Stereotypes

The other night I was out with some people after a dodgeball game and it came out in conversation that I am gay.  One guy then said that he guessed he couldn't tell me any gay jokes anymore.  I said I wasn't that easily offended.  One of the other ladies said she was offended.  Her thought was that in our society homophobic jokes are too often used and she knows too many people who have been treated poorly because of their sexual orientation.

This really got me thinking about jokes and stereotypes in general.  Why do we tell jokes, why do we keep perpetuating the stereotypes?  It seems to me that we use these "tools" to dehumanize other groups of people, to make them all alike, and to keep the "us" and "them" mentality.  By spreading poor images of the "others" we are able to prop ourselves up.  I think it keeps us from having to get to know people as people, from seeing each individual as just that, an individual.

It's not like I have a tendency to tell a lot of jokes, or perpetuate stereotypes, but by telling people I am not that easily offended, I am allowing it to happen and on some level become a part of the spreading of these thoughts.  As I don't agree with this behaviour (even though I am guilty of it often), I will make more of an effort to pay attention and to the best of my ability not be a part of it.