From: jpak@oakhill.sps.mot.com (James Pak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Why is stereotyping bad? (Re: 'Asian Nerd' Stereotype)
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:40:57 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Motorola Inc.  Austin, Tx.

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...
>>>
>>>The very fact that you couldn't name one for whites is in itself very
>>>telling.
>>
>>That's right!
>
>That's wrong!
>
>Hollywood? Listen, there were LOTS of stereotypes about whites before there
>was EVER a Hollywood; just ask anyone to tell you some Irish/Jewish/French/
>Polish/Italian/German/hill billy, etc, joke. 

Well, you're right about that, Mike.  There do exist stereotypes of a *subset*
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?).

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.

Let me use this hypothetical.  If I asked 100 random people to tell me the
stereotypically offensive characterization of an X person (i.e. the offensive
stereotype that pops up in their mind, not necessarily what they really think
about those people), you're going to get a pretty good consensus if X = black
or X = Asian.  If I set X to mean a specific ethnic white group, such as Jewish
or Italian or Polish, there would also be a good consensus.  But if I said X =
white, just plain old white, then what's the consensus stereotype?  What are
the majority of those 100 people are going to say?  Face it, there isn't one.
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.

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
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.

Again, my point is that AS A RACE, white people, at least in the US, can't be
pigeonholed by any stereotype.  It's only when you can break them down into
a sub-group other than race that they can be nailed.  And you can do the same
breakdown to any non-white person too.

Jim
-- 
(Do not listen to the address on the header.  My correct email address is: )
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