Tara Abner, Charger Staff
Stereotypes... I interviewed Savannah Wallace and Mary Essler on their outlooks
of this situation.
Why do you think stereotyping others? Savannah replies, “Because everyone
is used to it. They also see the media do it so it’s like an automatic
thing to do.” Mary replies, “Our civilization does it and the TV teaches
us to because they are all the time judging by clothes or someone's appearence.”
Does the media really have a bigger impact on us then we think?
In my opinion, it depends on how seriosly you take things. You can make the
decision wether or not the media is going to influence you. We, as teenagers,
know what is right and wrong. People are always blaming the media for things.
If you notice blaming others is an automatic thing to do when you have done
something wrong. I believe today’s society is so caught up with blaming
others that they don’t realize it is their own fault for what they do.
Mary labeled herself as a jock and a floater. Then Savannah labeled herself
as a socializer.
I asked the both of them to define their labels. Mary replies, “A floater
is someone who is friends with everyone and hangs out with more than one clique.”
Savannah says, “A socializer is someone who is willing to go out and meet
new people. They also don’t care about someone's background.”
These two definitions are pretty close to the same. So why do we have so many
different names for our peers and ourselves if they mean pretty much the same?
Whenever I looked at Savannah’s survey, I noticed something: on a question
that asked, “Why do people stereotype?” she boxed in “your reputation."
I asked Savannah why she did that and if she thinks that is the main reason
why people stereotype? “Yes, because if you have a bad reputation then
people will be afraid to hang out with you or even get to know you, “ replied
Savannah.
Both of the girls said they allow time to get to know a person. They also agreed
that you need to take time to get to know a person before you even think about
judging them.
I asked Savannah,”How do you feel when people stereotype you, but then
you turn around and stereotype others for the same reason?” She replied,
“I feel bad for it. Whenever I do, I usually catch myself and stop.”
I also asked Mary if she had ever been stereotyped and if so, how does it feel?
Mary replied, “Yes, it feels bad because they don’t even take the
time to get to know me first.”
So next time you decide to stereotype someone think about how they would feel. Also think how you would feel if someone were stereotyping you. It’s kinda like that old saying “If you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything at all.”
Prepared for web by J. Wheeler
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