 Stereotypes [05-06-02]This is the first rant I'm going to post on this site.. And it comes from the small minority of people who have signed my guestbook / e-mailed me / IMed me to tell me how wrong I am for stereotyping people. So if you're one of these people, or if you were thinking about being one of these people, you might want to read this.When you took the High School Stereotype quiz, you should realize the title, first of all. "High School Stereotype." For those of you with poor English skills, I'll define this word. Function: noun Etymology: French stéréotype, from stéré- stere- + type Date: 1817 1 : a plate cast from a printing surface 2 : something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially : a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment. When you take my "Stereotype" quizzes, do you just forget what that word means? And even after I marked that I was extremely cynical and sometimes rude on the quiz page itself to prevent confusion, did you somehow decide I had a PhD in analyzing people, that I wanted to benevolently share with you through some quiz I made up because you might need help? I'm a regular twenty-one-year-old minimum-wage schmuck. I work a nine to five job that gets me just enough to pay the bills and survive. I haven't gone to college yet. I don't have any qualifications to tell you who you are, or give you some strange insight about yourself; but I think I do a pretty damn good job when I want to be serious. The point is, the "Stereotype" quizzes were made for entertainment purposes. In the High School Stereotype quiz, these were the "Stereotypes" that have been given to every clique and minority, regardless of whether they are true or not. None of the stereotypes are true to any specific person, but they are what we suffer by being called those names. When the Columbine incident happened, every Goth in the world got blamed and stereotyped because of it. I know. I was called a Goth in high school. I wore my trench coat to school every day; and the week after it happened I got suspended for wearing it. Why? Because it was stereotyped. It was wrong, according to them. Suddenly I'm evil, because what they labeled me is "evil." So I know how it feels to be labeled something, and thought of as being a certain way, when you're not. You're not telling me anything I don't know. The quiz is for humor only. Honestly, I don't care about stereotypes. It's not necessarily how I think about people. It's not necessarily what you are. It is my own personal amusement, and I made it for the amusement of people who took it. I didn't make it to label people. I didn't make it to tell you what you were. I made it to give you a laugh and hopefully brighten your day. For anyone who didn't or wasn't about to tell me to fuck off because I was stereotyping people, I appreciate your comments. At least I know most people understood what I was trying to accomplish with this silly quiz. In fact, you're probably the only people who made it to the bottom of this rant. Anyone who didn't pay enough attention to read the disclaimer at the top of the quiz page probably wouldn't bother with a full-length essay. :) + Back to Menu |