tempts you to judge his beliefs system, specially when you met a person of a particular belief for the first time.
For example. A person “X” is the first person ever whom you met belonging to a religion “Y” you recently came to know of. Now does sometimes every activity of “X” make you feel like “Oh..so people belonging to religion Y behave in such a manner and do this and that…etc.”
Why don't you give your views first?
tempts you to judge his beliefs system, specially when you met a person of a particular belief for the first time.
For example. A person "X" is the first person ever whom you met belonging to a religion "Y" you recently came to know of. Now does sometimes every activity of "X" make you feel like "Oh..so people belonging to religion Y behave in such a manner and do this and that.....etc."
It is called stereo typing and generalization. It is never good. It should be avoided by everybody.
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
^ Are you Mirch's multinick or vice versa?
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
Isn't everyone representative of his own belief system in a certain way. So, this temptation might be natural at times. (with the exception of Muslims in the west who might be stereotyped more than others)
On a broader scale, why are some people tempted to stereotype people of a certain group on the basis of few examples, specially in the case of minorities.
For example. Pathan and Sikh jokes being the favorites ones in India and Pakistan, specially the ones showing people of both groups stupid and foolish.
There can be more examples related to other group of people.
Isn't everyone representative of his own belief system in a certain way.
Every one represents a personality not just his/her belief system . And so you know personality is shaped by many factors like education, parents, friends, culture and customs, experiences and last but not the least belief system.
So, this temptation might be natural at times. (with the exception of Muslims in the west who might be stereotyped more than others)
Yes it is natural to stereotype but I guess it is an animal instinct still present in some humans. Muslims are not the only species stereotyped in West . There are blonds, then there is battle of sexes based on gender stereotyping. Rednecks, cowboys, Yankees , Irish , German all kinds of stereotypes are present in west.
On a broader scale, why are some people tempted to stereotype people of a certain group on the basis of few examples, specially in the case of minorities.
For example. Pathan and Sikh jokes being the favorites ones in India and Pakistan, specially the ones showing people of both groups stupid and foolish.
There can be more examples related to other group of people.
Why do we stereotype you ask ?
Many factors :
1. We are looking for common factors. It helps us remember.
2. people prefer to hang out with people who are like them at a certain level. You feel completely accepted in your group.
3. we have certain types of fears
4. we don't trust our thoughts,instincts,intelligence and intuition.
being a stereotype is far more easy
5. ignorance and mental laziness
On a lighter note , there is positive stereotyping also.
Like people living in cities are stereotyped as cultured , liberal and open minded.
Chinese students are stereotyped as brainiacs in west.
A couple of decades ago in USA people from India and Pakistan were considered as either doctors or engineers only.
Same used to be the case in Middle East.
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
^ I understand your point brother, but still it seems to be in human nature (to a certain extent) to relate a person's personality and lifestyle with his beliefs, specially if a person is religious.
For example. A lot of Hindus became Muslim after seeing the manners and character of a 17 year old Mohammad bin Qasim, who wasn't able to get enough time to preach Islam to them. Islamic history if full of such Suhabis and Saints whose personality convinced common people that they follow the right religion. (Even initially without knowing much about their religion). I am not saying that people became Muslim with the magic of their personalities. Of course they became Muslims only with the blessings of Allah (s.w.t) and their sincere search for the truth, but good manners and character of those saints acted as a first step in attracting common people towards their beliefs.
May be this temptation of judgment is more prominent when a person portrays / seems to be more religous and firm towards his/her belief system.
p.s. I apologize I didn't clarify in my first post that here by "temptation of judgment" I mean both positive and negative judgments.
It is called stereo typing and generalization. It is never good. It should be avoided by everybody.
You are right, its never good but doesnt it happen anyway? Like when you wear hijab and do something people around you generally dont do, people automatically start relating that action with your religion. Isnt that why Muslims in general have to be so careful about how they present themselves?
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
When do we generalize? When we have an empty mind and let devil work to get some beauty. The Forbidden Is Beauty...just my opinion.
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
^ Deserves a round of applause. Beautifully written Numb.
coming to original question....Submission of peace..here goes...
No man. I breath by the rule of "live and let live" ...
I don't even believe in the fact any longer that if u see a fellow brother/sister comitting an act of unpardonable forgiveness one should rectify it. The reason being so, is cuz there's is so much information on everything, if one is doing it let him/her be cuz if they are curious or slightly interested they'll look for the right answers. And as if everyone was born yesterday. I believe this is an era of awareness. If one is acting dumb thats by choice, not by chance any longer.
As far as rest of the ppl of other cultures/religion are concerned, who ever categorizes them into whatever divisions are complete idiots. One shudn't judge another, because wtf are we as humans to do so in first place?
Of course I relate a person's external look to my assessment of their personality to some extent. are these assessments necessarily true? probably not..but we all make generalizations in order to make sense of our world. for example, if i see a guy with high pants that give him a wedgie, i don't think of him as mr. charming. or if i see a girl with her boobs hanging out of her shirt, i don't think she is shy and modest. she could be but i'm sure 99% of ppl would agree with my thinking about her.
and yeah i do assume that hijabis or a guy with a long beard is going to be more religious than me. of course everyone does slip, and some people are learning, but seeing an overall positive personality development in a person obviously does give a positive impression of their religion. i know this one hijabi girl who is really into islamic events and such, but she always wears tight ass clothes and posts pics of herself at raves and club parties...seriously...non-muslim people would always ask me about her behavior bc it didn't match all the islamic stuff she used to say. if i said she was doing wrong, i felt i was backbiting and if i said she was right, i felt like i was misguiding ppl about islam! so...the word 'judges' sounds harsh but it is true, we all do make assumptions about each other as it is not practical to take a complete history and interview of every person we meet. not nice..but true.
Re: Does a person's lifestyle
You are right, its never good but doesnt it happen anyway? Like when you wear hijab and do something people around you generally dont do, people automatically start relating that action with your religion. Isnt that why Muslims in general have to be so careful about how they present themselves?
People do not relate it to your religion , they know that it is not in your religion. If some hijaban is doing something which is against the teachings of Islam and would relate it to her personal behavior and will question her commitment to her religion.
For reference see the post immediately above this one by Jalebe121.
