We take pride in the fact that we are thinking animals

From A Second Mencken Chrestomathy by H. L. Mencken.

I make this point all the time. Everything, especially everything changing or new, represents a cognitive load which we are always trying to lighten. Stereotypes, rules-of-thumb, prejudices, aphorisms, adages, axioms, they are all mechanisms to lighten the cognitive load. We are constantly exposed to them and generating them from on our own experiences. We pick them up, consciously and unconsciously, and use them for as long as they are beneficial.

Whenever someone wants to tackle these utilitarian techniques, particularly stereotypes and prejudices, they almost always attack them on moral grounds. They rarely address the purpose which they are serving.

There are legitimate moral issues attached to both stereotypes and prejudices, but a moral argument can only go so far. It is especially valuable when the stereotypes/prejudices are not functionally accurate. But when they are accurate and/or they are effective at reducing cognitive load and risk exposure, then moral arguments are constrained.

At this point, those attacking stereotypes/prejudices then switch to coercion, trying to either publicly shame or actively force a change in behavior. In general, this is counter-productive. The more useful from a utilitarian perspective is the cognitive short-cut, the greater the resentment, anger and resistance.

It would be much more valuable to figure out alternatives to achieve the same end. If the person is trying to lighten the cognitive load and reduce the risk profile, what are the other means to do so rather than attacking the demonstrated utility of stereotypes and prejudices. This can be hard work but is strategically the better approach. And usually the least explored.

From Mencken.

The power of the complex that I have mentioned is usually very much underestimated, not only by psychologists, but also by all other persons who pretend to enlightenment. We take pride in the fact that we are thinking animals, and like to believe that our thoughts are free, but the truth is that nine-tenths of them are rigidly conditioned by the babbling that goes on around us from birth, and that the business of considering this babbling objectively, separating the true in it from the false, is an intellectual feat of such stupendous difficulty that very few men are ever able to achieve it.