BY COLIN FISCHER | Guest Columnist | The Statesman I woke up Friday June 26, 2015, with nothing in mind but work in an hour. Soon, however, I was met by a storm of posts across social media. They all shared one message: that the Supreme Court had just legalized gay marriage.
The decision was the result of decades of struggle from the LGBTQ community and the embodiment of an American trend. Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s American society has taken steps to break down the brick walls of racism, sexism and homophobia.
Our habit to stereotype that we don’t understand has slowly changed for the better but there are double standards present.
At times it is difficult to see how we stereotype, both personally and as a society. To view this clearly take a look at the Internet, where stereotypes fill social media feeds and dominate late night news debates.
Following a recent call for the Confederate flag to be taken down from Charleston City Hall, a great deal of southerners defended the flag by citing its historical significance. The response to this was a mixture of proper protest, but within the mix were poorly intended jabs of stereotyping. The “redneck” stereotype saw a revival.
Many against the “Heritage Not Hate” (HNH) movement associated with the flag labeled their opponents as incestuous and less intelligent through social media and even through vandalism. This is counterproductive of efforts to educate HNH on the racism associated with the flag.
Even more prevalent in our generation is the abundance of stereotyping in popular media. Katy Perry has been known to hype racial stereotypes of African Americans, Asians, Egyptians and more in her music videos, such as her slanted portrayal of African Americans through her “This is how we do” music video.
In “This is how we do,” Perry is seen holding watermelons in a long dark braid. Later she responds to a message from “Jessica Thot” in a “blaccent” while donning cornrows. Despite these generalizations, response to the video was minimal at best. Similar patterns are seen in many rap music videos, which often wrongfully portray black males as violent, objectifying women and abusing drugs.
So why is our society so concerned with ending stereotypes but so willing to let these clear examples persist? A large part of this attitude comes from the difficulty of making such a change. I assure you, although the goal is large, every goal is comprised of small steps and there are plenty that we can take.
Dissolving the double standards that American society has for stereotypes will no doubt be a gradual process. However, there are steps we can take as individuals.
We must speak out. The LGBTQ community would not have achieved its progress without citizens expressing opinion in the forms of social media, blogs and protests. Songs like “Take me to Church” by Hozier and celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres have inspired such speech.
But this alone is not enough. Media support is always necessary to encourage the momentum of a movement, and LGBTQ could have easily lost theirs without such consistent and positive media coverage.
The most important step is education and encouragement. Denouncing stereotyping is a responsibility of our parents, siblings, friends and teachers.
Friends are the most effective. The college-age demographic is the most likely to press for change, and have more contact with each other than parents. Teachers are essential during childhood but must be backed by parents. This is where each individual holds responsibility. There is a task for each of us, to speak, encourage and teach the benefits of a typecast-free America. I challenge you to choose at least one of these actions and do exactly that, take action. We attend college to mold ourselves into an ideal persona and leave a greater impact on our world. Consider this your call to do so.