I made a comment the other day that included the stereotype "trailer trash." Several commenters and emailers called me on the carpet (politely and intelligently, thank you) about using a pejorative stereotype. I wouldn't use other terms - nigger, kike, spic, wop, pick your poison - without incurring needful wrath and exposing my own ignorance, so why this one?

Does it excuse me if I'm a Southerner that once lived in a Pontiac? No, certainly not. What then is the solution, or is there even a solution? I think the problem is the use of stereotypes altogether. There are plenty of good, thoughtful, hopeful people living in trailers for one reason or another and it does no good for me to lump them in with ignorance and intolerance any more than it makes sense for someone to look at a middle-aged ex-stockbroker in Indiana and assume my politics.

What I said was not "wrong" in the sense that I'm ashamed of what I said, but instead, it's merely ignorant, something I hope to combat here, even if it is my own. We must cease stereotypes, embracing the individualities of situations and contributions - both in life and in baseball.