Paterson worries about leaving NY state

Governor Paterson is not going to impact our blind stereotype one way or the other.  Even if people look at him and say, "How noble and brave", or "what a totally incompetent fool".  It will not budge the public stereotype one inch( or centimeter if you're Canadian). 

The base line is the stereotype.  We make our judgments on it.  So whether folks see Paterson, or you or me, as wonderful or incompetent never puts a dent in their basic belief that blindness is a major tragedy which leaves all suffers as inferior to the sighted public. 

If they don't believe this, why would they go to great lengths to praise a fellow who just managed to tie his own shoe string? 

Of course calling a blind fellow like Paterson a fool and dependent is not a reflection on people's base stereotype.  It is confirmation of what they thought of Paterson the man.  And they use blindness because it's the most handy club to whack him with. 

I would submit that even if all blind people suddenly became super blind, the public attitude would remain the same. 

Here's my final shot at this subject.  Suppose your neighbor is mentally challenged.  Yet he has been carefully trained to clean his house, mow his lawn, pick up the trash, go to his job at the work shop and smile and greet you every time you pass one another.  For all practical purposes this neighbor is "normal".  But how do you really feel about him?  Do you see him as your equal, or as a high achiever.  Someone to be admired. 

We have a deep prejudice toward people who are mentally challenged, and it impacts our interaction and our belief about who they are, no matter how we try to get past it.  The same is true of our blind stereotype.  

Curious Carl

 

----- Original Message -----

From: John Heim

To: acb-l@acb.org

Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 9:01 AM

Subject: Re: [acb-l] Paterson worries about leaving NY state

Oh, I think you are very much mistaken about Governor Paterson not giving us
a black eye.

When people  think of it at all, they are going to assume he was fairly
typical for a blind person. Its a kind of "been there, done that" thing.
They are going to think they've seen what a blind governor is like. Didn't
we already have a blind governor once? Look how that turned out.

If you could press people on it, they'd probably even admit that they have
no reason to believe that Governor Paterson is typical. But that kind of
logic just doesn't matter. Its just not the way the human nind works.
Instead, it collects stereotypes and ignores exceptions. You can see it with
racism. There have been lots of studies that show that when people who are
racist are confronted with people who defy the stereotypes they just figure
those people are the exceptions. A racist can even have a friend of another
race and continue to believe the racial stereotypes because he just thinks
"they're all like that except his friend".

I've seen this myself firsthand with blindness. Many of my sighted friends
still insist they'd kill themselves if they went blind. So I ask them, "How
in the world can you think its so bad being blind when you know how full my
life is? They say, "Well, you're special." That I might be a fairly average
blind guy is impossible for them to grasp. And every thing Governor Paterson
confirms it.

Well, not everything. Not the womanizing. That part probably is a problem
for most people. But I'm guessing that most people account for it by
thinking of him as a lecherous old man. That a blind person might be
sexually attractive probably doesn't fit.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Eric Calhoun" <eric@pmpmail.com>; <acb-l@acb.org>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: [acb-l] Paterson worries about leaving NY state


> Actually Eric, my spin on this is that Paterson was doomed because he was
> not playing ball with the right people.  He may not have been the sort of
> leader that his predecessor had been, although to his credit he wasn't
> spending his time with high priced hookers, but he was blocked by a very
> hostile legislature.
> While I shed no tears over his departure, I do not think he gave blind
> people a bad rap at all.  He is probably seen by the general public as
> rather special.  And since many of his blind detractors are folks who
> would
> tear Jesus Christ apart if He returned to earth as a Blind Savior, I don't
> listen to their cries either.
> And finally, most state governors are not looking so hot these days,
> through
> no particular fault of their own.  States are in Free Fall and when they
> hit
> bottom we will all be in the pit together.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>


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