I know there's some people out there that think stereotypes are a purely bad thing, and that we'd all be better off without them. However, I don't think this is the case. Of course there are times when stereotypes are inappropriate, but everything can be inappropriate at one time or another.
Take cake for example. It's your girlfriend's birthday (or boyfriend of course... and that's for both ladies and gents, in case you happen to swing that way), and you decide to bake them a birthday cake made with all their favourite treats and toppings. This is a time when cake is appropriate.
BUT... say you're in a bar and you meet a very attractive woman (or man), and from the moment you say hello there's chemistry between the two of you. Before you know it, you're in love with somebody else and you want to leave your current partner for your new found love. But how do you tell your significant other without breaking their heart?
This is a time when cake would NOT be appropriate.
Do not bake your girlfriend/boyfriend a break up cake. No matter how chocolately or spongy or jammy the cake is, it's unlikely to improve the mood between the two of you if you're trying to dump her/him for somebody else you just met. No amount of cakey goodness will atone for the sin of heart-break.
Anyway, back to stereotypes... just like cake, there are times when they are good and times when they are bad. For instance, using stereotypes in the context of racial discrimination is, of course, a bad thing. They bring up unfair and often insulting generalisations of an entire ethnic group based on no solid evidence, and no decent person wants to hear them.
In the context of comedy or fiction however, stereotypes can be very useful. They help to define a character in a way that everybody can understand, or they can set up a joke in a way that everybody will be able to get the punchline and have a good laugh.
The use of stereotypes depends on what the intentions are behind it. And if that's the case, it isn't the stereotypes themselves that should be put under the microscope for examination, but the intentions that they are being used to convey.
So the next time you're about to complain about somebody or something for using stereotypes, think about what you're about to say, because you may be about to just spout out a load of *******s.
Just like I've spent the last 20 minutes doing with this journal entry.
Caine Argentine Community Member 
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