The concept of stereotypes has been around for a very long time. It’s only fairly recently that “Social Warriors” have taken up the fight to eliminate the use of stereotypes using the universal weapon of shame. I’m not saying that I’m in favor of keeping or eliminating the use of stereotypes. I’m saying that the point is moot. There are no stereotypes anymore.
Stereotypes have historically been a “bad thing”, because they encourage prejudice. They allow you to assume the behavior or personality of someone based on external factors. I certainly don’t need to bring up racial stereotypes, we all have plenty of examples for that.
Stereotypes provide a slightly less offensive use, also. They are coping mechanisms, where one can sort of explain away behavior that they find objectionable. Like I say, that’s only slightly more offensive, since all you’re doing is reinforcing the stereotype in your mind for future prejudice.
Anyway, like I said, there’s no reason for any of that anymore. I’ll provide an example and you can build it out from there. Long ago, you could make an educated guess (which is just a polite term for prejudice) as to how a driver would behave on the road based on the vehicle they drove. BMW drivers? Women in minivans? Old, beat-up, rusty Toyotas? Little foreign cars with fart cans for mufflers, lowered to the ground? Are you developing mental images for each of these? Well, those images are all outdated.
You used to be able to see a car swerve on the road and say, “Typical (stereotype). No surprises there.” Or pull up behind a vehicle covered with bumper stickers and think, “Yup, pretty much what I thought” when you analyze the stickers’ content. But no more. Any car can surprise you. An “old-person Buick” goes weaving through the lanes; you get honked at by a fleet of micro-sized cars; middle fingers from corporate vehicles.
The reality is, everyone is an asshole. It doesn’t matter what car they drive, they are going to be an asshole on the road. Taking that a little further, it doesn’t matter what their gender is, what their race is, or what their religion is. They are going to drive like shit and put everyone at risk for their own selfishness.
Now, can this logic be applied outside of the highways and interstates? Maybe, but probably not yet. Over time, maybe we can eliminate our differences in the non-driving world and we can all be a common humanity of assholes. I can see progress being made on that front every day.
But more seriously, there are so many goddamned people now, it is not possible to be prejudiced. You simply cannot predict what any one people will say or do. You will consistently be surprised, for better or worse, and usually for the worse. If you try to create stereotypes, you will have so many distinctions that it becomes useless to try and refine them any further. It’s part of the individualization fashion, started when Windows 3.1 came out. Yes, I blame Windows.
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