Deny Ignorance - Deny The Stereotyping

Deny Ignorance. What a great thing to aspire to… but at the same time, one so difficult to achieve.

ATS is one of the better (if not the best) places one can find on the web to discuss issues of import. And while various conspiracy theories are the bread and butter here, it is also a laboratory for speaking one’s mind on most any subject.

(Well, except for things like illegal drugs and such. And though I disagree with the official stand on that subject, it is not the intent to argue it here.)

The purpose of this thread is to try and cease the rampant stereotyping.

If a member were to come on here... any member at all, and begin with an OP that lumped all black people into a stereotype as being criminals or drug users, it would be quickly shouted down or even deleted.

If a member were to come on here and begin with an OP that lumped all homosexuals as being child molesters or criminals, that too would be quickly halted.

But if someone comes to corral all Christians or all Americans… or all Southerners, it is somehow allowed.

Stereotypes - of any kind - are built upon the same foundations of prejudice and ignorant framework as racial bigotry. It immediately assumes that all of any group, real or contrived, are immediately the same as any single one... and any single one, like the perceived group.

You want to deny ignorance? Try admitting that we are all individuals first and that no two human beings are exactly the same. No two Christians, no two African-Americans, no two Muslims, no two Jews, no two Republicans or Democrats and no two anybodies or anythings are the same as another.

ATS tolerates your petty tyrannies against these people, but you should be ashamed to come here under the banner of denying ignorance to present them.

Give us all a break at the same time you offer an ounce of recognition to the single soul.

Deny the stereotypes.



[edit on 9-11-2009 by redoubt]

I completely agree... But once again a sensible topic will be ignored while people flood to sensationalist posts such as...

"Black Muslim fanatic Iman kills hundreds with mail order explosive Burka bombs"

750 thousand flags, 125 million Stars, and lots of “these Muslims make me sick blah blah blah”

Well... a star and a flag for you my friend

Although i must say this... We are all guilty of stereotyping to a degree. It’s like a survival thing. If you see five rough looking characters walking towards you on a dark knight you will take precautions that you would not take had it been five old ladies. You may straighten up your stance to appear more formidable, or lower your head to appear less threatening, you may even cross the road to avoid them altogether. Either way you have made a judgement about the people, heading your way, on nothing more than appearance.

I guess this reinforces the fact that stereotypes/racism stems from fear and ignorance... And what does ATS encourage us to do?

Deny Ignorance!!!!

reply to post by Muckster


Thanks for the comments

I do realize that we're all guilty of this and that we can find ourselves falling back on stereotypes without even thinking about it.

It's just something that I've kind of taken as a personal quest... to explore that grey area between honoring individualism and railing against the courteous tyranny that is otherwise known as political correctness.

Cheers

Whilst I applaud the deriding of stereotypes - those very stereotypes are there for a reason.

One of things I find most sickening and annoying with this site are the rampant uneducated contributions of idiots. Unfortunately, a vast preponderance of said people tend to be American Christians. These people are generally insular, small / narrow minded, and extremely bigoted themselves. (In my experience of them.)

I'm not saying that all people of this persuasion are this way, it just appears a vocal minority seem to hog these forums with their unscientific, racist, sexist and generally disgusting viewpoints.

The Para.

reply to post by redoubt


I think you are the ignorant, homosexuals are not child molesters.
do a better research before wasting time with your stupidity.
thank you.

reply to post by Parallex

Whilst I applaud the deriding of stereotypes - those very stereotypes are there for a reason.

exactly.

Don't use stereotypes just to win an argument.
But stereotypes exist for a reason - and anyone fitting one of them should be called on it immediately.

To say "don't ever use stereotypes" is to be a apologetic coward. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck....you know the rest.

And how does this exactly fit into the "current events" category?


[edit on 10-11-2009 by Snarf]

Sorry for this but this thread really reminded me of the song "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" from the musical Avenue Q. Below is an taste.

Gary Coleman:
It's sad but true!
Everyone's a little bit racist -

All right!

Kate Monster:
All right!

Princeton:
All right!

Gary Coleman:
All right!
Bigotry has never been
Exclusively white

All:
If we all could just admit
That we are racist a little bit,
Even though we all know
That it's wrong,
Maybe it would help us
Get along.

Princeton:
Oh, Christ do I feel good.

Gary Coleman:
Now there was a fine upstanding black man!

Princeton:
Who?

Gary Coleman:
Jesus Christ.

Kate Monster:
But, Gary, Jesus was white.

Gary Coleman:
No, Jesus was black.

Kate Monster:
No, Jesus was white.

Gary Coleman:
No, I'm pretty sure that Jesus was black-

Princeton:
Guys, guys...Jesus was Jewish!

Brian:
Hey guys, what are you laughing about?

Gary Coleman:
Racism!

Brian:
Cool.

I know it is a bit on the long side. I just figured that it was funny.

Originally posted by Parallex
Whilst I applaud the deriding of stereotypes - those very stereotypes are there for a reason.

One of things I find most sickening and annoying with this site are the rampant uneducated contributions of idiots. Unfortunately, a vast preponderance of said people tend to be American Christians. These people are generally insular, small / narrow minded, and extremely bigoted themselves. (In my experience of them.)

I'm not saying that all people of this persuasion are this way, it just appears a vocal minority seem to hog these forums with their unscientific, racist, sexist and generally disgusting viewpoints.

The Para.

People who share opinions that are different to your own does not indicate that their views are "insular, small / narrow minded, and extremely bigoted". It certainly does not make them idiots. The way people think and perceive others has largely to do with their upbringing. Somebody like you might feel they think reasonably and outside-the-box on most issues, but I guarantee there are times when you display the same behaviour without acknowledging it.

Science, racism, sexism and disgusting viewpoints are all in the eye of the beholder. What was superstition in the past is science today. What was racism today is (reverse) racism today. What was sexism in the past is (reverse) sexism today. Viewpoints that were disgusting or taboo in the past are tolerated today. Any form of education is likely to have some form of bias in favour of the country/civilisation from in which it is taught.

I do not say these things as a personal attack on you, but I do feel you are raising your own pedestal in situations to your liking. We are all hypocrites; it is just the degree of hypocrisy we maintain that truly separates us.

[edit on 10/11/2009 by Dark Ghost]

reply to post by sopadcaracol


Congratulations! You completely missed the point!

(Not a one liner.)

Originally posted by sopadcaracol
reply to post by redoubt

 

I think you are the ignorant, homosexuals are not child molesters.
do a better research before wasting time with your stupidity.
thank you.

I believe you have completely misunderstood the point redoubt was attempting to make. Please, before you attempt to call out another member, make sure you're comprehending the situation accurately.

And whenever dealing with our fellow members, please also keep in mind, Courtesy is Mandatory.

Thank You.

I fully agree with you, ignorance is the biggest threat to the world. When will people start to think before they talk and not voice there ignorance on to others.

Lets not condem a world of people to suffer because The American nation is to lazy to understand why we are in this situation in the first place and bye this i mean why does halve the world dislike America, the millions of dead civillians killed by the American Army since the begining of the 20th century, the crippling of nations economies and starving of multi millions of people so the American way of life can continue, for this the American way of life can never be real it is built on lies and that shall be it's downfall

wake up people
It's time to start thinking for your selves This is not a MOVIE, knowledge is power and comon sense is the weapon

ATS is one of the most ignorant filled sites I have ever come across.

there are extremely important events happening on earth and there are a preponderance of people in here telling each other to wake up and pointing at evidence of crop circles from the 70's or worse, posting politically sharp posts about the current president or supportive ones.

all of this piggy backs off the entertainment sections of various msm and when someone does bring up a really good topic for discussion it gets the kibosh and explained away by mods as being a problematic issue.

listen ats, real problems are gonna cause real hard conversations. You either foster those discussions or you remain the same as any other conspiracy site selling advertising for movies or work at home scams.

the idea of this site is good, the actuality of it is ridiculous more often than not.

I for one would like to see ATS less moderated and more heated.

It's only words and the truth will crush anything that tries to stop it eventually. It starts as a slow rhythm pounding softly at the lies and becomes a heavy metal drum beat shaking and tearing down the lies we heap upon ourselves.

open teh discussions up for real please and let the chips fall where they may. If people get abusive, that is only testimony to their weak debating skills. That stuff can be clearly moderated out.

But the fact that you guys over moderate taboo subjects indicates a strange contrary attitude towards your own slogan of "deny ignorance"

just sayin...

i don't stereotype ..i think everyone is crooked and will inheritable try to kill you if they had a chance to better them self.
and it is the truth...they would make you and your family go starve to death while they think of nothing but themselves as number 1.
all other must part.

so i sum every one in that one generalized perspective to save me a lot of grief.

reply to post by djusdjus


A perfect example of stereotyping itself. ATS is ignorant. No, ATS is not ignorant and you just slapped your own stereotype on it. The majority of people on here are on here for specific purposes including debate, information and thought provoking conversation.

Maybe some people's debating skills do lack, that does not necessarily mean they should be shunned or not allowed to participate. I personally have a tough time formulating my thoughts into words sometimes, but that does not make me ignorant.

I'm not exactly sure what you're doing here if you find this site to be ignorant. I think this site is a life saver and a great communication medium...not to mention it's the best place to learn on a slow work day.

Maybe stereotypes are there for a reason. Maybe they should be left in place, but I absolutely agree with the OP that it really needs to slow down a bit and we should all realize we are individuals with different views.

reply to post by TheAmused

You are so stupid that you have to be the most Ignorant person onthis site.
You must have a sad and depressing life if you have this outlook on life.
Ignorance and steriotyping is a very deadly thing. just see when you leave the country and people hear your accent and then you will know the affects of steriotyping. Because Your country has #ed the world up so much that people think it's down to you. Now is this true? NO but that is steriotyping. If people like you start to really think and not watch Friends al day then maybe we'll all be cool. I Just want to say the American people are cool, i know this.

Originally posted by Magpie82n
I fully agree with you, ignorance is the biggest threat to the world. When will people start to think before they talk and not voice there ignorance on to others.

Lets not condem a world of people to suffer because The American nation is to lazy to understand why we are in this situation in the first place and bye this i mean why does halve the world dislike America, the millions of dead civillians killed by the American Army since the begining of the 20th century, the crippling of nations economies and starving of multi millions of people so the American way of life can continue, for this the American way of life can never be real it is built on lies and that shall be it's downfall

wake up people
It's time to start thinking for your selves This is not a MOVIE, knowledge is power and comon sense is the weapon

Magpie82n,

This technique is called Guilt Stereotyping. It is textbook today of instant gratification values and thinking. This is also called Entitlement thinking and heavily permeates today's body politic.

It is obvious when I read your post that your grasp of history and other nations throughout history is provincial. The French, English, Prussians, Romans, Greeks..etc etc ..in what happened in and about their nations,
What's more...when I read posts like yours and knowing what little I do about history...how provincial and stereotyping is your post.
For I know some of the history of many of these nations. It does not do well..for them to lecture me about history..knowing what I do about their nations...particularly the English and Continentals.

A classic example is the very poor taste of the Ruling political party here when their candidate stated..

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

I knew immediately that this was stereotyping to win over the crowds in this area...San Francisco.
I also knew that this was not leadership...and it continues unto this day.

Though I have been thinking this since back in the days of Jimmy Carter..this only reconfirmed what I have believed for a long time now. The standards and requirements for President of the United States are not that high as we are misled to believe.

This political party relies heavily on stereotyping of anyone who disagrees with them. Particularly Guilt Stereotyping. Once again ..this not leadership but it appears to be the best they have.


Parallex,

One of things I find most sickening and annoying with this site are the rampant uneducated contributions of idiots. Unfortunately, a vast preponderance of said people tend to be American Christians. These people are generally insular, small / narrow minded, and extremely bigoted themselves. (In my experience of them.)

An interesting thing about many of those with the religion of science, logic, and reason..is their intolerance.while expecting and even demanding tolerance from others. Their religion of science tends to deceive them into justifying stereotyping as the moral ethical high ground of everything. It does not.
It only shows many of them to be as bigoted as those to whom they target.

While science. logic, and reason have put us in better clothes, better houses, better gadgets, better medicines...etc etc. I find that it has not made us as a whole better people. What it has made us is better consumers. This is not the same as better people.
For this reason I find science to be a very poor religion. I am also keenly aware that science is often funded by Government..and there is a prime example of the moral ethical high ground. The rest is corporate funding.

I am not against science..here...nor logic and reason. I just find them poor substitutes for religion. Same thing with much of philosophy...or Love of Wisdom. The Wisdom Sciences if you like.

sopadcaracol,

I think you are the ignorant, homosexuals are not child molesters.
do a better research before wasting time with your stupidity.
thank you.

This is called in stereotyping ..drama queen ism. To be a drama queen and live for your emotional gratification. It is not thinking carefully or following logic and reason..nor the topic line through the thread.
Much of the problem today is that this is become a virus and very popular to emote ones way through everything unto instant gratification and instant justification. The other problem is that this is now infected the highest levels of the leadership of today.

I must agree with many of the posters here..you are way off topic in order to justify your emotions. It does not cut it among those who can think outside the box.

However ..to be fair about this ..I am sure many of us have done the same. That is how we learned to spot this fingerprint.

Suggest you hone your skills a bit better and do a better job of disciplining your emotions. They will not serve you on this thread or to Deny Ignorance.

Emotions are fine in the right time and place..Just learn to discipline them.

Thanks,
Orangetom



[edit on 10-11-2009 by orangetom1999]