"Mono" means one, alone, single.
"Stereo" means solid, three-dimensional.
One gives rise to two.
Two gives rise to three.
To truly experience depth,
we require at least two perspectives.
The conflict between the left and right eyes and ears
creates the experience of perceiving three dimensions.
"Type" means "a category of people having common characteristics."
"Characteristic" means "a feature or quality belonging typically to a person, place, or thing and serving to identify it."
These are mutually defining words;
each gives rise to the other.
What exactly is a "stereotype"?
"A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."
Notice "image" and "idea."
Notice the word "oversimplified."
Notice the word "fixed," as in "solid."
"Solid" as in "unchanging," which people are not,
or "solid" as in "three-dimensional," as in (fantasy regarded as) reality.
"Fantasy" as in "the faculty or activity of imagining things."
"Imagine" as in both "to form a mental image or concept of,"
and "imagine" as in "to suppose or assume."
Noticing patterns, labeling them,
then expecting and projecting these patterns onto people,
grouping people together ignores their differences,
which are equally important as their similarities.
To expect a person to behave according to statistics
is to see that person as a number.
To look at a person and see a label
is to forget this person is also unique.
No one wants to be treated as the scapegoat of one's type.
Give each person a chance to be before judging and dismissing.
When dealing with conflict,
do not attribute a perceived defect in behavior to a defect in nature.
Conflict comes from division,
and division comes from thinking of stereotypes instead of people.
By trying to understand people, we lose sight of them completely.
By not trying to understand people, we understand people completely.
