Do we need stereotypes in our society?

I’m against stereotypes. More than that, I hate stereotypes. Why some people like to classified some others depending on their roots, race, work,… ? As Orlando say in his/her blog, for me it´s a hard subject to deal with. But the more I think about it, the more I discover everybody has stereotypes, including me. Do you know anyone who don´t? Some of those stereotypes are positive, some others (the majority) negative. Some of them come from ancient costumes (costumes that probably today have dissapeared), some others come from prejudices from a part of the population, some of them are true, some others false. No matter what kind of person could you be, sooner or later, you will be classified into a stereotype and people will assign you some qualities and faults that probably you don´t have. Are all Catalonians mean?, and what about people from Andalucia, are all of them telling jokes, singing, etc?. Not nowadays, not all of them but if we look back probably we will discover that some decades ago Catalonian high society was famous because they used to save a lot of money and they were very good on businesses and Andalucia high society was famous because they liked more to enjoy nightlife. As far as I´m concerned, we still valorate people depending on the place they come from and, YES, foreigners think that Spanish people are a bit lazy. Is it true? Well, probably it is true. Estatistics say that Spanish workers are the ones who most hours spend at the office but at the same time they are one of the less eficient workers in Europe. So probably we have a deserved fame. As I have said before, maybe you, the reader, will not be on that group but statistics demonstrate that the majority is inside that group.

So what can a person like me, who hate stereotypes, do when someone classifies me depending on my roots, work, etc? Well, I just try to show him/her how I really am. Of course, we will always listen someone who tells us things like “Hey, you don´t look like Catalonian?” and other atrocities but that’s something I have learned to bear up.