So as all of you are aware, stereotyping is a major flaw that every human is naturally predisposed to. It is the soul major reason for inequality in this world. What is your opinion on what should be done with it? Leave it? Or eradicate it (which would mean the destruction of humanity, since stereotyping cannot be eliminated within any living human)?

i thought stereotying was when u use all CAPS
or both hands
or two different computers in different parts of the room

i like fku2's version of stereotyping..i've never done THAT KIND OF STEREOTYPING BEFORE. I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO TRY IT

In my opinion:

We could make an attempt to stop perpetuating certain stereotypes (dumb blonde, starving artist, emo kid) but we can’t blame our brains for noticing similarities and developing patterns based on those similarities.

The more varied and diverse your life is the less likely people will be able to stick you clearly into one statistical category.

To everyone else in the world I’m sure I come off as a nerdy white kid. But little do they know I am also a renowned dodgeball player, hip-hop artist, and shitty stand up.

The most interesting people I know are these types of mutts, doing all sorts of different things with their lives.

stereotyping is an opportunity to educate. leaving alone can do only one thing - lead to racism, hate, and more uneducated people.

stereotyping isn't a major flaw, it's an unchecked logical consequence of our ability to seek pattern in the environment. our pattern seeking ability is a major reason why we're here to have this discussion.

This is my take on Stereotyping - with my little education in sociology:

Generalizing in itself is not a flaw; it is a coping mechanism to deal with the complexities of everything that we face. It also allows to recognize patterns that might be beneficial to us.

The problems occur when we take that generalization and we apply it pre-emptively to A PERSON, assuming their future actions, emotions, AND allowing that generalization to alter our judgement about their intentions. This is when generalizing becomes stereotyping.

It is also an issue of self-identification. It is a common theory in sociology that the stronger you identify yourself in one way, the more generalized "the others" may seem. For example, if you identify yourself strongly as a man, then all women will seem to have similar traits while men are unique and have more diverse traits. In that way, "the others" are "less" human. That is a huge problem, because that leads to unsympathetic actions/words that they may feel is justified.

A common problem I see, is that most people think that the kind of stereotyping (and actions based on those stereotypes) that is bad is the kind where we do so based on something superficial. Like the color of our skin. The truth is all actions based on stereotyping is bad. Would it be any better if we did it on something less superficial like religion, or political beliefs? How has that worked out so far?

So the issue isn't necessarily isn't generalizing in itself, but the fact that we create the idea of "the others" and that justifies actions/words that lack empathy and recognition that we are all equal beings.

Your last paragraph, Slart, also very nicely sums up why our current two-party political system is getting us further and further away from the possibility of any meaningful public discourse.