'Why do Women always...?': Generalizations and the Building Blocks of Reality

Recently I wrote an article about women’s tendency to support statist candidates. As my emails attest, it was met with quite a positive response. Yet, not surprisingly, there was also a very predictable one: complaints about generalizations. For instance, one respondent wrote that she was tired of the “all men are this and all women are that” tripe.

Of course, people only complain about generalizations when they hear one they don’t like and, perhaps, are unable to refute. But you can rest assured that they generalize just like anyone else; in fact, generalizations are woven so seamlessly into our thinking and discourse that we often utter them unthinkingly as a matter of course. Just consider how often people say things such as “Why do men never ask directions?!” or “It drives me crazy when guys flip from one TV channel to another rapid-fire!” But do all men do these things? I always ask directions and hate the habit of using a remote control like a musical keyboard. Nevertheless, I’ll be the first to admit that those generalizations are clearly valid.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com …

via ‘Why do Women always…?’: Generalizations and the Building Blocks of Reality.

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