Its Stereotypical

"A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type or person or thing." I think whoever sat at their computer all day in Google headquarters was trying to be intelligent about this word, especially since he used "or thing" at the end - almost as if he wanted to not sound horrible. But it is true. A stereotype is a known notion of a person. There's no going around it. People immediately see a person and think, "Huh, they must be a ______." If an image can hold a thousand words, how much can a three-dimensional person be described in? Apparently, just one word.

Stereotype actually is a Greek word. Stereos, meaning firm and solid, and typos, meaning impression. So it actually means solid impression. How can one person have a solid opinion based on how someone looks or acts? Of course critics may argue that after you see someone, you can understand their basic motions and classify them as a white chick, a bumpkin, a nerd, etc. But in those first few seconds of knowing, you can form a firm opinion of them? I call that jumping to conclusions. 

The need to jump to conclusions stems from the individualism we futilely seek. We see a need to express ourselves as different. Stereotype, at first, was used to describe a copy of an original typeset. So, if this word was used to describe people, does society copy itself? Well, we are all humans, copying is in our nature. We use mimicry to distinguish ourselves from the next person. We mimic the people around us, drawing in on their subtle ways and outer appearance. Just take for example, the models we so strive to be. We wear their clothes in hopes of becoming like them. However, our outer appearance is based on making ourselves individual. Body image does so much to enhance our sense of individualism - so that we don't feel classified. The clothes we wear, the makeup we put on, the words that come out of our mouths. It all gives to our individuality. These tools were created so that we could each see each other as individuals - a puzzle that needed solving. Yet, these tools are contradicted wholly by the word stereotypical. Typically, we crave independence from such norms. We crave to be something that can not be defined by society. We crave to be a singular entity. We crave to be different from each other. How can we crave something that is just an illusion? To be an individual is an illusion. Society groups us into categories; we can't escape. Even if you change your colors, society will throw you into another holding cell - the one you mimicked. 

I can say with first handedness that I have seen this mimicry in action. As a child I never really paid attention to the time at the airports before trips. The security line seems like a really objective place right? Random searches done every few people or so. I never really paid attention when my dad or mom would get called out of the security line for a random search. But they grew more and more frequent with my dad. My dad is what you would say is a causal dresser. Early 2000s, he wore the worn out jeans with holes and T-shirt proudly. His typical Indian sandals were time savers in the security lines. His messy long hair and glasses with black eyes staring out defiantly were his characteristics. Little did I know that he was being taken as a possible threat. My dad, who they barely said two sentences to, was a threat. He didn't even have the most stereotypical justification to the searches - visits to the Middle East. They just, based on sight alone, profiled him. I think that's the nicest word for stereotyping: profiling.

Profiling may be a euphemism for stereotyping but it still hurts. Stereotyping makes it so that we "feel like an accomplice in tyranny" (Staples). We are divided into the many groups a kingdom has: wench, country lad, merchant, etc, but "we'll never be royals" (Lorde/Little), no matter how much we try to mimic them. This innate need to show ourselves as different has led us to the word stereotypical. We are just copies of someone else, someone we strive to be.

"Can you not tell me that within the first few moments of knowing each person in this room, you had not formed firm judgments of their character, which up to this very moment, you have not questioned?" 

~Nobley, Austenland, Shannon Hale