[November 5, 2015] It is of interest that American society is engaged in a serious effort to counter racial and sexual stereotypes. Likewise there has been a concerted effort over the past few years to counter military veteran stereotypes. But, it is believed in some scientific circles, that overly positive stereotypes of veterans are not necessarily a good thing.
From the U.S. military itself to veteran and other non-profit organizations, many leaders have come forward to defend veterans. Their mission to minimize the influence of stereotypes is admiral. This trend is beneficial in many aspects. It helps educate the public and reduces the impact of stereotypes.
While the American society sees military veterans as “valuable assets,” most also see them as less educated and suffering disproportionately from post-traumatic stress disorder.1 This idea ties into the public narrative that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have generated a cadre of veterans prone to violence.2 The stereotyping affects the veteran’s ability to integrate back into society, tougher to find jobs, and manifests itself in too much pity and charity and not enough on empowerment.3
While those who lead the fight to reduce the impact of stereotyping of military veterans, it can be argued that it is the overly positive stereotypes also damage. A number of psychological studies have demonstrated that those believing in excessively positive stereotypes also adhere to overtly negative ones too.4 This may explain the American propensity to love the veteran but also to fear him.
The fact is that the vast majority of veterans returning from war are healthy and ready to lead. They are more resilient emotionally, physically, and spiritually than their non-veteran peers. For example, the veteran is more likely to volunteer in their community, fix problems in their neighborhoods, vote in elections, more trusting of their neighbors, and do favors for and help their neighbors.5
Reality however is not so important when we make decisions based on perceptions. This is part of a social trend that increasingly puts greater worth on image, not on substance. Getting to know the veteran is an important goal for any society. Every veteran came from our communities and that is where they will all return.
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- http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/06/14/poll-america-values-vets-but-stereotypes-them.html
- This is, of course, similar to the negative stereotyping of Vietnam veterans.
- VFW Magazine, November/December 2015 Issue, pages 16-20: http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=274898
- https://medium.com/collection-of-essays/stereotypes-a-big-problem-in-our-modern-society-4137a916b2c6#.8alqdzmmy
- http://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/CORe/141024_veteran_stereotypes.pdf