A-L

I have a question. Where did all these stereotypes come from? I know some are based partly off of truths, but the rest just seem utterly ridiculous. This just popped into my head when I began to think about all of the negative things people say about other people from different backgrounds, either ethnically, socially, culturally, or historically. Also, how did these stereotypes come to be so widely accepted? Or used?

seigfried007

You mean like how black people eat taffy and Peruvians are supposed to shoot lasers from their eyes?

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A-L

Exactly.

edropus

I'd guess it all stems from the oldest form of political propaganda. If you want to invade the guy next door, it's much easier for a governing body or individual to say that he's a child molesting vegan then to say that he's a pretty nice guy. If you want to convince your populace that it's justified when it's not, convincing them that the enemy deserves it is probably your best bet.

Sam Winchester

Or how Irish people drink all the... shit, that one's true!

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tucanbundy

Or like how us Jews are way too cheap and greedy and...fuck, that's true, too.

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alanmt

I'll tackle two relating to North American Indians:

"Indians are drunks"
"Indians are lazy"

With respect to the first one, native Americans, both as cultures (tribal units) and individuals, went, in a cascade west across North America, from having no experience with alcohol to having it plentifully present, all during a time of immense social change and cultural destabilization. These factors actually made alcohol a sort of cultural invader, an addictive substance disseminated broadly to inexperienced individuals with no natural or cultural resistances in place, loss of traditional livelihood, time on their hands, depression, and rampant unemployment. The result was a much higher rate of abuse, addiction and dependency. Some of the conditions continue to exist, and I suspect that American Indians continue to have elevated alcohol problems compared to the general public.

With respect to the second, I believe this began as an observation of plains Indians, southwest Indians, and Indians living in other marginal areas. The northern High plains Indians, in particular, were not cultivators, but were hunter gatherers with a very seasonal lifestyle in which shorter periods of high activity usually related to food gathering, especially during summer months, were followed by long periods of relative inactivity, especially during the winter months. I believe that the human body does adjust even in generations to reflect lifestyle patterns and that there is a cultural legacy with respect to living patterns as well, and that any so-called laziness perceived by others with respect to High Plains American Indians is really not laziness at all, but a remnant of behaviors which provided the most successful chance of survival only a century or two earlier.

That's my take.

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The Hack

As an American of Irish descent, I would refute this...but, first, there's a guy over there that I'm going to go beat up once I polish off this pint and shot...

Writ-with-Hand

Usually there's some truth, however small or large, in all stereotypes. Well, maybe I should say with in the eras they developed in.

I liked Alan's take on the Indians of the North America.

Mulattoes historically, not in all cases but in many, were often what we would term "sell outs." This was pretty much true worldwide where they were a product of European colonization and the African slave trade.

For the most part on the African continent white men did not track down and abduct people. Largely Black-African tribes or empires invaded tribes and sold people off to the white slave traffickers and companies. But when tracking was done, it was usually done by either blacks or mulattoes. The mulatto trackers could handle the climate and knew the terrain, they certainly were a product of both words, but ultimately sided with power side of their white fathers.

From Cape Verde to Brazil to French Louisiana, white men, those of "success" and culture anyways, womanized with mixed-race women. Some as in Brazil, might actually have mulatto wives, but in general mixed-race women that were of one white parent and one mulatto parent, found themselves as the kept women of these moneyed white men. Which brings me to the point: likely mulattas were never financially set-up concubines but slept around working as prostitutes (unlike some of their lighter mixed-raced sisters).

I think these are some of the roots to the "sellout" and "whores" or easy girls images.

mandax

Hey, I'm Irish, and I don't drink!

*slinks off to the casino*
*engages in a random brawl*

Writ-with-Hand

Mandax, do you have red hair too?

simplicity

hahahahahahaha!!
*raises glass*
my father is Irish... I say, cheers!

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Malone

Black people eat taffy? I've never heard that one. I've never seen a black person eat taffy either.

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Charlie_Eleanor

Yeh, I don't get the black people and taffy thing.

The black people and watermelon, yeh. Black people and Koolaid, that is old school. But black people and taffy? Really?

I agree with the general way thoughts are going here. Some stereotypes are based in truth, some are utterly rediculous. Some just let us laugh at our own quirks.

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GooGooMuck

Yeah, I'm native american too (Cherokee)...and one of the stereotypes that has always bothered me is the belief that native americans can't grow facial hair. I have no problem growing facial hair, and I know plenty of other native americans that wear mustaches. I also hate it that a lot of people assume that native americans are crazy, nature-loving hippies of some sort.

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