http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/14560/
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While stereotyping is patently anathema in our current Edvard Munch dispensation of farcically exaggerated expressions of shock at the depravities of the human heart, I submit here that “stereotyping”–among the most infrequently examined words in our language–is undeserving of its classification between “snobbishness” and “bigotry.” Most often overlooked are two key nuances embedded in the term. First, stereotyping is an extraordinarily useful practice. It allows us to peruse our world in shorthand without getting overwhelmed by details. By bundling fleeting impressions and mapping them onto previously understood facts, we move with greater efficiency through a myriad of sensual stimuli and brief social interactions.
Second, stereotypes aren’t–or shouldn’t be–final judgments about individual people. I am delighted when my stereotypes are proven wrong by those with whom I am able to interact in greater intimacy. Stereotypes, in a very real way, are made to be broken. They are merely placeholders, ways of indexing strangers, but they are not fixed, and actually do not work at all when they are. Just as the original meaning of “stereotype” was a dual picture viewed through a special spacing device that produced a three-dimensional image of a scene, stereotypes are merely abstractions of the infinitely complex world. Stereotypes do not replace detailed judgment, they merely help suspend it until it is necessary to engage with someone on a deeper level than a chance passing calls for.
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This means giving people the benefit of the doubt, and insisting on the irreplaceable dignity of each human being. But until the time for that more intimate personal interaction comes, I will make up my mind about strangers based upon the only information available to me: how they look, and how they act. I will make my own tentative judgments, and I will be more wary of some than of others. With malice towards none, but with a full realization of the existence of evil in the world, I will stereotype, until I have reason not to.
