Some people, perhaps most, tend to assign attitudes and attributes to other people based on their experiences with still others with whom the targets of assignments might share some commonality. They might say “Democrats are bleeding hearts who simply do not understand the economics of handouts and who want to drag this country down into socialism,” or “Republicans are heartless bastards who care only for themselves and wrap themselves in the flag to disguise their greed and their thirst for power.”
If the world is black and white and two dimensional, they’re both right. But if we live in a three dimensional world, they’re using experiences with individuals to shape their assessments of groups. That’s not only short-sighted, it’s fundamentally stupid, in my view. But I may be biased.
