[HK]

This is actually quite an amazing thread. I just took a subject called ethnical and racial stereotypes and their influences on history (i study history in a university) and this was a voluntary subject and I took it just because it was rather interesting. And what I learned from this class is that people are different and that we should accept them as they are. If people were the same everywhere then life would be extremely boring. To be different from others should be what an individual should strive for. I also learned that national stereotypes don't really exist (in the real world, that is, in your illusions/minds they might). Thus this thread is invalid. Stereotypes, myths and imagos (images) are just creations of our minds which help us define ourselves. Unfortunately quite a few of them are bad (all black people are thugs, gangsters and hookers) and not so many are good (all black people rock in basketball). We should try to understand that all cultures are relative and can't be characterized from one culture's (the white or originally by J. F. Blumenbach the caucasian culture) standpoint. All men (and women, heh) are equal and should be treated as such. Stereotypes are, as I stated before, mostly harmful things and in the right (wrong?) hands they can help in creating havoc (for example WW1, WW2 and many, many other wars and conflicts). I know that this thread is about having fun and laughing at each other and all but after I took this subject I've really started to think beyond these simple jokes. Stereotypes create illusions and they aren't real, thanks :)