Frederick Howard
Giovanni Colombo
Informal Logic
12/13/2010
Stereotypes and rhetoric
1 Types of People and Stereotypes
1
People are always judged by what they do. It doesn't make a difference if your personality matches others in the same profession or hobby, you are stereotyped by what you do. It's common rhetorical thinking, which, while it can be amusing and sometimes correct, is often incorrect. Computer geeks for example, for a long time were seen as losers. Then the dot com boom hit, the internet took off, and now computer geeks are seen as the saviors of the world instead of losers. Gamers are often seen as losers, although many hold high paying, high prestige positions. There are several groups of stereotypes that…show more content… It's heard all the time, in every part of the US. In Europe and Asia, the elderly are treated with a lot more respect than in the States, and there's no real reason why they shouldn't expect the same here. They've paid their taxes, they worked their hours. Many sacrificed their health to defend the country. Most people don't see that. What they see is a little old lady or a bent old man who can barely move, and make rude comments about their age.
Stereotypes can sometimes be true. Often they are not, and often they are nothing but hurtful. Sometimes they will make the people being stereotyped BECOME like the rhetoric in question. It's easy to see that it's not helpful, not to the country or to our mental state as individuals, and it's something that does need to end. It won't, and people will go on judging other people without thinking of feelings, but it can be seen that it needs to stop.
Politicians, while they may deserve the reservations of the people, aren't always going to be vote grubbing, money hungry power mongers. Tattooed people aren't always felons and potential felons. Feminists don't all hate men, aren't all hairy or ugly, and often are highly educated. Elderly people deserve the same respect people give their own grandparents, which should be a fairly high amount. It's easy to judge others by who they are or what they do, but it
