Try to imagine a scenario in which you would be asked to describe something without using any identifying labels. As humans, we rely on language in order to make sense of the various things in our lives. Whether it is trying to describe the natural scenery around you or the woman you interacted with in the library earlier in the day. It probably would not be easy to leave out most labels and still get your point across. We need to include some adjectives to effectively describe the things around us, especially when speaking of people, but these words can often be more powerful than we suspect them to be. In other words, lasting impact can be made without the realization of it.
We use descriptions to group humans into a collective which takes …show more content…
When I was in grade school I was playing tetherball with a few classmates at recess one day. During this instance a fellow student claimed I had been cheating. In my attempts to debunk the allegation things escalated. In turn, my classmate labeled me “white trash.” It was the first time I had been referred to as that and I was taken aback. The association of words left me wondering, was I really garbage? My family surely did not sit around chewing tobacco and drinking beer in the trailer park all day. From what I knew of the social expectations of “white trash,” I matched none of them. I did not have a mullet. That was for certain. After this incident the words white trash resonated with me. I strived to do anything possible to avoid being seen as that label. The idea that those characteristics were undesirable came to me only after the day that I was called “white trash” with the intent to …show more content…
It is astonishing to me that people believe that the pigment of one’s hair could be a determinant of intelligence. However unsupported it may be, some stereotypes of a blonde are ditsy, oblivious, and unintelligent. An example showing the traits that accompany the label is in the movie White Chicks. The film is about two male African-American FBI agents who must portray themselves as two blonde Caucasian females in an undercover job. In attempt to accurately depict the women they are impersonating the two men not only wear body suits and blonde wigs, but dress provocatively, speak in high-pitched voices, and act naïve and
We use descriptions to group humans into a collective which takes …show more content…
When I was in grade school I was playing tetherball with a few classmates at recess one day. During this instance a fellow student claimed I had been cheating. In my attempts to debunk the allegation things escalated. In turn, my classmate labeled me “white trash.” It was the first time I had been referred to as that and I was taken aback. The association of words left me wondering, was I really garbage? My family surely did not sit around chewing tobacco and drinking beer in the trailer park all day. From what I knew of the social expectations of “white trash,” I matched none of them. I did not have a mullet. That was for certain. After this incident the words white trash resonated with me. I strived to do anything possible to avoid being seen as that label. The idea that those characteristics were undesirable came to me only after the day that I was called “white trash” with the intent to …show more content…
It is astonishing to me that people believe that the pigment of one’s hair could be a determinant of intelligence. However unsupported it may be, some stereotypes of a blonde are ditsy, oblivious, and unintelligent. An example showing the traits that accompany the label is in the movie White Chicks. The film is about two male African-American FBI agents who must portray themselves as two blonde Caucasian females in an undercover job. In attempt to accurately depict the women they are impersonating the two men not only wear body suits and blonde wigs, but dress provocatively, speak in high-pitched voices, and act naïve and