Malcolm Gladwell, Everyone Guilty of Stereotyping!
From the befroed Blink author's all-too-frequently updated blog:
I was in Texas and Oklahoma last week. In the course of the trip, I was in a number of situations where I had to make conversation with people I didn't know. Looking back on those conversations, I realize that when I was talking to white, male businessmen and needed to come up something to say, I generally chose the subject of college football.
For lack of a better word, let's call this "conversational discrimination." I don't assume that every stranger I meet wants to talk about college football. But I drew an inference about my conversational partner, based on his membership in the "white-male-businessmen of Texas and Oklahoma group" and used that inference to direct my behavior.
We were all set to be like, whoa, look who's a total racist! (Internal: can we work on that 'look who's a total racist' graphic, please?) But then we had a pang of conscience.
It turns out that we, too, are guilty of the exact same kind of stereotyping that Gladwell's describing. In fact, we even found this email that we sent to a friend recently — it's eerily similar to Gladwell's blog post, except for the part where he goes on for a dozen more paragraphs about studies and facts and things. Anyway, check it out:
Subject: bad stereotypes?
Hey, what's up. I was at a blogger birthday party last week. In the course of the evening, I was in a number of situations where I had to make conversation with people I didn't know. Looking back on those conversations, I realize that when I was talking to white, male media people and needed to come up something to say, I generally chose the subject of Britney Spears' vagina.
For lack of a better word, let's call this "conversational descrimination." I don't assume that every stranger I meet wants to talk about Brit-Brit's dangly labia. But I drew an inference about my conversational partner, based on his membership in the "white-male blogger of New York City group" and used that inference to direct my behavior. Also, those people just like to say the word vagina aloud, because it makes them seem funnier than they really are, and also it makes them seem as if they're comfortable around women.
Just thought you should know that.
Bad Stereotyping [Gladwell.com]
Earlier: Malcom Gladwell: You Might Be a Racist If . . .