In the essay The Way We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson writes that All the isms-racism, sexism, ageism, et al.-are founded on and fueled by the stereotype and the clich, which are lies of exaggeration, omission, and ignorance. They are always dangerous. They take a single tree and make it a landscape. This quote is important due to the fact that stereotypes play a major role in many aspects of our society. In American society we have a tendency to pass judgment on people just because of a pre-existing stereotype that our society has formed on particular groups over the years. American Society tends to create stereotypes because of the simplicity it adds to our lives, but stereotypes can cause us to oversimplify the characteristics of others, encourage prejudice, and can even create many more severe dangers. Everyday we experience stereotyping in one way or another. Over the years stereotyping has become such a large part of our society that it is a vital part of our everyday communication. It has caused many of us to not really think about who a person really is, or what they are about, but to accept instead a certain stereotype that has already been created by our society and given to an individual. Stephanie Ericsson makes an excellent point in her essay when she says they take a single tree, and make it into a landscape. The statement she was trying to make by saying this is that many times, a stereotype is made by an individual because of something done by one particular person in a certain group, but is then given to the whole group as a result. Our society has given a stereotype to practically every form of human being out there. Some examples of this are the blond that is said to be dumb, the kid with glasses that is titled the nerd, and the person from a small town who is called a hick. Why the need for such stereotypes? In her essay, Stephanie Ericsson makes the point that perhaps stereotyping is used as a sort of short hand i...
