Every Jorge I Know is Gay

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A few years back, a couple of guys moved to the town near me and opened a small coffee shop that served baked goods.  One of the owners was named Jorge.  Since it was near the high school, it became an after school hangout for the teenaged crowd.  A friend’s daughter often went there and described in glowing details how cool and urban the place was for a small town.  My friend casually mentioned the community’s suspicion that the couple was gay.  The daughter said, “Well of course he is gay.  Every Jorge I know is gay.”  Follow-up questions led to the daughter acknowledging that this was the only Jorge she knew.

What leads us to make such sweeping statements?  Why do we stereotype an individual or people group by slapping a defining label across their collective foreheads?  These are questions to wrestle with as many call for social reform across the nation.  While there are many layers to this question, I would like to focus on one - confirmation bias.

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We all develop preconceived notions that help us make sense of the world.  Often, we take these prejudgments and look for examples to confirm our hypotheses and theories.  Other times an incident presents itself and plows up an old prejudice that is no longer a part of our daily, conscious thought.  For example, seeing a large, white dog and hearing it growl may surface a childhood memory of being bitten by the neighbor’s white dog which in turn leads us to issue a blanket statement that, “You can’t trust white dogs – they will bite.”

This thought of confirming a bias has been reinforced for me this fall.  As I travel back and forth to town, I often meet a truck loaded with hunters.  I know nothing of these individuals – it is mere chance encounter as our vehicles pass.  I label them hunters because of the camo clothing they wear.  An ATV in the bed cements the assessment.  On the dash of many of these vehicles is a blaze orange cap.  Every time I see that orange cap I peg the guys as road hunters.  Why do I leap to this conclusion?  Because on more than one occasion while working a deer decoy, I have seen a hunter reach for an orange cap on their dash before stepping out to shoot the decoy from the roadway.  The mental image is so overwhelming that I toss my orange cap in the floor of the truck whenever I’m driving - I won't even leave it on the seat.

Earlier this month I heard an interview on NPR with Chris Rock on finding the line between funny and too far.  The interviewer made a statement to the effect that many comedians routinely engage in gay bashing during their shows.  Rock responded, “Name two.”  The interviewer was frustrated by this response and Rock again challenged her to name two comedians who engaged in this behavior.  Rock said that the “name two” question is one he often uses when someone uses terms like “always” or other hyperbolic statements.

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Confirmation bias becomes even more intense when the media and entertainers chose to reinforce these stereotypes.  It is easy to find someone on television, radio, Internet forums or blogs that confirms our stereotypes.  We just finished binge watching Sons of Anarchy and Season 1 of True Detective.  In SOA, there wasn’t a single cop or correctional officer depicted in seven seasons that wasn’t corrupt.  In True Detective, the primary characters were profane, alcoholic womanizers that continually cut legal corners, including the murder of a suspect, to arrive at “justice.”  Of course we can't trust cops.

We fail into this trap of conformation bias almost continually.  How often have we heard the story of a shopper checking out in the grocery store, using food stamps or EBT, only to leave the store and drive away in an expensive car (I still hear of them driving away in a Cadillac although I don’t know a single person who drives a Caddy these days)?  A few years back I recall a clerk in a small convenience store lamenting after selling a case of beer to two Hispanic men that, "all these Mexicans do is lay around and drink beer in Sundays.”  (Never mind that she just sold the subject of her judgment).  And it has already been determined, all Jorges are gay.

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So, how do we avoid this bias?  I think the simplest and first step is self-awareness.  The Chris Rock test isn't too bad – name two examples.  Second, terms like “always,” "many," "most," and “never” should raise a red flag and put us on alert with ourselves and others.  And finally, I have to remind myself often to withhold judgment until I hear a balanced version.  While it is easy to fall into the confirmation trap, it is just as easy and dangerous to discard evidence that doesn't support our theories.

With all that said maybe I should consider that the dash of those guy's trucks as just a convenient spot to place your orange cap.