We all do it. It's part of our human nature. We think in terms of groups.
Men are better than women ... unless you're a woman, in which case the reverse is true. If you're a Protestant, then the Catholics are wrong, and if you're a Catholic, then the Protestants are wrong. Whichever group you're in (religious, political, racial, national, etc.), it's likely that you think of that group as better than other groups. We speak of "corporate greed", an impossibility since corporations themselves are not human and, as such, incapable of anything human. We talk about "a Christian nation", which, when analyzed, makes no sense since "Christian" means "a follower of Christ", and a nation cannot follow Christ since it isn't a person.
It's shorthand. The human race is made up of ... individuals. But there are billions of us, and the number is always changing, so we tend to group humans into categories, and then stereotype those categories. Interestingly, it appears that God thinks in terms of individuals, not groups. He wants individuals to repent. He wants a relationship with individuals. He wants individuals to follow Him.
We are not God, but we need to be very careful in our groupthink. Not all _____ (fill in the blank) are like the rest of that group. Protestant beliefs vary. Catholics often don't even know what the Catholic Church teaches. (I don't mean to lay that on Catholics alone -- it's likely true of Protestants as well.) Men are not "all alike". Individual Republicans (or Democrats or ...) are often wrong. Calvinists don't all agree.
When we stereotype and group, we shorten our thinking processes, but we also shortchange our fellow human beings. We ought to be careful. Generalizations are always dangerous. And "always" is almost always the wrong thing to say. Maybe, if we just took the time to talk to people ... you know, individuals ... we might find that not all of any particular group are the same.
3 comments:
Nice thoughts bro :D
God may ultimately deal with us as individuals (last judgment and all) but as humans we come into the world as part of a group (mother at least, other relatives connected with her, a family if our mom and dad are married or connected some legal way)
Though we are ultimately individuals we cannot think of ourselves in only that weay since by our nature we are social beings and we live and judge each other by group rules (government, family, friends, culture, ethnic, religions, etc.) Once you are in a relationship with someone else (friend, lover, married, family, etc.) you are part of more than one which is the begining of a group (even 3 is a group).
We all generalize - so what. We think it is such a negative thing these days, but generalizations serve a good purpose in our workings as humans.
Generalizations help us short hand what we observe about others. I see a chair, and can define a chair (a definitiion is a type of generalization) and I now know what I can do with a chair (no matter how many legs or if it has a back or not or the shape and style it is).
The problem is not the generalization but making sure we check about this particular chair in front of me and how true or not true my definition is or my generalization is.
All truths and generalizations will be changed since we are imperfet and don't define or generalize perfectly. As soon as we generalize we need to know it will be adjusted (some of this is called exceptions).
Why do we generalize? We need to deal with lots of people or things that have some things in common and it is too much time and trouble to deal with each and every individual thing by itself - it is exhausting and we don't have enough time and we will get mixed up. People just don't like to be pigeonholed and pegged but lots of generalizations are true even if you can find some who do not fit the generalization (the exceptions proove that there is a rule or generalization) or our genrealization is imperfect to start with.
We shorten our thinking process using generalizations and though we do short change people we we can make it up by adjusting. That's the way it goes
Group thinking is necessary for humans. What I said was "we need to be very careful in our groupthink". And there was a joke in there that was perhaps missed. I said, "Generalizations are always dangerous", followed by "And 'always' is almost always the wrong thing to say."
I've just seen too many people generalize and stereotype for the sake of this type of shorthand to the detriment of individuals. I suspect it's laziness on our part when we lump people together rather than, as you said, "making sure we check about this particular chair in front of me and how true or not true my definition is or my generalization is."
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