Friday, December 26, 2008

I wanted to entitle this blogpost "Jews run Hollywood"...but instead I'll write about stereotypes

And then it occurred to me that it might earn me a Human Rights Complaint.

And the prospect of doing that became a little scary.

I have a family, a mortgage and a car. It's not implausible that I could lose those things for repeating what someone else had said.

I am perfectly okay with Jews running Hollywood. I just wish they were more conservative.

What I do find objectionable in all this is that it is a statement that can be shown to be true. But stating this truth could be subject to quasi-judicial prosecution in Canada.

I know that many White Supremacists have tried to make a case about Jews runing Hollywood. And so repeating the statement has been very politically incorrect because it stirs up images of cross-burnings and the poorly designed websites of anti-Semitic cranks.

Of course we should be vigilant against Anti-Semitism.

But stating the truth about any group, however good or bad, should never be subject to prosecution.

Even if it said with a malevolent intent.

Joel Stein wrote a column to state a truth that is denied by many out of political correctness, and out of a desire to halt the tide of anti-semitic feeling.

Sometimes the fight against stereotypes can create bigger lies than if the stereotypes hadn't been challenged in the first place.

The reason why many stereotypes exist is that they are based on real life experience.

The Catholic mother of six; the gay hairdresser; the rude Frenchman; the loud and pushy American--

These stereotypes persist in our collectve consciousness because a critical number of people have encountered these very same people and have made the same observations about them.

Instead of taking this common sense position, we've decided to eradicate all appeals to stereotypes, even if we have to lie to ourselves do it.

I remember when I was a kid, I learned not to "judge a book by its cover" and say "Just because a person...doesn't mean..." Like "Just because a man likes to do hair doesn't mean he's gay" or "Just becaue a person is dressed up in a tough leather jacket and a punk hairdo doesn't mean he's not very smart."

We were taught to internally challenge those stereotypes.

One day, when I was about 19 or so, I got a job doing mall surveys for a marketing company. And I would ask absolutely anyone that I could to help me with my survey.

I learned that elderly people would be more willing to help, but half the time couldn't understand the question well enough to answer.

So lesson learned: if the elderly person didn't look too sharp, he probably wasn't.

And once I learned that lesson, wow, my surveying went a lot faster.

Judging people quickly is an important part of life. Stereotypes matter. They're not always true, but they're a good rule of thumb. Of course there are people who contradict those stereotypes, and we should keep our eyes open for that; but the fact of the matter is: life sometimes is to short to challenge each and every stereotype. False stereotypes are wrong and should be eliminated; no doubt about it. But stereotypes help people make sound judgments when they don't have time to get to know a person. If you're going to speak to a stranger on the street, or entrust a person to do an important or sensitive job, you are going to rely on stereotypes, and if you don't, you're a bit of a fool. You are not going to trust a creepy-looking man to mind your child while you go to the bathroom on the train. You are going to ask the little old lady with the sweet face sitting in front of you.

The creepy-looking man might be the sweetest guy in the world, and the old lady might actually be a convicted sex offender.

But you do not have time to make those calculations, and you are taking a risk, so you will take the lesser risk.

Any person with common sense would do the same.

I am glad that we try to eliminate false stereotypes.

But let's not eliminate common sense in the process.

Quick Update: Kathy Shaidle wrote to me: "The Jews who founded Hollywood were patriotic Republicans. What a difference a generation makes."

Good point.