"you should not generalize about people-- that's the same as stereotyping and everyone knows that educated people are not supposed to stereotype. Everyone is an individual."
Those words came from an English professor at a university. He was emphasizing how sociology should not be about generalizing people. Even though some people are tied through certain factors such as culture or religion, one should not assume that they are all the same. In the article "Should We Generalize about People?", it was implied that even though stereotyping and categorizing is not right, it is inevitable for some cases. It is often necessary with some material things, diseases, places and more. But it is never right to categorize a person in certain categories.
I am Filipino and luckily for me, people knows that I refused to be categorized. There was situations in the past where people automatically think that I am friends with my asian friends because they were Asians. They were wrong, I was friends with them because I think they are fun to be with and relatable. People never really categorized me as an Asian. *excuse the usage of the word* Some dumb people does not even know that Philippines is part of Asia. They would always say, "you're not asian!! you're Filipino" and I would politely reply, "Philippines is under Taiwan and Taiwan is in Asia, learn your geography".
This topic goes along with religion. I am a Catholic. I go to church regularly. I believe in God but I don't believe in other things. People automatically assume that I am already against gay marriage or that I am against a bunch of stuff when in reality, I don't really care about those things. I'm indifferent with a lot of things I don't understand. Majority of people already assumed a lot of things just because a person is a Catholic. Even though some things are right, it is still unfair because they don't even truly know what kind the person is if her culture and religion isn't included.
To end this post, I would like to say that back then, stereotyping did not go well. A lot of people fought for their uniqueness. A lot of things, lots of bad, happened that could have been prevented if stereotyping did not exist. From holocaust to civil rights and so much more all over the world. End stereotyping and embrace individualism!
Nice examples and explanation of stereotypes. I like that you used the reading that we looked at to explain stereotypes, but here is an important distinction; the author says that categorizing is inevitable but stereotyping is not right.
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