In society, it is evident that stereotypes exist. Whenever we see someone, we unconsciously place them within a stereotype based upon how they look or how they act. This instinctive categorization has been happening for centuries and has no intention of stopping.
Since the moment Europeans arrived in America, stereotypes agains the Native americans have been formed. The mere fact that the Native Americans dressed different and looked different caused the Europeans to treat them as inferior creatures. This stereotype has extended from the past to the present today. In Sherman Alexi's story, Victor's father states "Besides, why would you ever want to fight a war for this country? It's been trying to kill Indians since the very beginning." Stereotyping and discrimination against Native Americans have existed for centuries and will never truly go away.
But why do stereotypes exist? Why do they continue to last? A stereotype in definition is "
a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing" as defined by Merriam Webster. At first, stereotypes may have been used by white men to justify their superiority to other cultures. By giving certain people certain traits, it was easier to justify why these certain groups should be denied right or privileges. Additionally, the reason why stereotypes may still exist today might be due to the continuation of tradition by society. These stereotypes have been alive for so many years and are kept alive through the lingering influences of the past on society; stereotyping is unconsciously done and is unavoidable. Ultimately, it will be hard for stereotypes to be completely eliminated in the future.
I don't believe stereotypes can ever be eliminated. Humans have an innate desire to seek order in chaos, an urge to categorize and group things together to understand them. This is why we categorize items, living things, elements etc. We can classify humans based on gender, race, clothing, height and this is all because we wish to understand humans more efficiently. Unfamiliarity is a scary thing, and because of that, we place characteristics upon people we've just met in order to make the understandable and orderly. Humans will always analyze and categorize based upon experience and cultural values. This biological behavior is unavoidable and because of that, I feel that the lesson shouldn't be to remove stereotypes, but to look past them.
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