Stereotyping – So Much More Than Just Predicting What Albums I Will Play

How do you refer to the citizens of China?

Why do some people become Physical Educators?

What is a single word you would use to describe lawyers?

Who would you rather have perform your open-heart surgery – a doctor with a posh British accent or a doctor with a thick Texas drawl?

A person’s answers to these questions, or questions like them, may indicate tendencies toward racism and / or the degree to which one uses stereotyping in their day-to-day lives. Certainly racism and stereotyping are not behaviors seen as positive attributes of any empathetic human beings these days. Most would agree that neither of these behaviors have a place in the kind of world in which we would like to live.

Most would agree that stereotyping of a group or race or religious sect is not a good thing in this day and age. However, we must accept the role that it has played in the evolution of humankind. Stereotyping is the vestige of an adaptive strategy that allowed for our knuckle-dragging ancestors of the prehistoric past, to make their way out of the trees and become semi-modern man. Without the ability to predict natural events and early 'human' relationships afforded by stereotyping, we would probably still be figuring out some way of getting past the nearest pride of lions to harvest the berries from our favorite grove of bushes.

We have not evolved from these primitive yet crucial adaptive strategies as quickly as society's need for equality and fair treatment has evolved. Biological evolution takes time and follows a natural path and deploys cooperative contributions from both genetic and environmental factors. Societal evolution can happen much more quickly and, in fact, is EXPECTED, to occur at a faster pace, even though we almost never consider the resistance offered by our biological history and makeup. To illustrate this point - consider the dilemmas with which we struggle, over issues like guns and abortion. Our technology has developed, almost literally, at the speed of light while our morality is progressing, as fast as it can, but still only at the speed of evolution. This huge developmental gradient causes much consternation when it comes time to establish policies and laws regarding issues requiring both technical and moral considerations. It also causes problems when the users of such technology do not have the moral foundation necessary to process or interact with the consequences of such use. Cars, guns, alcohol, nuclear weapons and euthanasia technology all appear to be beyond our moral reach – oftentimes we are like cavemen equipped with rocket launchers – we are taken with surprise at the outcomes of our behaviors.

Our personal language and vocabulary can only develop as quickly as our own experiences, which means that everyone in today's world has a much greater potential for vastly different explanations of the events in their personal lives. Advances in technology (travel, communication, information sharing, education, medicine) have given rise to greater variation in opportunities amongst individuals today than there were at the beginning of the twentieth century. There continues to be, a growing number of factors at work in the world to further widen the discrepancies in the opportunities afforded some but not others . These differences all play a part in me not being able to understand you or vice versa. They all play a part in making my life experience vastly different from yours. In addition, the world has become so much smaller through social media networks, air travel, and mass media. This has put you in more constant contact with me, and others, than ever before in the history of humankind. The stage is set for disagreement and side-taking because everyone is on a different page. Everyone's interpretation of the world is different, yet social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) has put us daily and constantly, side by side in each other's lives. Because of the ease at which we can access information (true or not), and express our opinions, we have all become 'experts' who consistently disagree because our sources of the information vary so widely in validity and reliability. Unfortunately, there are still things that we must attempt to do together. For example, it would be beneficial for all of the human world to rid itself of the virus and it's variants that cause Covid. However, we can't seem to get together on some simple crucial points like masking, hand-washing, isolation, social distancing, lock-downs, non-essential travel and vaccination. What would have been a breeze to accomplish in 1952, seems like an impossible undertaking 70 years later, in 2022.

Stereotyping and speciesism (racism) were essential survival strategies 200 thousand years ago. Luckily, these behaviors were coded into our genes or we would not be here today to talk about it. Those practices allowed our ancestors to discriminate between the creatures and fellow humans that made for a good meal and those that would make them into a good meal. We were eventually able to predict potential danger and then deal with it as necessary. The earth, 200 000 years ago, was not an easy place to live. Without the development and honing of these very crucial discerning behaviors, a happy stroll through the meadow could have, at the blink of an eye, turned into a sprint for one’s life and then ended just as quickly, with a main course of Homo erectus.

The bad news is that, these discriminatory behaviors have not evolved out of humankind as expeditiously as we would like - even though we no longer need them to survive. Stereotyping and racism are not only NOT needed in today’s world, but they switched to the other side of the battle. They now, also serve as factors to further separate one human from another or one group of humans from another group of humans, which in the 21st century, is undesirable.

My point, is that we must keep plugging away at changing the mindsets of all humans on the planet to see and experience the benefits of integration and inclusion. In the 21st Century, diversity will give us strength as a species and help us to solve problems and to survive but, our biology hasn’t figured that out yet. I certainly do not condone racism and stereotyping of human groups or races. And, I am not trying to rationalize anything other than immediate action to end such behaviors. But, until racism and stereotyping behaviors have evolved out of our genomes completely, our efforts to change will move slowly. We must learn to be patient on both sides of the battlefield. Those who demand an end to racism must be as tolerant and forgiving of those who are racist, as the racist faction must be with those who are non-racists. Because of limitations in our personal language, we will all make mistakes in how we speak about each other, but if our intentions are always kind and thoughtful, we will continue to move forward. If we keep the issues in the front of our minds and make the experiences and accompanying language appropriate for all, then eventually those behaviors will begin to enhance our existence. Once behaviors are interpreted by our genetic component as being beneficial to life, these behaviors will be coded permanently into our biological make-up. In the mean-time we do have to remember how long the process of evolution takes and how patient we must all be with one another.

Now, let me ask you again:

How do you refer to the citizens of China?

Why do some people become Physical Educators?

What is a single word you would use to describe lawyers?

Who would you rather have perform your open-heart surgery – a doctor with a posh British accent or a doctor with a thick Texas drawl?