Stereotype: n. a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing: the stereotype of the woman as the carer | sexual and racial stereotypes.
Stereotypes, I am full of them. Stereotypes about countries and peoples, the sexes, professions, whatever. Traveling around this multi-dimentional country makes me realize how strong a foundation they have in my mind and how obtuse I am for giving in to them. It's easy, of course. Way easier than thinking. And it makes for a good joke.
Only when I am treated as a stereotype do I understand fully how painful and humiliating that can be. We laugh most of the time, right? We have to keep the good humour. But what if it's not a joke? What if it's a mean, bitter, even angry remark. A remark you don't feel you have provoked with your personal behaviour... A remark based on a stereotype about your gender, hair colour, political views, education... anything... that you see as fundamentally wrong and not relating to your personality even a tiny little bit. I cannot laugh.
It is possible that I care too much. But ignorance and closed-mindedness piss me off. And then I look into my head and see what a wealth of these traits I possess.
I'm not going anywhere with that.
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