• dan1101@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    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.

      • dan1101@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        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.

  • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’d say it’s sometimes ok, sometimes necessary for brevity, and sometimes accurate. Accurate = “All people need oxygen, water, and calories to survive.” Good for brevity = “Generally speaking, people enjoy good food and good company so those situations are good 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.

  • atlasraven31@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    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.

  • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    6 months ago

    Making generalizations about people is a problem when the generalization is false or misleading, or is being used to make a false or misleading argument, which is often the case. If you’re wondering if a given generalization is problematic, odds are the answer is ‘yes’ otherwise you probably wouldn’t think of it as a generalization.

  • mister_monster@monero.town
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    6 months ago

    Who cares if it’s okay, that’s subjective. I have limited clock cycles, attention span, and I have to prioritize what I’m going to expend energy on. I don’t have time to get to know every person I encounter. I’ve got people and things in my life that matter to me, if I see you and you’ve got face tattoos I’m judging, cry about it. If I have a reason to get to know you maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. I doubt it. I’ve got a life to live, pattern recognition is a core part of my nature as a creature that I’m evolved to have, I’m gonna make use of that strength. Maybe if you don’t want to be judged as a scumbag don’t deliberately express mutable scumbag traits. Even if I’m wrong about someone I won’t regret it, it’s highly unlikely that if I were more open minded that their presence would’ve enriched my life and they would’ve become my best friend. It’s a cost benefit analysis. the likelihood that someone who deliberately expresses scumbag behavior wouldn’t behave like a scumbag is below 50%, and where I am wrong, they don’t need me to love them, they have people in their lives that know them and love them and why would they want to hang around a judgmental asshole anyway? Nobody really loses anything.

  • davel@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    This question can probably be interpreted a dozen different ways, so you’ll likely get answers to questions you hadn’t intended meow-popcorn