Stereotypes are interesting. Whether we like it or not, everyone carrys withing them a degree of preconcieved notions that allow us to make mental short-cuts in sizing other people up.
In a purely sterile sense, many would call it "instincts" on some level. If I see someone or a group of persons dressed in a fashion that indicates gang-mentality regardless of their creed, color, or any other factor, I am on a slightly higher awareness level. I could well be wrong in that assessment on ocassion-- and it is the responsibility of that person to PROVE to ME otherwise. As someone who has a office on a Main Street, I get a lot of strangers come in my door. I only have to be wrong once to be a statistic.
As I've said, it is up to the person to prove his character to others. If I find that my original instincts were wrong about someone, I adjust immediately and wholeheartedly. What I do not do is feel any guilt for my original impression. It wasn't my responsibility to know everything about a person who I've only just encountered.
In the field I work in, I have to be very cognizant of the impressions we give others. People expect others that they work with to have a certian persona and "image" and do not handle deviations to that standard well. Yes, that is playing into their own stereotypes-- but that is part of our world-- and it is something I will do if I want the bills paid.
Every day, we have to make the choice of compromising expression of our individualism or risking the consequences of contridictory world-views. Some are willing to do so, and others are not. Cheers to both. You get what you choose. If you saw me at the office, you'd see the perfect professional. I strap into my pressed shirt, the 3 button suit, conservative tie, and polished shoes. My clients are put at ease and confident in seeing me as such.
Some may not like discovering my tattoos (which I placed in such a manner that they would always be covered by business attaire-- or whenever I choose). Those persons may well fit me into one of their own stereotypes if I chose to display them. If they did, it would be my fault for imposing my individualism on them.
I am not against individualism, and the last thing I'd ever want to see is all of us being little cardboard cutouts of each other. I AM saying that people should spend a little more time considering the manner that they represent themselves and a little less time rationalizing blaming everyone else for not holding the same conceptions and perceptions as they hold.
It is selfish to expect the entire world to change their perceptions because you choose to express yourself in a particular manner.
-- John
