RHETORIC AND STEREOTYPES

Rhetoric and Stereotypes

Rhetoric and Stereotypes

There are all kinds of people that make up our society as a whole. Within society, there are a multitude of groups, most of which have been stereotyped in one way or another. This paper is going to discuss a few different groups that are at the center for stereotyping: politicians, people with tattoos, feminists and senior citizens. If you think about the groups that are mentioned in this paper, a certain thought or image enters the mind. This is how stereotypes get started; they are ideas held by some people about members of a particular group. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but most are unfair and misleading. Stereotype is a word or a phrase which is generally used to relate all the members of asset or a group. Most of the types it is used in a negative sense. It is used to categorize the persons we deal with. Sociologists believe that almost everyone categorizes the other and mental categorizing is a reality(Moore Parker 2007).

There are many different groups of people who are being type-casted as being stereotyped everyday in our society. Politicians, tattooed persons, feminists and senior citizens are a few groups of people commonly facing stereotypical generalizations. It is very easy to see how these four basic groups, with whom we have interaction on almost a daily basis, are being stereotyped everyday. In some cases, this can lead to formation of unfavorable opinions which almost equals discrimination.

Politician

The qualities given to politicians are mainly negative. They are thought to be liars, shady, corrupt, and out to gain social, financial and political power. Ad Hominem attacks are very prevalent in today's political arena. Argument from outrage is also another common form of fallacy that colors the political picture and distracts people from discussing real issues. The most common form that we use to stereotype politicians may be Hasty Generalization. Just because there may be a few corrupt politicians or some that are only out to satisfy their or their political party's agenda, doesn't mean that all are(Rothenberg 1996). Unfortunately, politicians are not the only group that gets stereotyped; feminists also receive a lot of bad rhetoric from society and the media. Politicians can be classified as liars or someone that stretched the truth for their own gain and not the peoples(Mihalko 2007 ). Time and time again there have been promised that have been unfulfilled that leave a bad taste in the common voters mind. It is generally said about them is that they lie about what they've done. They lie about what they haven't done” (Sanbonmatsu 2007). This doesn't mean that all are liars but the stereotype is there because of what some call a bad apple in the bunch. People tend to feel more mistrust for politicians because of this.

Tattooed Persons

Stereotypical behavior can come in all forms whether it is based on profession or even just how a person chooses to express ...