Stereotypes

Americans make fun of French. French make fun of Americans. Americans make fun of Arabs. Arabs make fun of Americans and French. Till no end.
Last Saturday, Dustin and his friends had a "French party". They brought some Pinot and baguettes, wore berets and ate cheese having apparently a lot of fun. On the other side of the world, Helene, celebrating Halloween with her friends at this excellent business school in Paris, dressed as a cow-girl, well...an American.
At UC Berkeley, the Arab Student Association organized a symposium dedicated to "fighting stereotypes". Young students draw what reprensents, in the general conception, an Arab. A hairy big armed rude man, with a covered woman in his shadow. It made me sad, while everybody was laughing. Auto-critique is good, but I would exchange it for a beret.