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Let's talk about the difference between a stereotype and a canard.
Stereotypes are generalizations of a group of people. They're frequently based on an oversimplification or a misunderstanding of another group's norms and customs. They're dangerous because they can lead to bigoted prejudices in the nature of "All X people are [negative thing]"
Defenders of such prejudices will often defend them by saying that the stereotype has a grain of truth to it - and this is accurate. The stereotype is based on *something*, but the thing is often not what the prejudice assumes it is.
Stereotype example: "Jews are loud and argumentative."
There's a grain of truth there. There is a Jewish sub-culture that values a conversational style of high intensity cooperative overlap. Within the sub-culture, this is viewed as an engaged, productive conversation.
There's a grain of truth there. There is a Jewish sub-culture that values a conversational style of high intensity cooperative overlap. Within the sub-culture, this is viewed as an engaged, productive conversation.
From outside, from the perspective of a group that doesn't share those values, it looks like yelling and arguing. Not all Jewish people or subcultures communicate this way - but some do, and it's easily misunderstood, and it leads to the stereotype which creates a prejudice.
A canard, on the other hand, is an unfounded and often unfalsifiable derogatory claim intended to spread misinformation. It's fundamentally different from a stereotype in that it's not based on anything - it's just a made up claim about another group of people.
Things like "Jews control the media", "Jews call any criticism antisemitic", etc. are not stereotypes. They're canards. They're inherently malicious, and they're not based on anything real.
It matters, because if you get used to the idea that stereotypes hold a grain of truth, even if they're a warped mirror version of that truth, and then someone calls a canard a stereotype, it's easy to start looking for the grain of truth that doesn't actually exist.
And that way lies white supremacist recruitment.
The 'stereotypes are based on something, though' defense for bigotry is a huge red flag that someone is trying to pass a canard off as a stereotype to lure people into radicalization.
The 'stereotypes are based on something, though' defense for bigotry is a huge red flag that someone is trying to pass a canard off as a stereotype to lure people into radicalization.
