I Dislike Stereotypes

I don't like stereotypes. No, I never did enjoy the idea of a stereotype. Does being a hardcore scientist imply that I cannot have affiliations with the metaphysical? Does being a computer scientist imply that I cannot be interested in human biology concepts? Does being a geek imply that I cannot be an accomplished musician in my own right? Does being a musician mean that I cannot be a writer as well?

What manner of nonsense is this?

Stereotypes are bad; they are bad because they force people to partition other people into distinct groups, where each group may be characterised by a generalised set of properties. For instance, one stereotype can be based on race, while another can be based along the lines of discipline. Thus the adage that "yellow people have slanted eyes" or even "computer scientists cannot write well". Of course, applying generalisations like that is purely nonsensical, since each and every one of us is an individual, and is thus subscribed to our own forms of idiosyncrasies that cannot be easily characterised by a whole set of very generalised traits.

I particularly detest stereotypes for a very good reason: I am a person who never did believe in staying in one field for too long. While I am very enthusiastic in developing a specialisation in the field of computer science, I never did intend to limit myself to only that field, in terms of knowledge seeking. Thus, it is to my chagrin that when I say that I am a Reiki practitioner that people actually turn around and stare at me with a queer eye and asking me if there was anything wrong with me.

Damnit people, I'm a human first and foremost. I may believe in the efficacy of science, but I also believe that science is not necessarily the answer to all our questions about the world. If science were the only explanation of the world, then try explaining the effects of accupuncture using science—I dare you. Explain the capabilities of accupuncture, the positive effects of accupuncture without resorting to explaining through the use of the meridiens and the concept of acupressure points. Science appeals to Occam's Razor, and yet when confronted with a seemingly simpler explanation which does not use too much of what is conventionally known as science, science falters and resorts to an overly complicated hand-waving to try to dismiss the claim as a quackery.

Before anyone tries to debunk me as being a naysayer stirring up a hornets' nest, let me remind all that science as we know it is an empirical science. Empirical means it is based on experimentation and such. Now, this does not exclude the possibility of other forms of sciences; in fact the whole field of theoretical science is one where direct experimentation is not likely to be possible as yet, and all the related theories and such are argued logically rather than experimented upon directly. What science cannot explain now, doesn't mean that it is impossible or not true; it just demonstrates the current limit of science. While I do not claim that science is worthless (it isn't), I do claim that science at its current state still has limitations, despite the fact that it can explain a lot of phenomena at this point in time.

Which brings me to my initial grouse. Why is it that when people talk to me, they expect only a person who is well en-armoured with science and science alone? Why do people give me that kind of a skeptical look when I say that I am involved in some metaphysical context? Why can't people realise that a human in the modern world is not one who is unavoidably bounded by technology and science alone? Why do people keep on applying senseless stereotypes on me?

For goodness sake, grow up. There is more to the world than what we think we can see or perceive. There are others who may seem to be inferior to us who are learned in the fields of science and technology, but they can be the very ones who can teach us something the science and technology alone cannot teach us. The intangible thing that other people can teach us, is something known as morals, ethics and the meaning of life.

So, do yourself a favour. Stop dissing people and putting them into stereotypes; be more open-minded and look at the world from the different perspectives that others can provide, before coming to a conclusion for yourself. Just because you might belong to a group of people who do not believe that something is true doesn't necessarily make that thing false; it could just mean that you have grown close-minded and are thus unwilling to start looking at things from a different perspective.