Are you trying to tell me that they can do good?
I wouldn't go that far, but you know, they're kind of fun.
Fun!
Shhhh, you're getting loud, and that's one of the traits in people that you dislike most. Don't you think there is some truth in stereotypes, though?
We agreed that, just like class systems, they have a built-in mechanism to sustain itself.
That is true with respect to habits, attitudes and professions. But what about big nose, thick lips, and such?
You're terrible. You make fun of physical features that you think are common among a certain ethnic group, precisely because they are not considered comely. If they were, you wouldn't be joking about them. Besides, if you knew many members of that ethnic group which is not yours, you would hesitate making jokes.
Out of respect?
You wouldn't need respect for that. You know a number of individuals from the group intimately, and have seen many facial features within the group. It becomes just like your own ethnicity; we usually don't see stereotypical features in our own ethnic group.
Because we have seen and see so many of them, we know it is unjust to generalize. The common features also become one of the norms.
In other words, the mind set we have for our own ethnicity can be extended to other groups. I have to add, though, that there are people who deny what they see and go by what the conventional "wisdom" says. Stereotypes are part of that "wisdom."
So, if we think stereotypes about physical features are funny and make jokes about them, it is an indication that we do not know many people from that group.
You can be callous because they do not belong to your definition of human beings.
That's an exaggeration! I don't deny that some tribal people whose name I have never heard of are also human beings.
I wouldn't say that you are lying, but I am confident that you would not make fun of their faces and attires if your best friends are among them. Let's say you may, but in a special way. It is all a matter of how much trust there is. You see, I don't prescribe to the straitjacket version of political correctness. If I knew that you don't think every one of us grow nose hair...
I've never said that and, thank goodness, never seen your nasal hair!
It's an example. Suppose my tribe is known in the outside world for growing nose hair and it is true that some do. Suppose further that doing so has medical benefits in their living environment, but people are unaware of them and the custom is looked down on. If you knew all that and if I knew that you knew all that, I wouldn't mind your making a gentle joke about it.
Because there is trust between us, you mean?
Yes, you may still joke about it, but almost as if you were one of us.
There lies the difference...
Jokes on ethnicity and nationality have far reaching effects than we usually think. Even the person in front of you who is of that ethnicity and nationality do not have the trait that you joked about, s/he may be offended.
Because her/his friends and/or relatives fit the description?
I'm afraid it's biology again; we unconsciously feel the need to defend our group.
I think you are for orthodox political correctness, after all.
Think about the world in which we mingle with people based on their interests and personalities, and not on gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation or looks. I think we wouldn't mind light-hearted jokes about stereotypical features so much. In fact, I believe that we wouldn't even feel like making stereotype jokes in that kind of a world.
Most of us do not have the energy to go through the thickets of differences in customs, features, etc. But I wonder... Aren't you implying that in the ideal state of things we are all alike?
We should be able to preserve our differences and yet understand each other. A world without diversity would be awfully boring.
Nothing is and should be easy in the real world, I knew that...
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