Opinions on Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Opinions on Stereotypes Essay Webster’s Dictionary defines the word â€Å"stereotype† as a simplified and standardized conception or image of a person, group, etc. , held in common by members of a group. (1265) Many people create stereotypes of an entire group of people based off a single person. There are several different stereotypes that exist amongst society today in many different forms. Most churches and religious affiliated organizations condemn homosexuality which causes less gays to be open about their faith. This brings upon the stereotype that the gay community is not religious at all. This, however, has been proven false. According to Dan Giloff’s article, â€Å"While 72 percent of straight American adults describe their faith as ‘very important’ in their lives, so do 60 percent of gays and lesbians. †(par. 3), the gay community has plenty of religious affiliates now; The United Church of Christ now ordains ministers. Other religious groups are following in their footsteps, making moves to open their doors to the gay community. The people of the gay community are stereotyped heavily in society. Gay men are said to be obsessed with fashion, have great style, have a caddy attitude with very strong opinions, a love for dogs and are destined to be hairdressers, stylists, Broadway dancers, or fashion designers. Lesbians have plenty as well, such as: they move fast in relationships, dress manly, work in some kind of construction field, wear flannel, and hate men. These are all huge generalizations. Although gay men and lesbians may fall under some of these categories, not all do. People have too many factors that make up their identity, so it is unfair to set a certain list of characteristics to them. One of the most common stereotypes is gender stereotyping, which can be limiting to men and women in the world today. Throughout the years there have been plenty of stereotypes placed on women. One being that the woman should always be in the house cooking, cleaning, and tending to their spouses with no complaints. The culture of today has cultivated an image of women, saying that they are outspoken and have strong opinions about anything, that they spend all your money, that they are extremely demanding, and do nothing but gossip and shop endlessly. Women have worked towards breaking this stereotype by taking a stand over many decades and actually making many breakthroughs. Although that is a big stereotype involving women, there is research that shows women are â€Å"typically categorized in 3 primary clusters: traditional (e. g. homemaker), nontraditional (e. g. career woman) and sexy. † (Psychology of women quarterly). In an article from Psychology of Women Quarterly, scientists did research showing that career women held jobs in higher status while the sexier women held more appeal for the lower status, more feminine occupations. A sexier dressed woman showed to invoke negative emotion while also making people think incompetence was inevitable. Where as a more career based woman showed to be looked at as more of a leader figure that was prepared to take care of business at any cost. While Women are stereotyped to be a homemaker or a career woman, men too have sterotypes. Men have been stereotyped as being stupid and sex-obsessed people only worried about the next sports game; or weathly businessmen who cheat on their wives constantly with the closest woman in his office. Contrary to most women’s belief, there are plenty of men who are hardworking businessmen who have happy and loving home lives. Men live above this stereotype all the time. The blonde has two sides, the positive side where blondes are considered to be alluring and desirable. Then there is the negative side, where they are perceived as not being too intelligent and don’t use their common sense to figure out things; they rather rely on their looks than their intelligence. The hair color is often associated with â€Å"floosies†, â€Å"airheads†, or â€Å"ditzy† women. This is a very broad stereotype because there are many smart and successful blond women in society amongst the governments, school systems, and many other places. According to Harriet Brown, â€Å"In landmark 2003 research from the University of Pennsylvania, more than half of the 620 primary-care doctors surveyed characterized their obese patients as ‘awkward,’ ‘unattractive,’ ‘ugly,’ and ‘noncompliant‘ the latter meaning that they wouldnt follow recommendations. More than one-third of the physicians regarded obese individuals as ‘weak willed,’ ‘sloppy,’ and ‘lazy. ’† (par. 3). The stereotypes placed upon obese people usually falls under the words the doctors stated in the study from the article. Most people over look that it could be a medical condition causing such weight gain in obese people. They see the weight and automatically assume that it was a choice based upon laziness and lack of drive. People do not look beyond what they see, which creates plenty of false accusations. While there are many lifestyles that are stereotyped, such as, people assume if your gay; you must have aids, if your atheist; you must hate the world, if you have no religion; you must not have any morals, etc. One in particular is if you’re a biker you like to party hard, have tattoos and are a criminal. However, as much as people who ride motorcycles love the smell of fresh air and the open road, different riding styles are associated with different lifestyles and are completely diverse Racial stereotypes are in abundance in today’s world as well as throughout history. Most associate themselves with racist thoughts. Asians must be smart, Arabs must be terrorists, Irish must have drinking problems, Italians must be in the Mafia, Germans must be Nazi’s, African Americans must be in gangs, whites must be nerds, etc. These stereotypes can be wrong and hurtful in many situations. One public incident from any person of any race can create a stereotype. Society places people they don’t know much about or they don’t understand into classifications, thinking that people who look like them will act the same. Media plays a role in creating all of these stereotypes although people play the biggest role in creating them. It is human nature to notice the difference between themselves and others before the similarities. Media is still held responsible for a lot of the creation because not only does it use pictures of a generalized group to show how a person may look, but media also uses stereotypes as comedic entertainment on popular shows and movies. The romantic movies of today ,as well as in the past, depict very heavily the gender stereotypes placed upon men and women. They always show the â€Å"knight in shining armor who saves the damsel in distress† story, the men always sticking to their â€Å"typical† man stereotype and the women always to theirs. Media does influence our views and thoughts about people and does encourage generalizations about certain classifications of people. People to this day still fight with being held under heavy stereotyping. Society places an immense amount of merit on these loose generalizations. This sadly makes it hard for a lot of the people who do not fall under them and do break free from these stereotypes. While there is some truth to a lot of stereotypes, people need to understand one person cannot define an entire group of people. Whether a stereotype is negative or positive, they both exist and are limiting and leave no room for individuality. Works Cited Brown, Harriet. Does Your Doctor Make You Feel FAT? Prevention 63. 7 (2011): 26-33. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. Gilgoff, Dan. Fighting the Gay-As-Godless Stereotype. U. S. News Digital Weekly 1. 23 (2009): 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Heather Branstiter, et al. Evaluations of Sexy Women in Low- And High-Status Jobs. Psychology of Women Quarterly 29. 4 (2005): 389-395. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

Essay on Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness -- comparison compare

The Tragic Fall in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   In Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Conrad Heart of Darkness, the role of Africa is intertwined. It is seen as extremely primitive and the African's belief system is belittled. The two heroes in the novels also are very similar, and most especially in one aspect. They both experience a downfall. This is a vital theme throughout both books. Aristotle would say it is the fall of two "tragic heroes". However, even though these two characters share these similar incidences, the readers are given several different perceptions of one event. The colonization of the Europeans paid a heavy toll on the Africans and their way of life. The Europeans are consistently portrayed at the outsiders. Okonkwo is also quite familiar with Africa, yet Marlow was not. In his eyes, the Africans are seen as the outsiders. Okonkwo's father, Unoka, was seen as a person who was very lazy and who made no contribution to their society. This made Okonkwo hate him and any trait of any kind that correlated wit h that of his father. One way that this is displayed is that "Okonkwo never showed emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show emotion was a sign of weakness, the only thing worth demonstrating was strength" (Achebe 28). Okonkwo's greatest weakness was fear, yet this a contradiction in it's own terms. His fear of fear played such a big part of his adult life that it came back to haunt him. He never wanted to be considered a victim. Yet, ironically, he was only setting himself up to self-destruction and tragedy. Because of fear, it drives him pull his machete and strike a blow, first killing Ikemefuna and later the Court Messenger. Finally, this drives him to be physically abus... ...d, but instead because he could have been so great. Instead, he becomes cruel, unfeeling, and greedy. The true tragedy is that Kurtz did not become the great man that he could have been. Okonkwo and Kurtz were two men from the opposite ends of the spectrum. Their beliefs did not coincide, but they did have one aspect in common. They both brought themselves to the point of a tragic fall. For some reason or another, they both had to leave their homes. This is the marking of their fall. As soon as they do leave, the downfall begins, and it does not stop until there is nothing else to lose.    Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1959. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988. Daniel, Patsy J. ConradÕs Heart of Darkness. Explicator. 54(3):164-165.      

Stride Toward Freedom

Identical Thought in â€Å"Patient† and â€Å"Topic of Cancer† Once I was exposed to reading â€Å"Patient† and â€Å"Topic of Cancer† I put myself in Christopher Hitchers and Rachel Reedier shoes and realized how humor, can be used in a horrendous situation. Not everyone may know what a cancer patient has to go through but as days go by everyone has been through a situation that cannot handle on his or her own. By reading these two articles, I automatically had a mental mage of what and how the narrator felt.In the article, â€Å"Patient†, Reedier is trying to lighten the mood by using humor throughout the whole article. Both articles have multiple similarities that have personal anecdotes that explain their life story. The articles are similar with Hitchers and Reedier with the use of tone in the â€Å"Patient† and â€Å"Topic of Cancer† through humor, images and horrible situations. Humor can be comical in many situations, but in th e â€Å"Patient† and â€Å"Topic of Cancer†, the authors indicate the reader that pain can be a wholesome situation.In the article, â€Å"Patient† a teenager was hit by a bus and later on was informed that her leg may need to be amputated. The author uses phrases saying, â€Å"l feel like I got hit by a bus† to show his expression on how he truly feels about this situation (Reedier 166). Hitchers, the author of the â€Å"Topic of Cancer† expresses humor throughout the article in ways of saying, â€Å"The chest hair that was once the toast of two continents hasn't yet wilted, but so much of it was shaved off for various hospital incisions that it's a rather patchy affair† (Hitchers 88).Hitchers is expressing how he has lost all of his hair, and he can still look at it in a humorous way (The Best American Essays). Reedier and Hitchers explain how situations like these can be engaged in many different ways. Anyone can take these essays as serio us as possible but can also take them as a humorous situation. As Reedier and Hitchers went through the essays, the narrator explained how they had struggled through their situation and still found positive attitude.Reedier uses a positive attitude by saying, â€Å"It is easy to be calm cause I cannot really have been run over by a bus† (Reedier 165). As horrible as the situation may sound the narrator makes it out to be not as bad is it seems to be. Hitchers explains how the situation needs to be in a positive way, â€Å"l sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risk my life for the good of others, instead of being a gravely endangered patient† (Hitchers 88). The narrator expresses how she would rather be suffering for a good reason instead of being in the hospital with cancer (The Best American Essays).Both of the articles prove that you can fight through any kind of injury or disease no matter how critical the situation can accrue. The narrator shows his faith by saying, â€Å"She would make the driver move that bus, but I can't see her† (Reedier 165). In the â€Å"Topic of Cancer† Hutchins shows, how he feels about his conditions and diagnoses with the quote, â€Å"To the dumb question â€Å"Why me? † the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: â€Å"Why not? † (86). He is obviously looking at his illness as a positive outcome when many people look at it as their life is over (The Best American Essays).Even though cancer can kill someone and losing a leg can cause death, both of the narrators kept a positive attitude. Both of the narrators start out by asking themselves â€Å"why me†, as the articles continue the â€Å"Patient† goes on living a healthy life, but in the article â€Å"Topic of Cancer† he is still fighting for his life. There are similarities throughout the stories showing the way they feel, and showing their emotions through humor but in the end there is a differe nt outcome.

Business Law Case Study - 1437 Words

Business Law Case Study Module 4 PLAINTIFFS STATEMENT: The Parties – Alex Johnson vs. Bethlehem Ice Solutions Opening Argument Those familiar with skiing know that there are risks involved when one chooses to participate in the sport. Those risks, however, should be associated with self-inflicted harm caused by mistakes that a skier may make and not unforeseen obstacles and dangerous situations. The injuries sustained by Alex Johnson on the slopes at Bethlehem Ice Solutions (BIS) were not self-inflicted; far from it. They were the result of negligence on the part of BIS who failed to mark boundaries that separates the slopes and caused Craig to crossover onto another slope, walking directly into Alex’s path and colliding into†¦show more content†¦Craig admitted to his breach of duty of care and settled a suit with the plaintiff Alex Johnson. Craig is the only one liable in this incident, not the ski resort or its employees. Both employees acted professionally and chose the best slope based on his skill level. Key Facts of the Case Alex Johnson was injured as a result of Craigs negligence, which he admitted to and settled. Alexs injuries were not caused by Bethlehem Ice Solutions. There is a clear case for contributory negligence, because both skiers were at fault, Alex for the assumption of risk and Craig for breach of duty of care because he failed to take precautions on the ski slopes. BIS should not be held responsible for Craigs inability to handle the slope and his decision to take it upon himself to walk onto another slope that required more experience. A reasonable person would have concluded that the best way to exit a slope was to follow the path of that slope to avoid the risk of injury to themselves and other skiers. BIS did not breach duty of care because according to N.Y. GOB. 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