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And yet...
Mary Anne — (archived)

... you were quite willing to buy into the stereotype that Tech peddles about people who advocate for spending public money on needy people. We are thieves.

You also excused the stereotype by using the frequently employed "but not you" distraction. Many people think that this is soothing, but it only serves to create an artificial line that differentiates between people we know and those Others, Over There. It allows us to refuse to recognize that people we know are members of the group that's the subject of the gross overgeneralization and ignorance that makes up a stereotype. "But not you" makes it possible to ignore the disagreement and cling to the stereotype, thus devaluing the opinions and beliefs of the person "excepted", and, incidentally, making conversation and negotiation on the topic impossible.

So I thought I'd staple you into those shoes so you could see how it felt. Don't like being called a miser? I don't like being called a thief, or (if the "gun to your head" expression is used) an armed robber. I bet you didn't have the privilege of being accused of treason a few years ago. (All opponents to the Iraq War "give aid and comfort to the enemy".) You can plead for exceptions to the stereotype, but once the stereotype is defined, it applies until it is challenged.

The stereotype that's most difficult to recognize, let alone to challenge, is the one that you like because it defines things you don't like so they can be put in a box. Problem is, once that box gets in the hands of someone ignorant, or violent, or mentally ill, the box becomes a coffin.

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