Stereotypes: Steam Engines and (subtly) KFC

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell brings to light another pretty important issue when it comes to animals and our understanding of them. "They always seemed to think that a horse was something like a steam engine, only smaller" (Chapter 29). I am about to take this completely out of context, but I think it is interesting enough of a truth that it doesn't really matter at all. Earlier today at lunch I was talking to a couple of my friends about stereotyping. One of my friends, Abby, said something like "Stereotyping and labeling are necessary to everyday life. I can't not label people." I'm talking mainly about the common racial stereotypes that we are all so familiar with, such as "black people are great at basketball", or "Asians are the best studiers", or "Mexicans are hard workers." These observations are obviously not always true, and many times they are the cause of great offense, but I want to take a quick look at how we apply these same labeling tactics to animals.


When we talk about animals, we always have these subconscious images associated with them. This goes back a little bit to my entry on animals and languages, but I think it goes a little deeper than that. We, as humans, are constantly associating ourselves with things, and then associating those things with other things. For example, I have a good friend who is obsessed with being as sneaky and stealthy as possible. By this point, I have associated her with a cat, because she is always prowling around. Give it two years, and there is a chance that when I hear her name I immediately think "cat!". If you ask me right now what I think of when I think cats, however, I'll probably rattle off a list of their different aspects: mysterious, sleepy, sly, affectionate...all of these things.


In black beauty, we see a horse become associated with a "steam-engine". What characteristics do steam engines display? They are mechanic, durable, strong, and relentless. When a horse in the book becomes labeled as a steam-engine, the driver sub-consciously assigns these attributes to that particular horse. He is made to become a machine. The driver abandons all sense of compassion and sympathetic imagination.


My point in this post is not argue that comparative organization is bad, because I strongly feel like it is a fun and useful linguistic tool (and I think you could argue that it is how we are wired as humans), but I feel like it is absolutely necessary that we remain aware that each individual, whether it be animal or human) is a stand-alone being. A horse is a horse, not a train. My friend is an individual, not a cat.

The end.