If you are on social media or even watching the news at all, you are most likely seeing some extreme stereotyping going on. A stereotype is a belief about a certain group of people and can be either positive or negative. Sometimes just using a word to describe a group of people can be construed as stereotyping.
Millennial, Conservative, Democrat, Christian, Republican, Atheist, African American, Liberal…did any of those “labels” alone bring up a positive or negative emotion for you? Have you ever been grouped into one of these categories and someone assumed your beliefs must be the same as everyone else in that group?
The fact is that some of these labels are being used extensively in this post election time we’re in. However, I can promise you that everyone that identifies with one of these groups is not identical to the other people in that group. We are ALL unique in our beliefs and values.
Not every millennial is expecting handouts. Not every person who voted for Trump is a racist. Not every Democrat is liberal (or vice versa). Not every Christian is a hypocrite.
Unfortunately, I think the reason this is hitting a bigger nerve with me is that I haven’t felt like I was lumped into a particular stereotype until recently. Except maybe when I was a “working mom.” Stereotyping has always irritated me and at times made me incredibly angry! Because it goes against my core value of Respect. Stereotyping has been going on for years and years and to many extremes (growing to prejudice, discrimination and flat out racism).
How do we fix it? In my opinion, I can fix myself by refraining from stereotyping both publicly and in my own thoughts when confronted with it. I can attempt to raise my kids with similar core values so that they too do not make assumptions about people around them labeled in a certain group. I can try my hardest to not judge those around me when they openly stereotype others. And I can pray that God will open the eyes of everyone who struggles in this area. Because imagine the level of peace we could see if the finger pointing stopped and we all realized that EVERY person is different, has feelings, has beliefs that may differ from our own, and that’s ok!!
