Countering negative stereotypes by claiming superiority reinforces rather than escapes dehumanization

Evidence

I guess one thing that I feel is that sometimes, and I’ve done this too, our response is, “We’re not bad, actually we are great, and we’re the best civilization ever, and we’re al actual y educated.” And that’s one strategy, to enlighten people about our history. But if the goal is to be seen as human, then let’s really be human. That means that we have our great things, but we have our problems too. So maybe the goal is to remind people of our humanity, our messy stuff and our great stuff — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 439

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A subtle, genuinely counterintuitive argument: the standard defensive response to stereotype (asserting exceptional greatness) keeps the group defined in relation to the white gaze rather than achieving full humanity. This resists easy summary.
• APHORISMS: ‘If the goal is to be seen as human, then let’s really be human’ reads as life advice about how to respond to misrepresentation.
• XREF: connects to: Denying others’ subjectivity reduces the denier to a thing — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 618; Positive stereotypes can justify subordination more effectively than negative ones — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2956