What’s in the Box?

“Seven” fans are giggling – but no heads will roll today.

An interesting question was posted recently, on a popular social media site. As soon as I started reading, I noticed the comments were already turned off – and wasn’t surprised as I continued to read. As I read, with a slowly growing frown and shaking of my head, the post “went south” with each additional response posted. The question itself was curious…but also the kind of question that when you read it, you just know – nothing good is coming out of this.

Many people are uncomfortable with the unknown or uncertain, or even things that are just different to them. It sits in their underwear, scratching at them, or in a some corner of their mind, while the brain is assessing and deciding whether it’s a threat or it’s just something different, but not a threat. At which point it’s packed safely into a neatly categorized and labelled box.

Stereotypes are a perfect example of this “boxing up” of others. We come across something we aren’t familiar with, so our minds reach back into those shady, unused areas digging for info and there they find zilch, except maybe some long-forgotten tidbit we once heard from the friend of a friend, from their cousin who once saw/heard/experienced…blah, blah, blah…and our brains latch onto it with a “Eureka!” and that’s the stance we take. It becomes, “Canadians are/do…” and, “U.S. Americans are/do…” or, “Mexicans are/do…” because we’ve pushed it all into that particular box so it’s easily identifiable with minimal work by our brains.

I can’t quite decide if the original post was trolling, or the person is actually that naive in expecting legitimate responses. Either way, the responses weren’t really a surprise to me – which in itself is sad. At this point, you’re probably wondering what this provocative question actually was? The question was asking what people think Mexican’s consider “taboo” – and it was asked on an expat page.

To repeat; someone wants to know what’s taboo to Mexicans – and is asking a bunch of people who aren’t Mexican. Please tell me I’m not the only one bouncing my forehead off my laptop keyboard.

Unless you’re gathering the information to show the stereotypes foreigners have of Mexicans, posting this question on an expat page is just asking for a shit-show of racism, stereotyping, fallacies and flat out ignorance – which is exactly the response it got. “Mexicans don’t wear shorts,” was one of the responses. Say what??? I don’t even know where to go with that one. Seriously, I’m trying to rein in the sarcasm today. I live on a Mexican tropical island. Shorts are de rigeur darling. I can’t even bring up some of the other responses I read, or we’ll be here all day with me ranting. I’m trying folks (so was this fucking post).

There are 62 tribes in Mexico, 68 languages spoken and over 300 regional dialects. How anyone can think a broad-stroke answer to anything can be applied to the people here, is beyond me. Men, women, children, Aztec, Maya, Zapotec and more…plus immigrants and naturalized Mexicans to boot. What answer, to any question, defines this entire group? Nada.

Okay, they’re Mexican *shrugs* I’ll give you that one.

Clothing is different from region to region, the food, drinks, even names of similar foods and drinks are different in separate regions, language, accent, physical appearance…on and on it goes. Ask 30 people to describe a Mexican, you may get 30 different answers, then again, you may get remarkably similar answers – depending on whom you ask and the amount of stereotyping running amok.

With people of colour and those who stand with them, pushing back against the systemic racism prevalent in our society, with the discussion of long-standing racial inequality currently happening more openly, with the emergence of terms such as binary, transgendered, pan, etc. and the growing acceptance and understanding that there’s more to people than just “he” and “she…” with all the moves forward to become a more inclusive society – why are some people so insistent on sticking others into a labelled, defined and small box? Are we really that lazy as a species? People, curiosity did not kill the cat! It’s time to open up and educate ourselves. These teeny restrictive boxes gotta go, they’re crushing our society.

While the question was about Mexicans and it was posed to people who supposedly live here in Mexico (I say “supposedly” because anyone on one of these groups can tell you they’re chock-full of people who don’t actually live here), really, it’s the responses that highlight the problem in some regard, more than the question itself.

My thoughts are that maybe, what this world could use less of, is stereotyping. Less assumptions, more curiosity – and willingness to learn about our differences. Less categorizing. Less labelling of others. Maybe if some of these behaviours change to start with, other behaviours and bad habits will follow and we will find ourselves in a more accepting, peaceful and compassionate place – and I’ll be able to stop messaging Zuckerberg about that eye-roll emoji I must have for cruising FB.

Okay, let’s be honest…

I will always want an eye-roll emoji.