Most of us know what a stereotype is.  It's an oversimplified, general opinion about what something or someone is like. You've heard of labor-saving devices. Well, stereotypes are thought-saving devices, because when you accept a stereotype, you don't have to think for yourself at all. Your idea comes to you frozen, prepackaged, ready to use. You just thaw it out and slip it into your brain like a microwave - nothing further is required. 

But do you realize how dangerous it is to have someone else do your thinking for you? The Nazis fed people stereotyped ideas of Jews and Gypsies to justify murdering them. Racists will tell you what African Americans are like. Sexists will tell you what women or gay people are like. Conservatives will tell you about liberals and vice-versa. Those who foment terrorism rely on stereotyping, because without it, their rhetoric falls flat.

Candidates for elective office, and the committees behind them, are counting on people to be too lazy or distracted to look beyond what they hear in ads on the radio, and see on television and in magazines and "news" reports.

If you want to grow as a person, you must become your own authority. Look beneath the surface, and beware of labels. A label is a one-size-fits-all stereotype, but human beings come in all sizes and styles, all colors and models, and all gloriously different! We must celebrate our differences, not ridicule.

Oversimplification and overgeneralization rob you of your power and others of their uniqueness. So resist stereotypes, wherever you find them.