Stereotypes

Stereotypes...I wish they didn't exist or at least people didn't let them run their lives. Getting to know people on an individual basis is the best way to get to know a person and what drives them. Someone told me this morning that they HATED (strong word) the south because everyone was fat and spoke ignorantly. Well, I know these things aren't true, but this person doesn't. She has based an entire region of the United States on a few people she has seen. Some stereotypes you might have heard and maybe you even believe are as follows:

1. People with tattoos and motorcycle riders love to raise hell

2. Jewish people are stingy

3. Southern baptists love to tell you how to live your life

4. Black people generally sell drugs

5. Mexicans are lazy

6. If you are poor, you must be lazy

7. Southerners are ignorant and racist

8. Convicted felons are always bad

9. If you are rich, you must be an a-hole

10. Northerners are jerks

The fact is that none of these stereotypes are a fact. They are mass opinions that people have created to help them JUDGE people without having to put the effort into actually getting to know them. Now...I am stepping off my soapbox.