Sarah Silverman & Stereotypes

While reading Dyer's article on stereotyping I couldn't help but think about all of the different stereotypes that are in this world and why/how it is they originated. It made me think of Sarah Silverman's song "German Cars", from her standup show "Jesus is Magic". Although this is an outlandish and silly song it touches on some horrific yet well known stereotypes our society goes by today (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF81-dHxVwU). Asians are good at math, black people don't tip, Puerto Ricans don't bathe- these are some of the stereotypes she includes in her lyrics. Many of these stereotypes can be seen as degrading and play on what Dyer explains as the exclusion of types within the normalcy of our society. Her lyrics also include more social types, "girls love dolls", "dogs love balls" which fall in the boundaries of normalcy in our society. However, Dyer points out that both of these types are constructed by society's habit of the ruling group to establish their hegemony and make it seem inevitable and natural. He explains that many believe this to be much more premeditated than it actually is and that hegemony is an active concept, one that continually needs to be reconstructed and built upon. Therefore, I must ask where/how these stereotypes were originally created? This reading has forced me to contemplate whether or not I believe if our society's stereotypes come from thin air and if a ruling class has created these types and made the subordinate groups believe these are inevitable constructions. Or is there some truth in these types? Did some Joe Shmoe decide one day to make up something about a certain group of people and it started catching on to such a wide mass that it became a well-known stereotype? I mean, these constructions of character have to start from somewhere, right? As much as stereotypes can be hurtful and exclusive, I feel some of our society's 'types' seem to have a relative truth in them, or at least the tiniest ounce of truth in them in order to have become a widely recognized characterization that is continually built upon. But then I must ask myself, is this thought of inevitableness exactly what they want me to believe...