Stereotypical Fun: How Insensitive Are You?

I’m going to play Captain Obvious for a second:  We live in a society that likes to get mad.  So many people are looking for something, or just anything, to complain about.  I’m guilty and a bit of a hypocrite, too, because I like to complain about nitpicky people who like to complain.  I get peeved by people who are perpetually peeved.  The thing that I find most interesting about our society is the emphasis on labels and the games that we all play to tiptoe around these labels, pretending like we don’t even know that they exist.  Everyone wants to be different and unique, but they only want to be different and unique when it’s beneficial.  No one should ever point out a difference unless it’s congratulatory, so it seems.

I’m going to throw out two scenarios, and then I’ll elaborate. 

Scenario A:

I wake up in the morning, and I brush my teeth.  All the while, I look in the mirror and think, “I’m so white and blonde, and I don’t look edgy whatsoever.  I’m definitely a conservative, and I’m probably stupid because of my hair color”.  I then get dressed, and I go about my daily tasks.  I drive to work, but not without thinking, “That person in front of me can’t drive.  They must be Asian…or female, but if they’re Asian, at least they’re good at math”.  I get to work, and I ride the elevator with a group of people.  One is black, two are white, and one of the white people are gay.  I look to the white heterosexual with a sense of comraderie, and I think, “This black woman is looking at me.  She’s probably thinking  that I’m a Republican and that she is a better dancer and can outrun me in a marathon.  The gay guy is definitely a liberal with a lisp, but he certainly has a good fashion sense. He looks fabulous”.  I then go about my day while trying to pick up on whether or not people on the phone are using the proper “be” verbs because if they don’t, I’ll assume that they were raised on the bad side of town.  A friend of mine e-mails me to go to lunch.  She’s hispanic, so I suggest that we go to La Hacienda or Taco Bell, but then she tells me that our African-American friend is coming, too, so then I’m completely stumped:  burritos or fried chicken?

(Have I sufficiently offended everyone with these stereotypes that are obviously too silly to be offensive?)

Scenario B:

I wake up and get dressed within 15 minutes.  All the while, I think, “I’m tired.  I don’t feel like being awake.  Is that  a zit?”.  I get in my car to go to work, and I’m still thinking, “I’m tired”.  People are driving slow, so I say, “Come on, people!  DRIVE!”.  I get to work, and I ride the elevator.  I say, “Good morning” to the fellow passengers.  My brain falls back to sleep.  I get to my desired destination, and I say “Y’all have a nice day,” never noticing who I rode the elevator with, what they were wearing, or what they even looked like.  I go through the motions of my day.  Then, my friend calls me to go to lunch.  We go to a pizza place…because we always go to a pizza place.  Mind you, my friend isn’t Italian.

Which scenario is accurate? 

Scenario B is 100% accurate for me, but I’m sure that some people will probably assume that it’s A.  The person who chooses A is probably someone who likes to call other people out for hatred because, although they recognize and dwell on the differences between themselves and others, everyone else should pretend that the labels and stereotypes don’t exist. People don’t really think like ”Scenario A”.  People who believe that other people think like “Scenario A” may happen to label themselves as a “Democrat,” so they’re exempt from any wrong-doing because they’re poltically correct and completely unbiased.

Why did I just bring up politics?  Why did I just use the word “Democrat”? OMG, why did she just say “Democrat”?! Keep reading. It’s not so serious.

So, I was searching for Walk Hard:  The Dewey Cox Story to post clips to my Facebook page. That stuff is hilarious.  It doesn’t get any better than the ”Let me hold you, little man” song.  (On a side note, the song is about midgets, and midgets are short, but pretend that you don’t notice.) I somehow came across this sweet compilation video of Disturbingly Racist Cartoons.  I watched the video and realized that I had watched every single one of these cartoons as a kid, and any racist actions or remarks were completely over my head back then.   Watching them now, I can see that some things might be taken as being racist…because everything today is taken as being racist.  People are so quick to get offended.

  The other day, I actually came across someone saying that someone else LOOKED like they used the “N” word a lot.  Of course, the person saying this said the actual “N” word, which has never escaped these lips, so I won’t let it escape my fingers either.  I’ve heard it all.  Basically,  if any comment or action is short on complimentary pizazz to anyone, it’s automatically offensive.

So, back to the video, one guy writes something along the lines of, “I’m a DEMOCRAT, and I don’t even find that these cartoons are racist”.  I had to laugh because it’s HILARIOUSLY funny.  I’m guessing that being a Democrat makes him entitled to declare what is and what isn’t racist–the almighty and all-knowing virtuous democrat to properly label all things while, coincidentally, ignoring all labels.

Mind you, this blog isn’t political.  I hate politics.  While I registered as a Republican when I was 18, I can only say that I’m myself with my own opinions that I’ve gained throughout the last few years.  I don’t know all about who stands for what, and I’m not too interested in having a political debate.  I can only say that, according to the mainstream media, it seems like being a Republican is wrong, but I digress.

The scary thing about it all is that people take themselves way too seriously!  There comes a time when you just have to laugh instead of get pissed off.  Not everyone in the world is out to get someone, and generally, people are too busy thinking about their own lives to worry about everyone else’s.  So, your age, race, sexual orientation, religion, and political bias aren’t as important to everyone as you think they are.

My freshman year of college existence revolved around a group of my friends teasing me for fitting the description of Hitler’s perfect German.  They called me an “Uberman,” and I received Nazi and Jew jokes left and right. I laughed because it was in good fun. No one was hurting anyone.  Blatant hate is disgusting, but harmless stereotyping for the sake of humor is just that:  harmless stereotyping for the sake of humor. 

The most racist thing someone can do is wrongfully accuse someone else of racism.

End.