<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/1639185471_df894faefb.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-342" title="1639185471_df894faefb" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/1639185471_df894faefb.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 360px;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/troshy/">James Trosh</a></h5>
You know how conversations around a campfire have a way of wandering and winding, organically following new threads that attach themselves to a word or idea that makes someone think of something else? And you start to completely forget where you began, and how on earth you ended up wherever you are?

I love that.

I also love that those types of campfire conversations emerge, from time to time, on blogs. Even on this blog. When it happens, it surprises and energizes me—every time.

That’s what happened with the comments on my post <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=337">Notre Dame, Obama and my own inconsistencies</a>. I wrote the post call myself out (I was all worked up when my alma mater invited George Bush to speak at commencement, but then I pooh-poohed Catholics who were worked up about Obama speaking at Notre Dame).

<strong>Ultimately, I was wondering who was “rightâ€—those who thought it was a good idea to invite the presidents, or those who spoke out against it, in the name of deeply-held beliefs.</strong>
<h4>If we don't talk about it, will it go away?</h4>
<strong>The debate that emerged in the comments, though, wasn’t really about politics or religion. It was about stereotypes.</strong> In my post, I briefly mentioned that I was upset about President Bush speaking at Calvin College because it reinforced stereotypes about Christians. Blackwasp19 (who, I should mention, is a good friend who used to go to my church) zeroed in on sentence, responding, in part, with this:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>I want to know why you believed Calvin’s invitation to Bush reinforced stereotypes? On the base level I understand - that does not need clarification. But I think assuming that something will reinforce stereotypes and speaking as if it will actually does more to fortify stereotypes and mis-perceptions than it would if we just accepted it as part of the culture - that doesn’t mean we have to like it.</em></p>
After listing some of the primary stereotypes in a response, I wrote this:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>...You might think that by bringing this up I’m reinforcing stereotypes, but many non-Christians have told me how amazed and relieved they are to find out where I stand on these matters. <strong>The stereotypes are alive and well; being quiet about them only reinforces them.</strong></em></p>
And another response from Blackwasp19 (for the entire conversation and thoughts from others who jumped in, be sure to check out <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=337#comments">all the comments</a>):
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>I do think when someone brings up a stereotype that we need to confront it. I simply don’t know if we should be mentioning stereotypes in our conversations.</strong> it just doesn’t seem beneficial. I believe our stereotypes would die - even if only partially, if we would only stop referencing them so often and just lived our lives as who we are.</em></p>

<h4>What's the best way to give stereotypes the smackdown?</h4>
<strong>So I've been thinking about all of this more, and some questions have bubbled to the surface:</strong>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>- When we shine a light on existing good, does it automatically cause good to multiply? Or do we first have to shine some light on the bad, and get it out of the picture?</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>- Is solidarity ever more important and valuable than calling people out on something you think is harming the greater, broader good?</strong> (This question particularly applies to calling out people who are a part of a group you self-identify with—you’re a Christian, a woman, you’re black, you’re a part of a family of origin, etc.)</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>- What is the most effective way to fight stereotypes? Are active approaches necessarily better than subtle, passive approaches?</strong> (One could easily argue, for instance, that by simply becoming president—by “simplyâ€ I don’t mean it was a small task—Barack Obama has done more to fight stereotypes surrounding black people than anyone could by speaking directly against to those stereotypes.)</p>
<strong>Of course, it’s very likely that there is no single, effective way to counteract stereotypes.</strong> It’s possible that, because we’re all different people with slightly (or greatly) different approaches to <em>everything</em>, someone like me will gravitate toward one approach, and feel like it's my calling, while someone like Blackwasp19 will go at the problem from a different angle.

And it’s very, <em>very</em> possible that a mix—a good-cop bad-cop combo like ours—is just the sort of thing the world needs more of when it comes to combating our problems.