George Orwell once said that intellectuals parrot slogans who's literal meaning they do not even understand. He parodied their stereotypical beahviour in his book "1984", where his utopian proletariate chanted the mantras of "War is Peace!" "Love is Hate!" and "Freedom is Slavery!"

Human beings think by catagorising concepts. That is a form of stereotyping. When people say "don't stereotype", they are actually saying "don't think".

Groups of people are very easy to stereotype. In order to become "a group", people must display a deeply held ideal of what constitutes acceptable group behaviour. Almost every group of people makes no secret of what those core values are. Similarly, groups usually openly declare what behaviour is expected of their members, especially to those who aspire to become members of the group.

If I was to say to stereotype the Chinese to a trendy lefty, and say that Chinese are intelligent and hardworking, even Marilyn Shephard would not take issue with that. If I was to say that Italians have a flair for design or Greeks a talent for pleasant music, Marilyn would praise my perspacicity.

But if I was to stereotype aboriginees as lazy and not real bright, or negro men as being very prone to extreme violence, Marilyn and Co. would go beserk.

So what the trendies are saying, is that positive stereotypes are OK, but negative stereotypes are absolutely unacceptable. Such an obvious contradiction means that what they really want, is for some groups of people to be immune from any criticism at all.

That is unacceptable to me, and it should be unacceptable to any person who claims to possess an inquiring mind with a functioning critical analysis circuit.

I agree, Logic, stereotyping is prejudgmental and can influence people’s behaviour on both sides in negative ways.
People who stereotype will behave mostly in a negative or even aggressive way towards the group they stereotype, while people being stereotyped go in defence or in attack or simply feel rotten and lose their self-confidence. They need self confidence to fit in- they need to go out to get jobs, for example. The funny cartoons will seem much less funny if people realise how much they can contribute to harming this group of people and to harming the whole country.

Redneck, although I agree with you that humans naturally catagorise concepts- and I think we all automatically stereotype- I don’t agree that asking people not to stereotype is the same as asking them not to think. I think it is asking them to think more.

People, throughout history, had the need to stereotype for survival. But we have the choice, as more evolved humans, to either stop at the stereotyping level or to think beyond that level.
Stereotyping is, in my eyes, a very simplified and primitive way of thinking.
Cartoonists are using simplified thinking, the easiest form or thinking, to draw stereotyped cartoons. They have good drawing skills, but their thinking damages others.

About free expression, yes, I value freedom of expression when it is your own thinking you are expressing.
When cartoonists are stereotyping as their form of expression, it is not their own free thinking that they are expressing because stereotype thinking is usually culturally based and not personally based.
Stereotypers do not think for themselves- they adopt and express the thinking of a big group, of a culture, religion, or another ‘safe’ or popular group.
Therefore, they won't do any damage to their freedom of expression if they would refrain from drawing stereotyped cartoons.

Continued

By drawing stereotyping cartoons we are ‘showing off’ that we are using stereotyped thinking, we are not thinking realistically, we are simple thinkers, we are not using our brain’s ability to the fullest potential.
Most importantly, we are using our thinking skills to put people down, to harm them and to alienate them.

I think it is fine to criticise and question people’s religions, people’s ideas, people’s values. If nobody criticised anything or anyone nothing would ever change and nothing would be discussable.
People are always in search of the truth, and asking critical questions is a way to come closer to the truth and reality.
But to criticise by stereotyping is an unfair, negative and primitive way of criticism and it is not even realistic.

Use criticism that is based on real, thought-through opinions and personal ideas, not based on stereotyping.

Celivia “People who stereotype will behave mostly in a negative or even aggressive way towards the group they stereotype,”

I would reckon that is merely a “stereotype” of those people who stereotype and as such is as inaccurate and negative as the dogma of the kkk (who stereotype and attack anyone with an IQ over 70 – oh dear, there I go stereotyping kkk members).

The only way of “valuing” people is to treat them as individuals and respect their right to be wrong, to disagree with what we think is “right” and to live their life in peaceful co-existence – now all we need to do is bomb Hezbollah into extinction before they do it to us.

Your right on the money redneck (well with a name like that you would have to be).

Now – what is the difference between stereotyping and racial profiling ? – nothing at all, except racial profiling (when used to identify those most likely to steal from or bomb others) has an end benefit

Col Rouge, I said “mostly”- meaning: mainly; usually (not always)- otherwise that would be stereotyping, indeed.
Anyway, we are all guilty of stereotyping as I said in my last post- all we can do is try to be aware of it and then decide if we want to think some more about it.

I am mainly worried about the cheap laughs people are getting at the expense of this minority group and minority groups in general. Kicking them when they’re down is a really negative way of trying to deal with a problem or serious issue.

The more people who find it these kind of cartoons funny, the more demand there will be for those cartoons and the more jobs for cartoonists who make a living out of ridiculing others.

The more arrogant we are, the more we laugh and the more inequality this minority group will have to face.

Please don’t hold it against these people if many cannot get a job because they’re being discriminated against. Who’s fault is that?

And have you thought about the effect these cartoons can have, directly or indirectly, on the children belonging to this minority group?

All people living in Australia should be treated equally- we have at least two things in common: we live here and we are people.
Why would YOU deserve better threatment than they do?

An interesting thing about stereotyping is that used against a secure group it does no harm. For example the Irish jokes.

Also some groups actually stereotype themselves. For example British and Jewish humour. But this is only accepted if the jokes come from the group's own members.

But used against a group on the outer it can be highly damaging. That is why we can permit stereotypes against some groups and not others.