Why Stereotypes are Needed

Stereotypes are almost always viewed as detrimental to any community. From kindergarten, children are taught to avoid stereotypes; however, without stereotypes, society would not be able to function as smoothly as it currently does. To operate in this complex world, our brains must make general assumptions and generalizations about people, objects, and behaviors. Human brains are simply wired to create stereotypes about the world around it. To illustrate, imagine simple mathematics and problem solving without the ability to generalize, or stereotype. It is common knowledge that 1 + 1 = 2. However, what how would the brain react when 2 + 3 is presented? Without generalizations, our brain wouldn't be able to comprehend the similarity between the two equations. Instead, it would see the two equations as two completely different ideas and would be forced to remember, not learn, that 2 + 3 = 5. Simply put, without the ability to generalize and create stereotypes, our brains wouldn't be able to conceptualize the mathematical world around it.

More commonly, stereotypes are attached to generalizations about how a certain group of people act. Truthfully, there are many negative stereotypes - blacks are criminals, mexicans are rapists, etc. Stereotypes, still, are required to allow the brain to assess a situation and respond accordingly. Without simple generalizations, we would be unable to meet new people and become accustomed to new situations. Really, stereotypes act to guide everyday interactions between people of different personal and cultural backgrounds. For example, it is only common sense that one would treat a close friend differently than a stranger. Thus, stereotypes establish a mental framework, or map, for simple human interactions with people of different ages, languages, and gender. To completely reject the use of stereotypes due to a few negative stereotypes is not only dangerous to society, but is hypocritical in the truest sense. People who attempt to eliminate the usage of stereotypes are in fact stereotyping stereotypes.

Colonialism

The people's view of colonialism is definitely impacted by how our country was formed. The way our country was formed - to be blunt - was to forcibly take land from others and call it "colonization". In most historical examples of colonization, a native group of people is displaced and another country "colonizes" it. Not only did this happen in the formation of the United States of America, millions of native Africans were displaced or forced into slavery when European countries colonized Africa. Based off these examples of colonization, colonization seems like a horrible thing. However the Merriam-Webster definition of colonization is to establish a colony, where the definition of colony is "A group of people who leave their native country to form in a newland a settlement subject to, or connected with, the parent nation". Phrases such as "newland", "connected to", and "parent nation" make the word colonization have a positive connotation. Combined with the fact that nearly every American History textbook describes Christopher Colombus as a hero who colonized what is now the United States, usages of the word "colonization" are commonly used to envoke a positive feeling. This word, however, based on historical examples of the word, should not have a positive connotation.

Huckleberry Finn takes place during the post-colonialism period of U.S history. During this time, most of the native Indians of the land were already herded into small territories. However, the foundational idea of colonialism, to gain control of a certain area with negative effects on a certain group of people, intended or not, still lived in the form of slavery. Many characters throughout the novel hold slaves including Miss Watson, the Grangerfords, and the Phelps. Similar to the people of the colonialism era, those who held slaves do not realize the impact of what holding slaves has, rather, they accept slavery as a way of life. This acceptance of slavery causes many characters who hold slaves to even be shown as a positive and respectable characters. Despite the fact that slavery is obviously terrible, during that time slaves were a good thing to have in the south. This is parallel to how colonialism is viewed by many today. People view colonialism as a good thing simply because it sparked the creation of our nation, and while this is true, colonialism killed many who simply were living on a piece of land. Like how slavery is viewed now, colonialism in its de facto definition should be viewed as a negative rather than a positive.