Live Science reports on a National Institute of Aging study showing that stereotypes are incorrect. The study found, for example, that Germans are not more efficient (as German elections occasionally remind us), and that Czechs are actually caring people (see the Czech Republic's involvement in Iraq as evidence, such as this
good news). Americans and Canadians scored almost identically on aggression in the study, which no doubt comes as a surprise to an almost identical number of both Americans and Canadians.
Stereotyping is a dangerous act of laziness. Lumping people together cuts down on thinking on a case-by-case basis. Fortunately, stereotypes are prime targets:
Monty Python,
South Park,
Blazing Saddles, etc., would be rather unfunny without them.
And now for something completely different...
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