Aspects of Common Stereotypes and Reinforcing Rhetoric

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We live in a world of stereotypes, which are masked in allegory and reinforced by rhetoric. From the ‘continuous lies spewed from silver-tongued politicians’ to the ‘bingo obsessed, highway-hazardous senior citizen,” stereotypes are manifested and reinforced by people of all walks of life, every single day. By analyzing the different aspects of stereotyping of common groups within societies, the negative impact this behavior yields becomes apparent, as relative to one’s perception.

Stereotyping, or the “thought or image about a group of people based on little or no evidence,” is, in all fairness, convenient and efficient (Moore & Parker, 2007, pp. 122-123). By lumping millions of people together in one group and associating them with certain labels, the brain has to work neither as hard nor as long as it would by trying to remember individual characteristics for each person. Stereotyping is also appealing and contagious. When a loved one or close friend engages in this behavior, it can become difficult to identify or refute the generalization, especially since there are typically mutual underlying interests and predispositions in place. Even more compelling is the insatiable media figure who exploits their ability to captivate others through their rhetoric-- or is that a stereotype in itself?

Politicians are generally labeled as “self-serving and corrupt,” constantly spewing euphemisms of their actions and dysphemisms of their opponents (Purple, 2010). Democrats, from the eyes of a Republican, are generally thought of as being radical, liberal, bleeding hearts who feel the government should control everything; from a liberal perspective, Republicans are considered religious, gun-toting, intolerant extremists who love big ...

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...g senior citizens on the roads, there are many more who shatter the mold. In essence, no group that is lumped together by a label is going to invoke the same image to every person within a society, regardless of what reinforcing rhetoric is used, because individual perception is always relative.

Works Cited

Kang, M., & Jones, K. (2007, February). Why do people get tattoos?. Contexts, 6(1), Retrieved from http://ctx.sagepub.com/content/6/1/42 doi: 10.1525/ctx.2007.6.1.42

Moore, B. N., Parker, R. (2007). Critical Thinking (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Purple, Matt. (2010, June 21). Crude stereotypes. The American Spectator, Retrieved from http://spectator.org/archives/2010/06/21/crude-stereotypes

Sanbonmatsu, Kira. (2002). Gender stereotypes and vote choice. American Journal of Political Science, 46(1), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3088412

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