It's something I really try hard to avoid but, hey, I'm only human. I still try to appraise an individual's character when I'm face to face with them in the most unbiased way I can...
V665
Do YOU Stereotype People?
by minimus 81 Replies latest jw friends
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brotherdan
Oh! And you too, Vamp. You are a GREAT friend. No disrespect to you! I know you don't believe in a "real" God either. But you know I love you.
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Mickey mouse
Only little red dots.
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VampireDCLXV
I know you don't believe in a "real" God either.
I never said that. I'm just struggling with my beliefs right now. I will defend anyone's right to believe in the supernatural and I often do here. I will not bow to the tin god of atheism for sure. I prefer a more neutral position...
V665
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sabastious
I stereotype :(
But I am going to Stereotypers Anonymous to get worked through it.
-Sab
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sabastious
I REALLY try not to. I don't think I do it on race. But sometimes I do it in atheism vs non-atheism. I think of atheists/agnostics as angry bitter people. People like Leavingwt,notverylikely,and sabasteous (sorry if I spelled it wrong, dude), have shown me how WRONG I have been. They are truly great guys and people that I am honored to be friends with.
Have you ever seen the show 30 days? They take someone and put them in a situation out of their element for 30 days. It's pretty enlightening. It really takes on the stereotypes and turns them on end.
P.S. I am a Deist not an Atheist or Agnostic
-Sab
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VampireDCLXV
P.S. I am a Deist not an Atheist or Agnostic
REALLY? Interesting. I find that a little hard to believe about you as yet but I'm not going to dismiss your statement out of hand. It is what I'm leaning toward myself...
V665
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sabastious
REALLY? Interesting. I find that a little hard to believe about you as yet but I'm not going to dismiss your statement out of hand. It is what I'm leaning toward myself...
PM me if you want to talk about it more, I don't want to hijack the thread :)
-Sab
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AGuest
I absolutely do stereotype people (may you all have peace!)... because, although individuals, people really do fall into various categories and types. I think the problem is when you negatively use such stereotypes. For instance, to harm, judge, oppress, abuse, falsely accuse, negatively exclude/include... or raise oneself up above.
But I have absolutely NO problem agreeing with, for example, Chris Rock, who said:
"I LOVE black people, but I HATE..."
Well, if you saw his performance, you know how he finished the sentence. And I can the same thing about practically every "group" on the planet. I LOVE white people, but I HATE.... I LOVE poor people, but I HATE... I love "christians" but I HATE...
You get my drift.
Ennywho, peace again!
A slave of Christ,
SA, keepin' it real... 'cause I also stereotype dogs... and cars... and countries... and music... and neighborhoods... and retail chains... and banks... and pretty anything that can BE stereotyped...
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Nickolas
I will not bow to the tin god of atheism for sure. I prefer a more neutral position...
I subscribed to a neutral perspective, V, for a long, long time, except I labelled it "agnostic". The tin god reference undoubtedly applies to atheists who just stubbornly refuse to believe the possibility of a god solely on the basis of indoctrination, what they have been told to believe. I might visualise the Red Army hoards sweeping into eastern Europe at the close of the second world war as stereotypical examples - ignorant, unwashed and brutal men that they were. But I do not believe the tin god reference applies generally. I think what differentiates someone who has become atheist over a protracted period of reflection from one who just wakes up one morning and decides he doesn't believe in a god anymore is the former has arrived where he is over a sometimes arduous path. In my own case it was a struggle not to become atheist, keeping mind and door open just a crack by trying hard just to accept and believe that there is more to this life than what the evidence indicates. But with the passage of decades and piling on of more and more evidence (the body of which is beginning to expand exponentially) it has become exceedingly difficult to keep the door from closing entirely. But atheism and absolutism need not be mutually complimentary. While I do not believe in the existence of a supreme being I would change my mind in an instant once exposed to conclusive proof that one exists - I use the example of seeing my parents alive again as sufficiently convincing - but it is apparent to me the same may not be true of one who does believe. My experience has been if you ask one who is devoted to a belief in the God of the Bible (or the Qu'ran or the Torah) what it would take for him to change his mind he would be unable to answer you. But I may be stereotyping people, after all.