“Where are you from?” is the most frequently asked question on EC. Though I have never asked it, I always take the trouble to go to the member’s page and look for the info there.:))))
We tend to form our opinions of people based on popular stereotypes. Are you from China? Brazil? Oops, I know what you are like.
It works the other way round, too. When we meet nice people, our hearts warm towards their country of origin. So, the whole populace takes credit for one person being pleasant and agreeable. Likewise, an entire nation can be condemned if we encounter a “black sheep” and it will caution us forever against that country.
Moreover, we perceive people depending on their country’s policy though we do know that governments don’t hold plebiscite on all their bills. Even here I witnessed the change in people treating each other according to the changes in relations between their countries.
The hardest thing to digest is when a person happens to contradict the common stereotypes and the image his or her country presents. The mind says “What?! How could such a nice person come from such bad country?”
After spending more than two years on EC I’ve started to form my own stereotypes. I’m reluctant to share them though , the reason being I know they aren’t universal truth but my own view.
I often wonder what stereotypes of my country do I confirm?
Comments
Modaway, thanks for liking my blog.
Thank you, Passionate, I appreciate your appreciation.:)) There are only a few people that I punished here and that was done for what they committed. I doubt that their nations would be proud of them...
But still, don't you agree that nations have some features that are shared by all their representatives and thus assist in forming stereotypes?
Icha, your is a very impartial view on the topic. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Alice, thank you for your nice comment. I suppose as cultures mix so there will be left no space for prejudices.
Thanks for your comment, Estanis. You have a very balanced view on stereotypes.
Rys, some stereotypes dating back to the cave age have led to the appearance of cavemates, don't you think?
Hi Inna, every people have different point of views to respond this topic. Why they did that?included me of course, my opinion is because of a politeness. Sometimes we don't need to open they profile only to know their private information. We can ask them directly, usually we did this when we chatted and I was not influenced by their country where they come from as long as they have a nice behaviour to me. :)
Prejudices tend to be imbued deeply within our cultures so it is quite hard to dismiss but with conscious effort and information about our prejudices, it can be lessened and slowly eliminated perhaps not totally but enough to make a difference. Hopefully we get true information about our biases. My profile pic shows my favorite thing however I do share pics that show a relevance of truth in my life and I am glad to have friends here who are generous too in sharing theirs. Thanks for this share. :)
I think we're members here from the same time more or less and although I know where you are from I can't confirm that you respond to the stereotypes mentioned in the replies since I don't use to judge people if I haven't chatted before.
As for the false profiles, I don't need hiding behind any pic, even I don't mind sharing photos with my family with my Ec friends but its a personal matter. It's up to us.
Good topic you raised :)
Oi there, folks
Inna has moved a very scabrous, if not to say ticklish subject. According to an old proverb that says that there is no smoke without fire, I dare notice that in majority, stereotypes have some substantial grounds on which they stand.
I am far from deeming all stereotypes as valid and unchallengeable facts. A great part of these stereotypes are gross colorisation of certain occurances, I shall not go into details whether this colorisation is unintentional or not as it will lead to no dicisive conclusions.
There have been stereotypes throughout the ages, I could risk to speculate that it has its roots back to the cave age...but I shall not bet my bottom dollar on this particular issue.
To my humble reckonning i think that we should deal with stereotypes reasonably, using our common sense in judging others from our stereotype library.
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