Is it wrong to have cultural stereotype perceptions? Am I wrong in thinking that people of Italian background are good at making things up? Examples: the Shroud of Turin ( some people like me think it is the world's oldest photograph) and the Immaculate conception in the Gospels.
Of all the things I associate with Italian heritage, a marked ability at making things up is not one of them. And is it "wrong"? I don't know...do you act on your thoughts? Does it change the way you look at or treat Italians?
Not wrong at all. Its good to be aware of other cultures. All of them have their good and bad points to varying degrees. Why should people talk about the good points, but not the bad? Italians have some terrific creative talent - fashion, cars, design etc. But in business I've found them to be very insincere, unreliable and gigantic bullshitters. They admit to me privately that its a national characteristic. In some cultures, dishonesty isn't considered to be a particularly seriously bad thing. Italians I've known purely socially, I've found to be much better.
Being aware of other cultures and having cultural stereotypical perceptions can be slightly different things of course But as long as you are aware it is a stereotype and that it's maybe jading your perspective when dealing with for instance italian people (I heard they're individuals too ) it is not wrong to have them. To be fair, everybody has cultural stereotypical perceptions of others to some degree. About if you are wrong about italian people or people with italian background being good at making things up: could be (maybe it counts especially for american italians? ). But then I would say the shroud of Turin isn't a typical example of this for italians specificly as the whole of Europe had these kinds of dubious artifacts in their churches.
i don't think two centuries old examples would pertain to current cultural stereotypes at all. and that is not the stereotype that i've ever heard about italians. i thought they were supposed to be loud and eat a lot.
It's probably normal, but something you might try to get over. Many stereotypes have some foundation in truth, but individuals can be badly hurt when people react to them on the basis of unfair stereotypes. Elsewhere on this Forum, I've heard it said that religion causes most wars and that most Muslims are terrorists at heart. People making these statements are impervious to evidence that atheist regimes hold the record for mass murders since the nineteenth century (that one usually produces angry denials), and that many religious groups, like the Quakers, Disciples of Christ, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, seem to be pretty non-violent. Is it healthy to go through life distrusting Jews because "everyone knows" they're shady businessmen, or African-Americans because "everyone knows" their potential for violent crime, or Italians because they're probably in the mob? I'm sure not every African-American likes watermelon and I know of at least one Irish-American who doesn't drink alcohol (yours truly).
To me, centuries old stereotypes are the most obvious, such as the perception of Africans as musical or the perception of Jews as entrepreneurial.
Naturally, people judge and place stereotypes on people. It's not necessarily wrong, it's human nature. What's wrong is not being aware that your judgments could be totally wrong. What's wrong is if you make them feel bad about the stereotypes of their culture.
I wouldn't say it necessarily makes you wrong, just maybe try interacting with more people that you have preconceptions about, try to keep an open mind, if you feel yourself tense up, then just breathe and allow the situation to be. I have difficulties like this when I feel physically threatened. Oftentimes I do not realize until much later that the person that made me feel that way may not be aware of the other people that I have had negative experiences with that may be incensed by their words.
At a Confest recently I was working with a lesbian and she thought I was engaging in cultural stereotyping by suggesting that lesbians tended to be more self-dependent. I said I thought this was something to be admired and worthy of respect. I she warmed to what I was saying. At one point we needed to cut a rope and she pulled out a penknife that was in a pocket on leather waist belt.
Some stereotypes have some truth to them. Depending on how mean it is maybe you can embrace it and laugh about it. But the more of a kind of person you know the more likely you will find someone who breaks the stereotype.
Money and the guns are what decide what stereotypes are acceptable. The US is not famous for quality products at low prices, but for exporting almost any kind of weapon you can imagine, for franchises like McDonald's, for Hollywood, marketing, and a line of crap a mile long. Part of our advantage is that we are a mixture of cultures that promote rugged individualism, and our Hollywood films and marketing include more sex and violence than most cultures are comfortable with. Japanese love graphic violence that would disgust many Americans, but what they consider pornographic is about as tame as it gets. Comes from living on top of each other like so many ants, and says as much about their environment as it does their culture. At one point, Britain became known as a nation of shop keepers, because they tended to keep the spirit of their agreements, instead of just the letter. However, like stock market traders, their ethics tended to shift to whatever the market would bear. Exactly how any culture is aggressive is usually a question of how much money and guns are involved. Spouting bullshit and being misleading are merely a reflection of their economics, just as gang members might demand respect. They have to draw their lines in the sand somewhere.
It is wrong to negatively judge an ethnic group based on the actions of a few. Chances are, we have all had bad experiences with people from all different ethnic backgrounds, but I don’t blame their ethnicity for a bad experience I’ve had.
