The human mind has the capacity to both elucidate the truth while also simultaneously distorting it. It is truly sickening to hear about what is going on in the world today – Brock Turner and the Stanford rape case and the shooting in Orlando, just to name a few. But, in the midst of all the horrific and disappointing acts of violence that have been committed recently, it is important to remember to never overgeneralize the perpetrators or the victims of these crimes. Generalization is the process of extending the characteristics of a number of elements from a group or class to the entire group, and I find that just as these crimes are committed, so are acts of overgeneralization.
It is common for us to think and overgeneralize groups of people based on their race, religious beliefs, and so on. It is immediately where our minds wander, and it also gives us a sense of satisfaction and relief once we feel like we have “conquered” the stereotype. But no one really knows how detrimental this can be, for themselves or the ones being overgeneralized. For example, everyone was so quick to say that the shooter at Pulse in Orlando was a terrorist because he remotely resembled a Muslim man instead of actually focusing on the crime that he committed, specifically against the LGBTQ community. Yes, he may look like a “Muslim” (whatever that means), but automatically assuming that he has ties to ISIS and terrorist ideals solely because of his “Muslim” characteristics is wrong on so many different levels. However, it did come out that the shooter had ties to ISIS, but my point is that everyone assumed he was a terrorist because of the way he looked prior to knowing the facts. By no means does this justify what the shooter did to 50 helpless victims and their families, but rather, it is important to separate our initial and innate thoughts of the perpetrator of any crime. Because who is that helping anyway?
Let’s get something straight: not all white men are rapists, not all Muslims are terrorists, not all policemen are racist, and not all Hispanics are illegal immigrants. It is important to remember this when dealing with the current events that have come to our attention recently. Our automatic thoughts and inherent beliefs tend to become muffled and categorized when discussing different groups of people, and oftentimes we don’t even realize it. Generalization is a stage in our early learning development, but when we continue to overgeneralize groups of people based on their race and beliefs as adults, that’s when we have a problem.
These overgeneralizations of people, places, and objects more often than not lead to stereotypes. Assuming a person has certain characteristics based on their race, religious beliefs, or unfounded assumptions is blatantly prejudice and discriminatory. We look at people and immediately want to base them on what we think we already know about them because of their outward appearances. While it is convenient for our minds to jump to generalizations, stereotyping creates a concrete barrier between different groups of people and halts all-inclusive thinking.
So please, stop overgeneralizing different groups of people because it makes it you feel better, and instead think about the groups you are subjecting your blatant prejudice and discriminatory ideals onto.
