Grown Up Thinking

I think we’ve all seen them by now–your friends tag you in pictures of South Park characters, superheros or those colorful cartoon characters you recognize but can’t remember what they’re called. This trend seems to catch on more and more every day with a new iteration hitting Facebook every 12 hours. You look in the picture, and scroll through the image to find out which one you are–the cute one? the fun one? the Arab????

Let’s face it–these photos are fun and harmless, and most generate some spirited discussion in the comments section. Still, one has to admit that this practice is a pretty boldfaced example of stereotyping.  I’m just waiting for the stories to surface of friendships ended or relationships terminated because the tagger didn’t quite think through their choices. I mean does anyone really want to be tagged as the ginger (not that there’s anything wrong with that)? As my mom used to say growing up, it’s all fun and games until someone gets their feelings irrevocably hurt by an internet meme.