Turn The Stereotyping Off!

There is so much in the current news about stereotyping and the damage it creates to those who practice the art of stereotyping. I call it an "Art" because it's not politically correct to stereotype, so instead we justify it by saying "it's just my opinion". As in the stories below, you can see these comments are by people in the middle who get paid to give their "opinions".

      Keep in mind, these people are in the mass media circut who have the power to influence many at the same time. Last week on the show "The View" the hosts had Bill O'Reilly on as a guest. They were all talking about the mosque being built at Ground Zero in New York City. Some of the hosts felt it's matter of a "right" to build it there and the other hosts felt like it was inappropriate to have it built it there. Bill O'Reilly came on the show as a guest to voice his opinion on the matter and his "stereotypical" comment about the Muslims caused two of the hosts to walk of the show in the middle of a live taping. You can see the video here:  The View with Bill O'Reilly  . Bill O'Reilly goes on to say it was "The Muslims" who killed us on 9/11" So in other words he stereotyped all Muslims as terrorists. I'm sure if you ask him, his comment will be "it's just my opinion" like he says in the video. You can see the discussion on what Bill O'Reilly  said here: Joy Baher Show Addresses Bill O'Reilly

      Speaking of Muslims, there is a story in the NPR news today about terminating the contract of a longtime news analyst Juan Williams. They terminated his contract based on his remarks he made about Muslims on the Fox News Channel with Bill O'Reilly. This is what he said on the O'Reilly Factor to Bill O'Reilly.

                       "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this

                        country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you

                        know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

                       (Folkenflik, 2010).

     My question is, whatever happened to fair reporting as journalists?

     Now, we have even more news about stereotyping in this country.  How about the military's plan on what they plan on doing to allow Gay's in the military? How stereotypical can you get? As a member of the Air Force, let me tell you; I know a lot of gay people in the military and not once has their sexual preference hindered their ability to perform their duties in the military. Many of the "gay people" in the military were better workers than the "Straight " members. "Pentagon officials told NBC News on Thursday the military will immediately resume enforcement of the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" rule. The policy says gay's may serve but only if they keep secret their sexual orientation"(NBC, 2010) . Personally, I find it ironic that the same freedom our military members fight for is the same freedom being taken away from them.

     Basically, we can see just by these three examples alone how detrimental this is to someone. It can end jobs at it did with the NPR correspondent, it can create frustrations as it did in the show "The View" and it can also alienate people like the story about the "gay's" in the military. Sad to think we live a world where people have nothing better to do then to pass judgment on others. In some cases, it takes an act of congress literally to prove you're just as valuable as some one who is different than you.



Until Next Time,
Much Love,
Nikki
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