Stereotypes good and bad: What people project to the world

Why are stereotypes so useful? I was watching some YouTube video about crime, and just based on scanning the guy’s demeanor, I knew immediately he was guilty.

He was covered in tattoos, some of which were reputed to be gang tattoos. He also impregnated a girl at 16, and his mom was there defending him. He merely mumbled a few words.

The YouTube video went into the criminal evidence from there, but honestly, it was unnecessary. The man was basically wearing a gangster’s uniform. I remember looking at pictures of dandies in uniform at French or English Courts with their silly wigs and ridiculously complicated outfits and finding them to be so absurd and garish. Perhaps they were, but I wonder what future generations will think of our fashion.

One of the newish guys I worked with had done a stint in prison. When I discovered this, I was not in the least surprised. I felt embarrassed for not guessing it earlier, as it was obvious to anyone with eyes to see. The guy did nothing but listen to criminal-style music and speak in a criminal dialect with criminal mannerisms. I hear that if you live in Britain all your life, you can figure out what class someone belongs to and where they grew up in a few minutes of conversation. Perhaps other criminals could figure out what kind of prisoner the guy I work with is by observing him for a work shift.

In 7-11, Walgreens and in the subways in Britain, there have been instances of loud classical music playing to deter criminals. I don’t know if there is strong evidence that practice works, but it would be something that I would commission a study on if I ever got Elon money. I find it quite amusing that music of artistic skill and depth of feeling would repel hooligans just as church bells were believed to repel devils and evil fae.

Though my experiences are anecdotal, I believe that the classical music policy works. While the criminal guy controlled the music from his cell phone, I had to endure such auditory unpleasantness that I would have liked to leave. The music was a mix of white guys of no notable musical talent doing covers of not especially interesting songs by black Americans and top 40 drivel that was tiresome back when it came out. Anything of complexity or tenderness was to be shunned. Perhaps such music would agitate him as his music irritates me.

Besides criminals, I knew that one of my professors was a leftist of the modern sort immediately when he said the word, ‘[REDACTED]’ on the first day of class, and spoke in an effeminate manner. Even libertarian professors from a working-class background wouldn’t say that word on the first day.

I went to a debate about local politics for that class, and one student, within less than a second of the debate, looked at a lady and thought to herself, she has Republican hair. She was indeed a Republican.

I assume that my reader is not so much of a boor that he or she is aware of how bad stereotypes can be. Inflexible stereotypes that don’t allow for the inevitable variation of individuals within any human group, or stereotypes that emerge from rank bigotry, have been a bane on mankind since the founding of Ur, if not beforehand.

Yet people want to be stereotyped. Perhaps people are unconscious of their desire, but it is no less real. Unless they are autistic in some way, every human being cares about what others think of them.* Theodore Dalrymple, a psychiatrist who worked with prisoners and the poor underclass in London, describes the behavior with pinpoint accuracy.

For me it is as natural to put on a tweed jacket as for a youth of a certain kind to don a hoodie or a baseball cap sideways; neither of us gives much thought to the matter on any individual occasion, though both of us convey a message thereby…

Now it is obviously true that not all young men who dress in, say, hoodies are thugs; but if you were walking down an inadequately lit alleyway and a young man in a hoodie came toward you, it is likely that you would experience a greater frisson of fear than if he were dressed in a tweed jacket. And that may be precisely what he wants, even if he has no intention of attacking anyone. He wants you to stereotype him.

I learned this lesson from my patients. In England, young people who have committed so many crimes that they are sent to reformatories often tattoo an Indian-ink blue spot on their cheek, in the same way that Old Etonians wear ties. This marks them out after their release as people not to be trifled with. But among my patients were a number of young men who had never been in trouble with the law who tattooed themselves with the blue spot. They did this for one of two reasons, or for both: Breaking the law sufficiently frequently to have been sent to reformatory carried a kudos in the area in which they lived, evil in those areas having become the new good; or they wished to appear more aggressive and violent than they were, as certain butterflies mimic poisonous varieties so that birds will not eat them. If you want to be left alone, look dangerous.

My experiences with Idaho criminals (all white, as it happens) are that they celebrate the criminal culture. They idolize black gangsta culture. Other types of black culture don’t do much for them. When I was watching videos of the civil rights movement in school, I recall how well-dressed everyone was. I would like to say that they looked like they were going to church on Sunday. But in modern times, I don’t think church-going Christians look that formal for regular Sunday services. It was more like they were all going to a wedding with a dress code.

In terms of mannerisms, it’s hard to imagine MLK cursing or speaking in slang. Malcolm X, Barry Rubin and Jackie Robinson are similar from what I’ve read of them and seen in interviews. Malcolm X, in particular, hated gangster culture after having participated in it. Black Muslims to this day abstain from pork, alcohol and premarital sex while focusing on hard work and education. They aren’t a big fan of gangsta culture of any sort.** To express this, the men often dress in sharp suits, and the women dress in modest outfits. Like black Americans in the civil rights movement, they presented themselves as a stereotype they deemed positive.

Personally, I have a stereotype of French intellectuals as being bad. This stereotype is based on the long history of French intellectuals being horrifically wrong about everything. (Rousseau in particular.) I view the worst of French philosophy as weakening the moral strength of societies, like an intellectual heroin. However, Emile Durkheim is a French sociologist who used reason and logic to advance knowledge in ways supportive of human flourishing.

In 1897 he published Suicide, showing findings that Catholics and Jews committed suicide less often than Protestants, and that poor people tended to kill themselves less than well-to-do people. He theorized that Catholics, Jews and poor people had stronger personal connections through their religion, so they killed themselves less. To my knowledge, his research was vigorous and honest, and later researchers have confirmed his work. So he observed people, made stereotypes based on empirical analysis and helped learn about human nature. You would think that he would be Scottish or old school Confucian based on how good his philosophy was, which goes to show that my anti-French philosopher stereotype should allow for great flexibility.***

Those fearful of stereotypes because of how stereotypes can be used horrifically would be well served to study decent sociologists who necessarily use stereotyping to advance knowledge and life in abundance.

In summary, the human brain evolved to be the best pattern-recognition machine in the world, and we cannot stop noticing things if we try. It has helped us survive other humans since we were in caves. Since stereotypes will remain within the human psyche, they should be guided by observation, updated as populations change and made subject to critical scrutiny. The human brain cannot be rewired to be something other than human. It can, however, be fine-tuned to be better.

*Autistic people are justly famous for being unaware of what others think and/or not caring about what other people think. When an autistic person looks at a tweed suit or a hoodie, they think about whether it is aesthetically pleasing first. How they wish to present themselves comes second, if at all.

**Brother Mouzone from the Wire is the most famous fictional black Muslim. He probably gave the best line in the entire series. I can’t repeat it, but it was great.

***Frederic Bastiat, Rene Girard, and Alexis de Tocqueville are fine examples of French intellectuals who should be celebrated. As I have previously stated, stereotypes must be flexible if they are to be decent and useful.