books
feb 28
2007

On Stereotypes

Lately I've been thinking about how writers enjoy making declarations like "We live in an age in which..." or "New Yorkers are the kinds of people who..." or "Paris Hilton is representative of our time because...." Statements like these are addictive in their simplicity, creating the appearance of aphoristic profundity. And I'm more ridiculously guilty of this form of generalization than anyone. (I recently looked back at the columns I wrote in my college newspaper. Nearly every screed declares how we live in a new era of [whatever].) And that's why I really enjoyed Chuck's Esquire column this month about stereotypes.

3 comments

And of course the blogging equivalent of this phenomenon is starting your entry title with "The Future Of..."

If I had a nickel...

posted by Mike D. at 2:55 AM on February 28, 2007

In my opinion, the worst example of this is throwing in "Our culture" when describing things that are pretty global. "Our culture is so celebrity crazed." More than Europe? More than many of the East Asian countries?

posted by Sam A. at 12:09 PM on February 28, 2007

One other comment. About 15 years ago, 60 Minutes did a segment on what types of places foreign tourists like to visit in the U.S.: dude ranches

posted by Sam A. at 12:22 PM on February 28, 2007




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