Preconceptions

The only way judging can be avoided is for people to get to know people of different cultures. People are taught to be individuals and this makes it hard for people to be able to relate to other people. Judgments usually come from ignorance. Getting to know people from other cultures will get rid of stereotypes by presenting a person with a completely different view of the one he or she may have had. One thing many people make the mistake of doing is categorizing everyone teh same way. They see one person of one specific ethnicity do something and now that person thinks everyone from that same ethnic background will do the same thing. The more examples that person knows of that specific ethnic background, the greater chance that stereotype for him or her will be destroyed.

I believe that even positive stereotypes can have a negative effect in the long run. It may seem like a compliment to that person at that time, but what has it really accomplished? This just creates more ignorance by allowing something that isn't true pass on as fact. The person who has that steroetype may one day come across a person who doesn't fit their mold. This is the danger of classifying people under one category. Since people are taught to be individulas then it makes sense that people should judge other people on an indivudual basis and not as a group.