Stereotypes

I think the biggest issue in society are stereotypes. I mean honestly, we all have biases, opinions, perspectives, and views that are based off of stereotypes. For example, Asians are bad drivers. Let's face it, we have all had this thought whenever we see an Asian person driving, myself included. But this is an example of an issue that society has. Why is it that we base our own perspectives and opinions based upon a standard or norm that an imperfect society has bestowed upon us? Personally, I care a great amount about this issue because it has personally effected me. During this day and age, you would think that people would be comfortable with all races, however, one thing that I will always remember is going into a restaurant filled with predominantly Caucasian individuals and getting a shocked stare as I sit with my family. Many of these people had judgmental and confused looks on their face as they stared at my family, and I can honestly say it was awkward, embarrassing, and pretty humiliating. Just the possibility that this happens to people across the nation every single day makes my blood boil. What right do any of us have to judge another based on things we think we know about them? This is one thing that I have an issue with in society and also with myself. So far in my life, I have mainly focused on changing my internal perception of people. I feel that if I am personally able to change the way I view and assess people, then I will have the ability to influence others to do the same thing. To be honest, I am kind of a judgmental person which is not necessarily my best feature, and this is something that I am trying to change about myself. In the future, one of my dreams and aspirations is actually to create my own non-profit organization to educate society on societal issues. Something I am very passionate about are social campaigns. I believe that once people's awareness on different issues that affect societies across the globe, even ones that may seem entirely different than ours, then people will be able to change the negative aspects of our own society and embrace the positive ones. My ultimate goal in life is to create this non-profit and I truly hope that this is one dream that will come true in the future. For others that feel that this issue is also prevalent in our society, I encourage them to put themselves in another's shoes. Once one is able to truly see how another experiences discrimination, stereotypes, and judgment, empathy is absolutely a result. Putting one's self in another's shoes is crucial to experiencing true judgment.

To get a feel for how stereotypes affect our society take a look at this video titled "The Doll Test"