When thinking about perceptions it occurred to me how many different ideas and types of people I know very little about however have strong opinions on. It is almost disturbing that we make so many conclusions without satisfactory information. Some of the theories that explain this explain that in ways it’s a self-serving necessity in social interactions, not intentional prejudices. However I don’t believe that lets us off the hook from continuously educating ourselves in order to form accurate perceptions of others. For a long time all I heard about Muslims was how violent and lacking in empathy they were so it had become impossible for me to see Muslims as anything else but bad guys. That misunderstanding was my single story of those that
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I learned for example that not all Muslims wear hijabs, I have met powerful Muslim female leaders and most importantly I have learned that no matter what I was influenced in believing not all terrorists or bad people are Muslim. In fact the majority are not. It is very unfortunate that minority influence existed and caused small groups of horrible people to persuade nations of people to place their fear and hatred in the wrong place (233). When learning about social interactions we learn aspects of our ethnocentric country is a social categorization (394). By creating an us vs. them mantra we only extenuate the stereotypes in place and put up walls that make it harder for us to understand people and ideas on an individual level. In many ways this is to protect us. It is easier for us to believe that types of people behave similarly in groups, that it is black and white. That by avoiding or hating one group we can protect ourselves while putting our self on the line for another will bring us to happiness. Whether on race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or societal groups (exp jocks vs nerds) it is how we think, because thinking on a grey scale is terrifying. So I can now say “All I had heard about Muslims was how they were lacking in empathy and the bad guys of the world however I have found out that my generalizations were false and by self-education on an individual level I have been able to change how I view Muslims and many other groups of people.” The world is not black and white and although many conform to ideals and behaviors it is unfair and horrible to make judgments based on stereotypes because we are all
I learned for example that not all Muslims wear hijabs, I have met powerful Muslim female leaders and most importantly I have learned that no matter what I was influenced in believing not all terrorists or bad people are Muslim. In fact the majority are not. It is very unfortunate that minority influence existed and caused small groups of horrible people to persuade nations of people to place their fear and hatred in the wrong place (233). When learning about social interactions we learn aspects of our ethnocentric country is a social categorization (394). By creating an us vs. them mantra we only extenuate the stereotypes in place and put up walls that make it harder for us to understand people and ideas on an individual level. In many ways this is to protect us. It is easier for us to believe that types of people behave similarly in groups, that it is black and white. That by avoiding or hating one group we can protect ourselves while putting our self on the line for another will bring us to happiness. Whether on race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or societal groups (exp jocks vs nerds) it is how we think, because thinking on a grey scale is terrifying. So I can now say “All I had heard about Muslims was how they were lacking in empathy and the bad guys of the world however I have found out that my generalizations were false and by self-education on an individual level I have been able to change how I view Muslims and many other groups of people.” The world is not black and white and although many conform to ideals and behaviors it is unfair and horrible to make judgments based on stereotypes because we are all