One aspect of our discussion from Monday that caught my attention was the notion of stereotypes forming from the first immigrants who arrived in the United States from a particular region. I have never really considered where stereotypes stem from, merely that they have a negative connotation. However, this revelation, that I’ve been oblivious to until now, actually makes a lot of sense.
I could never understand why people so geographically removed from Europe shelf the multinationalism of immigrants from the continent into individual compartments with no relation to each other. It is, however, understandable that people who have not been exposed to these different groups be given the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, this often leads to the creation of simply incorrect or offensive stereotypes. To illustrate, consider the ethnic clashes of Europe that extend to modern day. (Although Europe is becoming more diverse, there is still a strong yet passive desire, under the surface, to dominate ethnic or national groups different from one’s own.) One example of this that I’ve seen first-hand is the conflict between Romanians and Hungarians over the region of Transylvania. Historically, some part of this region belonged to Austria-Hungary; however, for most of modern time it has been under Romanian rule. This is perhaps the most ethnically diverse place in the mostly homogenous Romania, yet there are still constant disagreements between which country the region should belong to. Both groups take pride in having cultures that differ from the other, with varieties in language, food, religion, and customs. In reality though, because of so much interaction between the two groups of people, the culture of the region has become very mixed. Nevertheless, those Americans who have actually heard of Transylvania simply associate it with Dracula—a fictional character based on an awful ruler from centuries ago. This is only further driven by immigration to the United States by Romanians east of Transylvania, who exploit this for tourism purposes. Thus, an association is born.
It’d be wrong to blame people for doing this if they have not known any better, as was the case in the 19th century when the stereotypical Irish and German personas emerged. However, in today’s age where information is available at one’s fingertips, I find the divisive stereotypes of Mexicans, Muslims, or Asians highly uncalled for.
You mentioned at one point that some Romanian immigrants use the story of Dracula to sell tickets and I totally agree with you that ethnic stereotypes are in part a self-reinforcing concept. Romanian-Americans take pride in their heritage and Americans are too lazy to discover what else the culture offers. But I also think that ethnic stereotypes are more influenced by media. The book, Dracula, probably reached more Americans than the Romanian immigrants themselves did and the widely popular movie based on the book had even more so of an effect at creating this ethnic stereotype. Now if we look at the stereotype of German immigrants, of beer-guzzling, overall-wearing, red-faced people, this stereotype probably had less to do with the actual Germans Americans encountered and knew but rather ideas they picked up from newspapers or watched on Bugs Bunny. And the reason why stereotypes aren’t based on the people but rather caricatures of the people in media is because stories of people are more memorable and interesting than people themselves.
Also, I disagree with the idea that nowadays because we have the information about other cultures, we should somehow be more knowledgeable them, not to be rude or anything, but I feel that BECAUSE we have all this information, we’re flooded with information, it’s hard to sort out our own day-to-day lives let alone dig up some article about another culture that we hardly think about. Again, no offense.
I had thoughts along the same lines as Will. Shockingly, the instant availability of information in recent years seems to have reinforced stereotypes and untruths rather than to have exposed them.