Video courtesy of Kevin Victory.
People need to belong, they need to connected to their surroundings and communities. This is why there has always been them and us, as a way of belonging. Stereotyping creates certainty that defines others as different and to place people and communities into categories that we understand. This can be benign or sinister depending on the motives of those spreading the message. Stereotyping on a benign level can be a used as light humour that may hold a grain of truth. From the frugal Scottish to the loud Americans they are more informative than inflammatory. In many ways we have bought into the stereotypes ourselves from Paddy wagons to Arthurs Day. We must look beyond stereotypes, by being open minded to experience of people and cultures different to our own. All peoples and cultures have much to offer to the human experience if we chose to look. When it comes to sinister stereotyping the consequences are catastrophic and can change the course of human history. The stereotyping of Irish as lazy, ape like creatures, worthy of little compassion lead to the great hunger. The Jewish holocaust was fuelled by concerted stereotyping of Jews as parasitises on society inflamed by an evil Nazi regime.