From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Why is stereotyping bad? (Re: 'Asian Nerd' Stereotype)
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 16:05:06 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.234057.7103@oakhill.sps.mot.com> jpak@oakhill.sps.mot.com (James Pak) writes:
>In article <1992Apr8.150211.1150@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>>>>Notice how you couldn't think up of a negative stereotype for white people?
>>>>Quick, name one that's generally accepted as "true" in this country.  Go on,
>>>>give me one, quick, quick, quick...

Gave you one, then 2 for each "quick".

>group of white people.  Obviously, if you're Polish, you are by definition
>white, and thus there are plenty of yucky stereotypes available for you to
>hear.  I do believe that a lot of the "white ethnic" stereotype jokes came
>about when those specific ethnic groups were relatively new to this country.
>That's why there aren't many WASP stereotype offensive jokes (are there any?).

You only have to read, perhaps, Shakepere or any of a number of other older
authors to realize that stereotypes have been in Europe long before there
ever were Europeans setting foot on what is now America. Ever heard of
Shylock?

>However, I do think that there aren't too many stereotypes against white people
>in this country AS A RACE, i.e. stereotypes specifically about them because of
>their *race*.  I'm not talking specific ethnic backgrounds like Polish, Jewish,
>etc., I'm talking *race*, the way we have stereotypes against black people or
>Asian people.  White people in this country can't be pigeonholed specifically
>because of race.

I think that you don't want to admit it, but there are (oppressors of minoritiescomes to mind). Anyway, you asked for "even one" and you got several.

>White people aren't pigeonholed to a stereotype BECAUSE OF RACE.  For other
>reasons, yes.  For race, no.  There really aren't any, other than maybe "white
>men can't jump" or "white people can't dance", which really only sounds "valid"
>coming from a black person.

Perhaps it is you who, because you see whites as more diverse, refuse to 
recognize that these ARE stereotypes because of race. Now, bear in mind that 
there is a large number of white people who see other groups as diverse, and
will say that given stereotypes do not apply to that group.

>As for your previous examples of anti-white stereotypes in your other post,
>let's go through some of them.  (Sorry, but I don't remember them all.)  Coke
>snorting yuppies?  That's a *yuppie* stereotype, not a white stereotype.  A
>white person who's clearly not a yuppie (plenty of them) wouldn't be offended

Try calling a white guy a "yuppie"; lots of non-yuppies will get offended by it.
Call him/her a hillbilly, Nazi, etc. I assure you, most people will take
offense. simply because it doesn't apply to each individual of a certain color
doesn't mean they won't be offended by it. Isn't that what a stereotype is,
after all?

>by it.  It doesn't apply across the race.  Hillbillies who marry their cousins?
>Again, that's a "southern" stereotype, or a "hick" stereotype.  How could it
>offend someone living in, say, New York City?  It can't.  Members of the KKK?
>No way.  That's an extremely limited stereotype.  I bet you couldn't find
>anything close to a consensus of people who would say that if you asked them
>to give you a stereotype of a white person.

Just gave you one, above. It seems like you ask for something, then when you
get an answer you don't like, change the question. BTW, if you live in Asia
for a while, you WILL hear stereotypes about America, and for most Asians,
Americans = whites.

There are stereotypes against ANY group of people. They have been around
almost as long as recorded history and in fact, most white stereotypes are
against other whites.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - These opiini^H^H damn! ^H^H ^Q ^[ .... :w  :q  :wq  :wq! ^d  X ^?
exit X Q  ^C ^? :quitbye  CtrlAltDel   ~~q  :~q  logout  save/quit :!QUIT
^[zz ^[ZZZZZZ ^H  man vi ^@  ^L  ^[c  ^# ^E ^X ^I ^T ? help  helpquit ^D  ^d 
man help ^C ^c help exit ?Quit ?q CtrlShftDel "Hey, what does this button d..."
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american