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By now, you've probably noticed the common fallacy. It's easy to take the worst traits of a group of people and assume they represent everyone in that group. And now half of you are rolling your eyes and saying, "Duh, Mark, that's called stereotyping. Tell us about something we don't know, like how you can grate cheese with your abs."

But these stereotypes function differently. When some racist old coot claims that black men are a bunch of violent thugs, he doesn't go on to say that he wishes he had more spare time to punch cops and rob liquor stores. But I have heard people make fun of someone for living at home, and then complain that they're struggling to pay their bills in the same conversation.

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Huh, it's almost like both scenarios have pros and cons, and people arrived at them through a series of logical decisions. Are there people out there looking to just laze around and eat free food? Sure. I was that guy for six months after I graduated. And in the three years that I've had my own place, I've spent more time playing video games and drinking beer than a mature adult should, while the hardest-working and most driven person I know continues to live at home because he likes home cooking and not exacerbating his debt for a degree that will earn him more money than I'll ever make.



It turns out that going to school for writing NASCAR erotica pays really well.

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So maybe the fry cook who served you today lives with his parents because he's too dumb to get his GED and couldn't get laid if his life depended on it. Or maybe he's trying to pay off his education with the only job he can find, a harsh reality that's comforted when he goes back to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend and has wild tantric sex. The truth is probably in between, but while one assumption lets us make cheap jokes so we can feel better about our own shortcomings, the other will make everyone happy.

Mark is skinny, lives with a roommate, has never worked in fast food, lost his virginity late and has a mental illness. Read more from him at his website!

For more from Mark, check out The 5 Least Helpful Ways People React to Tragedy and 4 Ways Gamers Still Suck at Dealing With Women.

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