Alex Rodriguez may just be a decent guy
...yon, expect to see what they have already seen in the brochures, pictures, and on the internet. They envision the Grand Canyon as being like in the name, “grand.” If it is rainy, cloudy, snowy, or anything less than their mental picture they had before arrival, they will be probably be disappointed with the whole trip. Sightseers are being stereotyped by the park rangers. The rangers put up viewing stations all around the park believing that if one sightseer enjoyed the view from that location, all of the sightseers will like it. Viewing stations make it harder for the sightseer to see what they want to see. It is all due to stereotypes. Everyone has them. The sightseer stereotypes landmarks as being beautiful and perfect, and the park rangers stereotype the sightseers as liking certain experiences and viewpoints. People often use stereotypes on other people, just as the park rangers do. Athletes are an often target of stereotyping. In the world of Major League Baseball, Alex Rodriguez is stereotyped as a money-driven jerk. It is true, that he is money driven. In 2000 he was making $47.95 a second (Rodriguez). For three years he received that nice sum. He was then traded to the New York Yankees, and took a pay cut, so that he could be on a more winning team than the Texas Rangers. Still being paid millions of dollars a year, many people don’t like him. In his “other” life that is unknown to most people, Rodriguez has done some notable things. He has raised over a million dollars for the Boys and Girls Club of America. He also donated 3.9 million dollars to the University of Miami, his hometown. He even started his own foundation, the A-rod foundation, which supports sick and poor children (Sanchez). Many people know nothing about this because they don’t look beyond their own stereotype of Rodriguez. Many people say he is an overpaid big shot (Rodriguez). He may be overpaid, but would you complain if you made that much money? Would you deny that much money, because it’s unfair to others? I doubt it. He is stereotyped because of his money as a jerk, but in reality, it seems that he may be a giving and generous person. It’s hard to know because people’s stereotypes get in the way of finding out who athletes really are. Percy wrote about a man finding a dogfish on the beach and cutting it open with a knife. It is an amazing and unexpected experience for the man. Percy compared that to a student in a science lab dissecting the dogfish. The student sees the dogfish as a specimen, he stereotypes it. He goes on to say, “once a person is seen as a specimen of a race or a species, at that very moment he ceases to be an individual. Then there are no more individuals, but only specimens” (Percy 597). In professional basketball, Lisa Leslie and Rasheed Wallace are heavily stereotyped as being bad role models. They are specimens. They are under the class badrolemodelusious. They are put in this class, by the fans and the media. Once people see that they are bad role models, they are more than likely to be bad role models for the rest of time. On the court Wallace, has thrown tantrums and said things he shouldn’t have. These are legitimate reasons to believe that Wallace may not be a good role model, but it is impossible to truly know him and judge him by that. A person who doesn’t stereotype athletes may know that like Rodriguez, Wallace has a foundation. His foundation “helps improve the quality of education and life” (Wallace). He helps the ...