On 7/17/2012 9:47 PM, David-Sarah Hopwood wrote:
[Despite my better judgement I'm going to respond to this even though it is
seriously off-topic.]
in all likelihood, the topic will probably end pretty soon anyways.
don't really know how much more can really be said on this particular
subject anyways.
but, yeah, probably this topic has gone on long enough.
On 17/07/12 17:18, BGB wrote:
an issue though is that society will not tend to see a person as they are as a
person, but
will rather tend to see a person in terms of a particular set of stereotypes.
"Society" doesn't "see people as" anything. We do live in/with a culture where
stereotyping is commonplace, but the metonymy of letting the society stand for
the
people in it is inappropriate here, because it is individual people who
*choose* to
see other people in terms of stereotypes, or choose not to do so.
You're also way too pessimistic about the extent to which most reasonably
well-educated
people in practice permit cultural stereotypes to override independent thought.
Most
people are perfectly capable of recognizing stereotypes -- even if they
sometimes need a
little prompting -- and understanding what is wrong with them.
a big factor here is how well one person knows another.
stereotypes and generalizations are a much larger part of the
interaction process when dealing with people who are either strangers or
casual acquaintances.
if the person is known by much more than a name and a face and a few
other bits of general information, yes, then maybe they will take a
little more time to be a little more understanding.
I speak from experience: it is entirely possible to live your life in a way
that is
quite opposed to many of those cultural stereotypes that you've expressed
concerning
sexuality, gender expression, employment, reproductive choices, etc., and still
be
accepted as a matter of course by the vast majority of people. As for the
people who don't
accept that, *it's they're fault* that they don't get it. No excuses of the form
"society made me think that way".
I think it depends some on the cultural specifics as well, since how
well something may go over may depend a lot on where a person is, and
who they are interacting with.
if a person is located somewhere where these things are fairly common
and generally considered acceptable (for example: California), it may go
over a lot easier with people than somewhere where it is less commonly
accepted (for example: Arkansas or Alabama or similar).
likewise, it may go over a bit easier with people who are generally more
accepting of these forms of lifestyle (such as more non-religious /
secular type people), than it will with people who are generally less
accepting of these behaviors (say, people with a more conservative leaning).
(I would prefer not go too much more into this, since yeah, here
generally isn't really the place for all this.).
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