob Ford says that the "Orientals" are hard workers that is no better than saying that Americans are ignorant. Because neither statement is true for every person and it serves us no purpose. People are hard workers, people are ignorant, kind, gracious and impatient. The only bending I would give on this is that we can state facts - for instance, "the policy of the XY industry is that workers are expected to take their breaks next to their machines and work 12 hours". When someone says that the Asians are hard workers and sleep next to their machines it is why we believe this that is important. Do the majority sleep next to their machines, do they do so willingly and most importantly why?

Guess Which Country

A blogger had asked for the stereotypes of his countrymen (yes, I know - the people of his country). Guess which country the following is about and the nationality of the person who said it:



They are very snobby, loud-mouthed and very vocal with their complaining. They complain about everything and demand that whoever compensate them. All they think about is drinking, smoking, and sex. Drinking is paramount and if you don't spend all your free time down at the pub or clubbing, then something must be wrong with you. I've seen parents with their kids in jackets playing outside the pub (because they aren't allowed in)but the parents "had to have that pint." The girls are as bad as the boys. There is no such thing as a childhood over here. I've seen three year old little girls in shoes with HEELS and they weren't playing dress up. She was imitating her mother. One other thing is the bad language. I'd never heard the "F" word actually spoken by someone until I came over here. Now its basically every other word! And they can't speak properly. Its all "I fink (think) , sommink (something) free-(three) fought-(thought) fru-(through) are just a few common words used instead of actually speaking them as they should be. I'm not talking about this being just slang...its used by young and old alike!



You probably guessed by the language that the person is talking about Britian (my guess specifically England). The nationality of the person - American.

What is Racism?

The United Nations uses the definition of racial discrimination laid out in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted in 1966:

...any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.(Part 1 of Article 1 of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)

I have really been struggling about what can be said and not said about a specific culture or ethnicity. I agree that different groups of people will gravitate to those like themselves whether ethnicity, religion, hobbies, economic status or even health status. The extent that we gravitate to those like ourselves vary in different situations - for reasons of religion we look for others with the same beliefs, for reasons of health we look for support groups. Some of the inclusiveness is a small part of our lives, other factors make it a larger part. For instance if I belong to a specific church that was built by a specific culture the effect of this will be based on whether I do things outside of that church influence.

My problem is what I thing is wrong to say seems to be acceptable to others. My beliefs on what you can and can't say to a person come from the way I was brought up. I was brought up to believe that there are differences among people but it is wrong to catagorize a group based on perceived differences. The culture that I share with my non-church friends seem to agree on what can be said and what is too broad a generalization. We are currently fighting the other extreme of political correctness which I might be guilty of. But in other circles things that I think shouldn't be said seem to be considered fair statements.

For instance I would never label any group as cheap. Even with solid statistics I would label a group as spending less than another group - I can't quantify the term "cheap". Considering how much waste we have in the Western world any other approach to consumption could be considered cheap.

I would also never label another group as smart. Again, test scores and occupations are the result of a whole host of factors that are environmental and economic. If I studied harder in school (and now) I could achieve much more. But, then again, how much achievment is enough?

I am really at the crossroads with this because my friends that go way back have a different idea of what can be said and what would be considered stereotyping and bordering on racism. I'm not sure if I am politically too correct or if my sensitivity to this issue is a good thing.

When To Speak Up

I went to this thing tonight at the church - it was supposed to be a place to learn about Judaism in light of the fact that we have many Jews living in our neighbourhood.

It was presented by someone who did not have first hand knowledge about Judaism but had been selected because of his role in the denomination to be a presenter.

The teaching process was that rather than tell us about Judaism we were to reflect in groups what we already knew about Judaism. The questions were:

practices and observations
similarities and differences between Judaism and Christianity
what is important to Jewish people

Rather then be taught these things we reflected on them in a group setting. I thought I knew very little about Judaism so was interested in learning - instead I received a hodge podge of individual thoughts - some of them very negative and many of them totally out of context.

I heard so many disrespectful things at my table that I could not remain silent - yet that seems to be the preferred response. Stay silent, be gracious. This frustrates me I have been criticized before for being too vocal so I'm trying to be quiet.

I wasn't raised this way - I was raised to challenge ignorance, not to condemn the speaker but to challenge the thinking. I was raised that to let people speak poorly of another group without facts or in context is racism and that it can not go unchallenged.

That the church would choose to let people say whatever they think about Judaism rather than teach us about Judaism is a strange choice. Can there be anything less useful then a bunch of Christians sitting around talking about something we know nothing about? And this isn't the first time - I sat through a session where the parishioner chosen to speak on an issue told us we needed to be very cautious because the Muslims are "infiltrating" Canada - that they are coming here to take over our beliefs (Christian) and to make Canada Muslim. I was angry at this - I have worked with Muslims who have been so grateful to come to Canada and they never pushed their beliefs on me but always took the time to explain their practices if asked.

So now I am torn, I really think that the discussion was unfit for outsiders to hear - I would have been very embarassed if a non-Christian or Jew was sitting in our discussion because we really came off showing our ignorance without learning from it. But when I say things I get the "look". We are taking another stab at Islam next week - I don't know whether to avoid it or go.