Commentary
Thursday, January 26,1995 Page 5
. _^______, . jf
Stereotyping on the slopes
During a recent ski trip to
Colorado — wait a minute, that
sounds a little too pompous consid
ering the fact that I had never skied
before and all that I ever did on a
pair of skis was ski-reeeaaam!
It was anything but a mere ski
trip. It was a trip of clear blue skies
and majestic mountains — my first
vista of the awesome Rockies, my
first-ever sight of snow-capped
mountains.
On the big day, after all my
bom-to-ski friends disappeared in
all possible upwardly directions, I
was left wondering what to do.
Skiing was simply out of question. I
just couldn’t stomach the idea of
striving to stay up on a pair of
runaway legs. Or the thought of not
being able to control where my legs
were headed. If humans were meant
to ski, we all would have had feet
like ... well, skis.
But my curiosity and the urge to
experience something new helped
me overcome my fear. I decided to
check out the ski school, but not
without misgivings. Level 1, for
people who have never skied before.
Hey, that could be me.
So with optimism and a spirit of
adventure, I enrolled for the group
instruction class, and in no time I
was fitted with a bulky pair of boots
designed for maximum discomfort.
My hands were filled with the
ungainly skis and poles.
i Off I went awkwardly ambling
along, lugging my extra baggage,
with the rest of the group up the
gondola (the last time I heard of
gondolas, they were a type of boat
in Venice).
Finally our lesson began. After
several unsuccessful attempts at
trying to scamper up a 6-foot slope
slanted at an impossible 1.5-degree
angle, the fun turned into frustra
tion. I was ready to give up. So was
my instructor.
I was lagging so far behind the
rest of the group, our instructor
Vennila Ramalingam
quickly unloaded me off to Tony, a
private instructor, so that I could
get some “special help”. Tony and I
hit it off immediately, thanks to the
Big Red factor — he had gone to
school here in Nebraska. There is
nothing like football to bind people.
After I learned to sidestep
successfully in an impressive span
of 60 minutes, he said, “You know
I have noticed that a lot of Indians
find it hard to ski.”
He proceeded to elaborate on his
theory. “Indians are a highly
intellectual people. Especially the
ones who come to the U.S. are the
cream of your country, and most of
them are in the thinking profes
sions, and so they tend to analyze
instead of learning by feeling. What
do you think?”
Tony was stereotyping. Type
casting all Indians (at least most) to
be intellectuals. Had he known me
better, I am sure he would have
changed his mind. Either that or I
am an extreme exception. But
that’s besides the point. The issue
here is Tony’s benevolent and well
meaning stereotyping.
It’s hard not to generalize. Also
the fact is that it IS possible for us
to categorize people into some
broad descriptions. Black people do
have curly hair. Scandinavians are
taller than most others. Japanese
are shorter.
And this is where stereotyping
should stop — at the very basic
factual level. When it spills over
subjective characteristics, like
“Latinos are great lovers” or
“Blacks are great dancers,” it does
not work too well. Not to mention
negative stereotypes.
Not only that, stereotyping is at
its worst when there is wrong or
uninformed “reasoning” behind it.
Take for example, the stereotype
about black people being great
dancers — it is true that there are a
lot of black people who can dance
very well, like they were bom with
some special dance genes. Hmm, a
predisposition to boogie! Hold it
right there. The reasoning associ
ated with the stereotype couldn’t be
farther from the truth.
The real reason could be that
culturally and historically, dance
plays a big role in many black
peoples’ lives, and those who dance
well are those who practice well.
The earlier mention about dance
genes is very wrong and unin
formed, like Tony’s reasoning.
This was my reply to Tony,
“You are probably right, but could
it be a factor that most of us Indians
have never seen snow, let alone
tried skiing? Even similar activi
ties, such as rollerblading or ice
skating, are simply not part of our
lifestyle.” That could be reason
enough for how Indians usually
can’t ski.
Problems arise when stereotypes
are taken as a golden rule. Indi
viduals of any specific background
should be considered as individuals
first, with the possibility that they
may or may not have some of the
characteristics that the group as a
whole has.
Going back to my skiing story,
by the end of the day, I absolutely
hated those deplorable boots. I was
thoroughly convinced that all the
ski-crazed people milling around
me were a bunch of masochists.
Will I ski again? Someday.
Ramallngam Is a graduate studen tin com
puter science and a Dally Nebraskan colum
nist
GOP agenda addresses today
In his filibuster-length State of
the Union address, President
Clinton spoke of a “new covenant”
with the American people, a phrase
he employed at the Democratic
convention in New York in 1992. Is
this the new old covenant, or the
old new covenant? It doesn’t
matter. The new Republican
majority in Congress is about the
business of fulfilling its contract,
not the president’s covenant.
Clinton spent a lot of time
talking about the future and the
past. He said nothing about the
present, the only moment in which
we live. That was left for what
turned out to be the most inspiring
and cogent moment of the evening.
New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman said more in about 20
minutes than Mr. Clinton said in
90 minutes.
She spoke of a “revolution”
sweeping America that began in the
states, not in Washington. She drew
contrasts between big government,
represented by Clinton Democrats,
and smaller, less costly government
represented by Whitman and other
Republican governors. She slammed
the “arrogance of bigger govern
ment” and then mentioned the word
that seems to stick in Democrats’
throats: freedom.
Clinton can keep his covenant,
she seemed to be saying. Republi
cans have an agenda. Not only is it
written down, it is being done. It
Cal Thomas
isn’t about tomorrow; it’s about
today. It isn’t a promise for the
future; it is unfolding before our
eyes on the evening news and on
the front page of today’s newspa
per.
“There is nothing virtuous about
raising taxes,” Whitman said. In that
one sentence she undermined the
moral authority Democrats have
claimed for themselves since the New
Deal as they have bled the taxpayer
under the misguided theory that in
government should we trust, the only
source of redemption.
“There is nothing virtuous about
wasting other people’s money on
big-government spending sprees,”
she said. Other people’s money.
Your money. My money. Money we
earn and government takes away to
give to other people who don’t earn
it — many of whom can work, but
won’t; who engage in reckless
behavior not in their or the nation’s
interest that government subsidizes
instead of penalizing; who demand
subsidies for things they say is “art”
or “history” or “culture,” but turn
out to be quite different from what
we expect and too often quite
distasteful.
Whitman said that “success is
not measured in the number of laws
passed, but in results,” and she
cited her own pledge to cut New
Jersey’s taxes 30 percent by next
January.
Sounding like a prophetess,
Whitman said the November
election wasn’t the end, just the
beginning, and she pledged that by
the next State of the Union, “we’ll
have lower taxes, more efficient
government, a stronger America,
more faith in politics and in
America.”
The people are beginning to
understand that their government
isn’t broken, but that politicians
have messed it up. The system
works when the right people are in
charge.
The ’60s slogan “power to the*
people” is about to be realized as
power flows away from Washing
ton, back through the states and
into the minds, hearts (and pockets)
of individual Americans. That’s
where the Founders intended it to
be when they laid the cornerstone
of government with the words “We
the People.” That’s the only
covenant we need.
© 1995 Los Aageles Times Syndicate
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Advice for diners:
Beware of the mints
It’s been a few days since the
last terrifying food report. I
believe a study showed that
eating too much turkey can cause
severe sneezing attacks if you fail
to first remove the feathers.
So if you are looking for
something to worry about, you
might consider the concerns of
Hank Blumenthal.
The Blumenthals dine out a
lot, and Blumenthal says he has
noticed something that bothered
him enough to bring it to my
attention and suggest that the
public be made aware of it.
“Have you ever gone to the
men’s room in a nice restaurant,”
he says, “and observed how few
men wash their hands before
leaving?”
“I became aware of this
situation recently when, after I
washed my hands, another
gentleman who had just zipped
up exited the men’s room at the
same time as I, but stopped at the
counter for a handful of candy
before leaving.
“I have since become aware of
this practice by some of my
fellow diners.
“A fair percentage of them
wash their hands first, but others
don’t.
“As a result of my observa
tions, I now skip the mints unless
they are wrapped. I would just as
soon stop somewhere else and
buy myself a Snickers bar.
“But I thought you might be
interested in following up my
observations with an investiga
tion.
“You might get a half-empty
dish of candy from a few restau
rants and have them examined by
an independent laboratory and
publish a urinalysis report on the
findings.”
Yes, I suppose an investiga
tion of this sort could result in a
potentially sensational headline:
“Wee-Wee Germs Found on
Bistro Mints! Dining Slobs
Blamed!”
But there could be other
headlines too: “Columnist
Caught Lurking Near Restaurant
Washrooms!” Or, “Columnist
Seized Stealing Restaurant
Mints!”
After I spoke to Blumenthal, I
passed along his concerns to a
restaurant operator, Sam Sianis,
of the Billy Goat.
Sianis nodded and said: “I
never eat mints in a restaurant.”
Because you fear that they are
contaminated by the fingers of
those who don’t wash their
hands?
“No,” he said, “because mints
make me burp.”
Although he does not provide
r"..
Mike Royko
free mints, Sianis said he once
had a problem with his mustard,
which he puts out for hamburger
eaters, along with onions and
pickles.
“This woman is standing by
the counter, and she asks me if I
have any Grey Poupon. I told her
I have American yellow, and it is
better than Grey Poupon.
“So she puts her finger in the
mustard pan. I ask her, ‘Why you
do that?’ She says she wants to
know how it tastes before she
puts it on a hamburger. I told her
that she shouldn’t do that
because I don’t know where that
finger has been.
“Her boyfriend says, ‘Are you
telling my girlfriend that there is
something wrong with her *
finger?’ I said, ‘I don’t know
where her finger has been, and I
don’t know where your finger
has been.’ Nowadays, how do
you know? So I have to put out a
whole new pan of mustard.
“So the girlfriend said, ‘I have
never been talked to that way
before.’ And I told her, ‘Well,
you go around putting your
finger in other people’s mustard,
and you’ll get talked to that way
a lot, and maybe you will also get
a broken finger.’
“So the boyfriend says, ‘Are
you threatening my girlfriend?’
“And I picked up my biggest
knife and said: ‘No, not your
whole girlfriend; only her
finger.’
“After that, neither of them
put their fingers in the mustard
again. See, you explain things to
people nice, they understand.”
How true. In the meantime,
though, we might be wise to skip
the mints.
But Blumenthal, a man with
sharp powers of observation, also
said: “I sometimes wonder if the
same threat exists with the
bartender who tops off my vodka
martini with a lemon twist.
“Of course, the alcohol would
probably kill any germs. That’s
one of the benefits of a martini.”
Advertising men can feel free
to use that thought in a commer
cial.
£>1995 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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Mike Luckovlch
