Alright, so people keep bringing up this question, you know, the one about black men and, well, their size. It’s one of those things that gets thrown around a lot, like it’s some kind of established fact everyone’s in on.
Honestly, it reminds me of a whole lot of other stuff folks just say without really thinking. It takes me back, way back, to when I was working this gig, pretty much a dead-end job, but hey, it paid the bills. At that place, everyone, and I mean everyone, had this rock-solid idea that people from the next town over, let’s call it “Mapleton,” were just plain lazy. No good workers from Mapleton, they’d say. And you know what? I kinda just nodded along. Didn’t question it. It was just “common knowledge” there.
Then This New Guy Showed Up
So, one Monday, this new fella starts. Name was Dave. And guess where Dave was from? Yep, Mapleton. You could almost see everyone thinking, “Oh boy, here we go.” They were already writing him off. I remember my supervisor, a decent guy usually, even pulled me aside and said, “Keep an eye on this one, probably gonna have to pick up his slack.”
Well, let me tell you. That Dave fella? He came in and just blew everyone out of the water. First one in, last one out. Did his job, then asked if anyone needed a hand. Never complained, just got stuff done. Efficient, smart, the whole nine yards. Within a month, he was outperforming guys who’d been there for years. Suddenly, that whole “Mapleton folks are lazy” thing started to sound real stupid. It just crumbled. Completely fell apart right in front of our eyes.
It really hit me hard. I’d just gone along with that stereotype, never even thought to question it. Just accepted it ’cause that’s what everyone said. Seeing Dave, day in and day out, just being a solid worker, a good dude, it was like a light switch flipped for me. How many other things, I wondered, was I just accepting as true ’cause I heard it somewhere? No proof, no personal experience, just… talk.
My “practice,” if you wanna call it that, ever since that whole Dave episode, has been pretty straightforward. When I hear these big, sweeping claims about any group of people – doesn’t matter who, or what the claim is – I just get this big red flag in my head. Is this something someone actually knows, or is it just another “Mapleton” story?
So, when that question about black men and their anatomy comes up, my mind just kinda goes back to Dave from Mapleton. It makes me think about how easy it is for these ideas to spread, ideas that often have no real basis other than someone said it, and someone else repeated it. Most of the time, it ain’t about facts or reality. It’s just noise, you know? People repeating stuff. My way of dealing with it? I just don’t buy into the hype or the gossip. I learned to look at folks as individuals, not as a walking stereotype someone cooked up. That’s my takeaway. That’s what I stick to.
