Yes it’s ok to generalize. That is how humans quickly cope with an overwhelming amount of information. But you always need to be flexible and willing to recognize that not everyone fits the generalization.
It is also important to stop and ask yourself what you’re generalizing and why.
If you see a guy walking down a neighborhood street dressed like a letter carrier you can probably assume he is a letter carrier.
But maybe he is a stripper on his way to a party.
and some will protest it.
Generally? Yes. Specifically? No.
Every day is a fight against my lizard brain
No, it’s never okay to generalize. Unless you’re saying my previous sentence in which case it’s okay.
I disagree. It’s fine to generalize about all people all the time. Every single one of them loves it.
It’s not just ok, it’s basically an requirment for civilisation to work at all.
This question can probably be interpreted a dozen different ways, so you’ll likely get answers to questions you hadn’t intended
Generalization is a mental shortcut that simplifies things at the cost of accuracy. Ex: Dogs are canines. A Chihuahua is a canine. A wolf is a canine. But a Chihuahua is very different from a wolf.
Dang Lemmy users and their silly questions. They’re all the same!
I’d say it’s sometimes ok, sometimes necessary for brevity, and sometimes accurate. Accurate = “All people need oxygen, water, and calories to survive.” Brevity = “Generally speaking, people enjoy good food and good company so those situations work well for forming relationships.”
Consequences of generalizations have a lot to do with how tolerable they are. If I say, “most people like pizza” there’s not much harm if several million people don’t. If I say, “all or most people of this gender/ethnicity/religion/whatever have X problem” that’s a lot more problematic because it can easily lead to a consequence of harmful prejudice. When it comes to matters of ethics, beliefs, accusations etc. it becomes very important to handle cases individually as much as humanly possible.
You do it every day whether you choose to or not, because that’s how the human brain works. So yes. Just be willing to change your ideas when a generalisation is no longer useful.
People going to the beach generally use sunscreen. People hunting game generally wear camouflage. People in bed are generally resting.
Removed by mod
I over all, I think that people as a whole should generalize less.
Generally, that is.
accountants and actuaries get to generalize
And by that logic, statisticians/pollsters
People that ask these kind of questions have no moral compass
Seems like a generalized comment.
All in sayin’ is that a skinhead’s a skinhead.
Ohhhh, interesting. Didn’t realize people voluntarily identify as skinheads when they’re not racist. Thought it was an explicitly derogatory term for them.
Within the community (I used to hang out with non-racist skinheads when I was a teenager), they’re referred to as “boneheads”, as opposed to the “original” kind of skinhead, who claim to be descendants of the multi-racial (mostly black and white, many of these people were still shit towards south Asian immigrants) working-class communities in the UK who gave birth to skinheads back in the 60s.
Neat. I have a little more respect for skinheads, apologies for generalizing
No worries, that’s what the whole thread is about, anyway!
I raise you SHARP
