stereotype

was curious about the etymology of stereotype. it is from Gk stereos meaning solid and in printing parlance refers to a method of printing from a solid, raised metal type. sometime in the early 20th century, as words and phrases are often wont to do, it jumped from its printing press origins to the present meaning of an oversimplified generalization. people often talk of stereotypes as if it is a bad thing per se. the inherent act of stereotyping is itself fine and mostly correct in whatever sense of the term. obviously people have seen enough of something to generalize it. what is missed is that it is not the only image or view a person is evoking when using a stereotype. recently, i saw an ad on an airline magazine which had an obviously geeky looking young chinese (american) kid [ok, geeky and chinese american are already stereotypes, the kid is shown having big ears, bad teeth , oversized spectacles and, um, sino features. he could have been vietnamese or hmong or taiwanese, first generation or fourth] holding an orrery in his hand and the caption says "we are like the geek you loved in primary school" or somesuch. my immediate thought was ohmygodthisissostereotypical and it sure was. but then many chinese americans i know are geeky. the problem is not with what the ad shows or says. it is with what it does not say. what about the margaret chos and the yo-yo-mas?

why do we create stereotypes? to generalize, to pigeonhole, to classify. why pigeonhole? to form grand theories in which all phenomena (perceived) fit or can be slotted. there are so many stereotypes we come across in america- the christian right, the bleeding heart liberal, the gun-toting libertarian, the gun-toting, bling wearing gangstuh, the motel owning gujarati, the jewish doctor, the dumb blonde, the alabaman redneck, the desi shoftwear shyshtem person and so on. they can be complex like the bespectacled, bearded soft spoken foreign film watching 40s white man (thanks to my friend ps who loves this image) or the long haired, earth mother goddess, vegan raw food, shopping at coops, antiwar and doing reiki 40s white woman. we also straddle and move across stereotypes. i landed fresh off the boat in 92 and fit into the stereotype of yet another iitian, fighting with roommates over grocery bills, calculated to the 4th decimal place, going to desi parties where anthakshari is apotheosis of the indian arts, having mostly desi friends with an occasional phirang to go to lunch with and explain intricacies of indian culture which i myself never cared for growing up (you see, in india everything is sacred including the cow and rajanikanth. that's why jains don't eat anything grown underground). by 4 years, i had lots of amru friends, shopped organic at the local coop in cloth bags, listened to carnatic music, rode a bicycle, went on backpacking trips [its an eclectic mix and not a stereotype- ego] and so on. then the semisuburban lifestyle of working at an MNC, driving a car but still shopping organic and having eco-footprint concerns. okay, i take it back. some stereotyping can be dangerous and downright disgusting- the stereotyping of any young black male as a dangerous criminal or a pusher or the obvious stereotyping of people with beards in a post-9/11 world or the stereotyping of islam itself as has happened in some circles. it seems like some form of a hopeless defense mechanism, a vain attempt of protection against an unknown danger, an armour that is bound to break. the biggest danger in stereotyping and broad classification is the dualistic framework it creates and forces- us vs them, he vs she, republican vs democrat, pro-life vs pro-choice- a dialectic that is doomed to fail.

i wonder if the problem of slotting into stereotypes can be cured not by asking people not to slot (which has been tried in vain) but by increasing the number of slots. so its like having 64000 shades of grey instead of 2. then classification becomes impossible. imagine someone who is slotted as a stereotypical "republican" today who is also eco-conscious, who goes to church but also believes in darwin, who is anti-war but pro-life. what will you call her? but then maybe i am just dreaming.