Little else spreads as quickly as does bad information. Founded in fact or fiction, hearsay seems to spread at the speed of sound, even before spoken. Oddly, the more incorrect the information the quicker it seems to spread. What is worse is that people base much of their decision making off this sort of information. An example of this would be a woman I recently chatted with. We were unacquainted thirty minutes prior to this conversation, but in the midst of our chat she rather frankly stated "Oh, I am afraid of Oriental people. They scare me." My eyebrows raised and my head slumped ever-so-slightly as I wondered what on Earth could be the origin of such ignorance. However, as she began to describe these "Orientals" I began to form a clearer picture of why such stupidity flowed from her mouth. These "scary" Orientals paraded through the desert, wore turbans, carried curved swords, yelled "Allahu Akbar", and were, of course, responsible for 9/11… those silly "Oriental" folk just can't get a break.

Of course, any semi intelligent being will realize that it was not Oriental people but a very general Middle Eastern stereotype that scared this woman. However, while this seems like an extreme case of ignorance, it is, in fact, quite common. People are often afraid of what they don't know. And rather than finding out the truth many continue on with their assumptions and ignorance as if it will one day give them the upper hand in life. And while it seems safe to say that "if it weren't true there would be no stereotype, it is important to remember that these caricature images held in our heads are based off of poor observations of individuals; and while a group of individuals may share similar behavioral patterns or physical traits, to dehumanize people based on such a poor assumption only leads to the degradation of your own quality of life.