Dont Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments

Response to “Don’t Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments”
Stereotyping is a problem that we face perpetually in the world today, and it is somehow, ingrained in nearly every facet of culture and life in general. As people we find it easy to keep our standard perceptions of everything and a lot of the time it hinders us from realizing the true individual. Robert L. Heilbroner, in his essay “Don’t Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments”, exposed the social problem of Stereotyping and explained the causes and effects of stereotyping each other. Heil who was a Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research in New York for over fifty years uses the combination of rhetorical strategies and vivid examples and suggests that as people, we need to shift away from stereotyping each other and truly open ourselves to the observation of the human being.
Heilbroner, in his essay discusses how stereotypes cause us to prejudge different types of people in the world before actually getting to know them. He states examples of how names and nationalities could cloud our judgments, explaining that it saves us the trouble of finding out what people and the world are really like. He goes on to say that stereotypes are a kind of gossip which helps us make sense of our abstract world. Heil says that our upbringing affects the way we view our world and all the components in it. We begin to typecast in our childhood, Heil explains and adds that we grow up with standardized pictures forming inside of us. He states that the danger lies in letting stereotypes control our actions and beliefs, whether taught or self learned.
The author also points out the role media plays in promoting this problem. He says that stereotypes are also perpetuated by the advertisements we read, the movies we see and the books we read. He explains that with all the misconception that relays, it forces the public to accept it as fact. The author concludes by providing some suggestions to help ourselves...