It is confusing for some of us because we see Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, probably some others..the man who sells the Columbian Coffee..Juan Valdez, Mrs. Olson of Folger's Coffee, as positive images..now we have been educated to the contrary, that people do find them offensive...but they weren't meant to offend people..they wouldn't have sold products if they were. And some of them fall into not fundamentally racial, but universal stereotypes..the dignified older worker, the grandmotherly cook type, the honest working man, the immigrant who thrives after adversity...Midge? the manicurist, Joe the Plumber...we deep in our American psyche honor these hardworking people..we had grandparents and parents who followed the same paths..the Italian craftsman, the Serbian fisherman, the Irish washerwoman, the Polish butcher..I think these are universal prototypes of America basically and I think when all is said and done that the good that came out of these stereotypes, in terms of breaking down fears among various ethnic groups, will be seen to outweight the bad. mg