[Kan Yen Li] Discussion 2 Response

The world we live in now is, to put it subtly, obsessed with stereotypes. Every person, living or dead, can be labelled judgmentally without giving much thought about it. Though frustrating, we sometimes might find ourselves doing so unconsciously as well, and that is the saddest part of all. Stereotyping people is an unfair excuse for society to avoid thinking too much. Categorizing people and labeling them is easy to do when they never bother to find out more about them, just so one can claim to understand how society and the "system" works and not be intimidated by subjects they deem foreign and unfamiliar. A more common way of doing so is the ever gratifying media stereotyping. Media stereotypes encompass a wide range of human society and studies, from religions to countries to present cultures to age and also gender.

The best example i can give is the perpetually popular African American stereotypes, also known as 'Blacks' and sometimes, more vulgar terms inappropriate for general readers. Despite having leagues of successful, well known, highly achieved icons in the African American society and a status and citizenship equal to any other Americans, people of black ancestry still suffer to the cause of racism and stereotyping. In the eyes of the demeaning, if you are black, chances are you come from a family plagued with social strife often involving illegal and harmful activities (drug trafficking and bank robbing, to name a few). Also, pop culture often define black people to display certain characteristics such as a fondness for Kentucky Fried Chicken, watermelons and Kool-Aid. These statements are apparently untrue, but one may wonder where it originated from. For reference, i have done some research on black culture and also movies concerning it. The best example of stereotyping blacks is 'Undercover Brother', a 2002 comedy film in America.