Stereotyping Right or Wrong?

Stereotyping right or wrong?

Written By: Travis Crawford

PHI103: Informal Logic

Instructor: Debrina Washington

July 13, 2013

Stereotyping in today's society is very typical, and often not called for. I have experienced stereotyping a lot during the last decade of my life while battling addiction and being an ex-felon. Some of society believes that if you are an addict in recovery or not, or if you are an ex-felon you are a bad person. That is the type of stereotyping me myself and other people face every day in today's society.

The saying that is used a lot by an addict is once an addict always an addict. While this is true, since there is no cure for addiction, recovery can happen. I have been in recovery for over four and a half years and have changed my life for the better, but the fact is I am still an addict but now the difference is I don't use any more. People in society that are not familiar with the recovery process of an addiction do not understand.

Part of the recovery process is changing our beliefs and our thinking in whole. Taking care of our responsibilities differently. Part of that change is being honest not only to ourselves but being honest to other people whom we interact with in everyday life. One example of this is when going to interview for a job I always let the company know that I am in recovery and just have to hope they understand that my way of life has changed, but sometimes they automatically think, oh he is a drug addict and he is probably still using drugs, and might end up stealing something from us or using during work hours and getting hurt on the job.

See the only thing that most people see and think when they hear the word addict is, someone who is not a good person and someone who is going to steal or cheat or lie and can't be trusted, even if the addict has been in recovery for numerous years like myself. We as addicts do change I can now take responsibility for my actions. I also have changed the way I think, my beliefs, my morals have become more like a responsible citizen. Before it was all about me now after my sobriety my family comes before anything.

Another form of stereotyping I have faced during my life is that of being an ex-felon. Even while I was incarcerated in prison, the correction officers that worked at the prison stereotyped us inmates, some of us were minimum custody and some of us were maximum, depending on your crime, but yet the guards had to put us all as the same I guess because of the situation.

But after release society looks at you and says ex-felon you must be a bad person they don't consider