Why Making Sweeping Generalizations Implies Stupidity

[madnak]

Human beings come in all shapes and sizes. Variety is part of our nature, literally. And when that variety is added to a structure as complex as the human mind, it becomes expressed in more and more unexpected ways.

Personality isn't easily classifiable. That's true of beliefs, actions, and perceptions. To say "most people who X are Y" may be valid. However, to say that "anyone who X is Y" is virtually never valid. Anyone who suggests that is failing to understand X and Y.

Seriously though, these statements are mistakes. For almost any attributes X and Y (that aren't directly dependent on each other), there will be some people who have X but not Y, some who have Y but not X, some who have both, and some who have neither. This is true even when two traits occur together very commonly. But it's especially true where personality is concerned. Personality doesn't follow any clear identifiable patterns and the theory of personality is rather stagnant for that reason. There are only two effective approaches - either focus on an extreme trait and try to identify its correlates as closely as possible, or group things into categories so general they're useless (and typically riddled with exceptions besides).

Let me get to the point. It's never correct to say "smart people never do X" or "people who believe Y are stupid." Never. Highly logical people (people who score at the very top on IQ tests, for example, and successful mathematicians) are less likely to be religious. But they may also be more likely to be fundamentalists. And there's a strong likelihood they're more likely to do drugs, many can be found among the ranks of astrologists, plenty even believe in the WWF! And some of them engage in almost every behavior and belief that most of us consider to be "stupid." There is nothing that smart people are immune to, no superstition or con game or other trap they aren't susceptible to, regardless of how profound they are.

So why don't we stop calling people stupid? It's drama, not reason, and it's universally unjustified. This isn't a matter of morality, by the way, it's a matter of poor logic - something that is frequently applied by even the smartest among us. The only way to determine that someone is stupid is to observe the full constellation of the behaviors and reach a conclusion on that basis - and even then they may surprise you. Researchers on intelligence can't figure it out, philosophers can't figure it out, military experts can't figure it out, and if you think you have it all figured out - you're not looking hard enough.

[Lestat]

I skimmed your post rather quickly and it's possible I didn't understand what you're trying to say.

While I'm willing to agree that you can find some smart people who are gullible about certain things, I do not agree that they are just as likely to be gullible as those with lesser intelligence.

I'd be willing to make a huge bet that a sampling of 50 random astrologists will show lower IQ's than a random sampling of 50 people who view astrology as complete bunk.

If you accept this bet, I'll give you a chance to get your money back by betting me that we will find fewer astrologers among 50 random scientists than 50 cashiers.

Clearly intelligence comes into play when forming beliefs based on evidence or lack thereof.

[Phil153]

If you believe that bible is literally true there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

If you believe that Bush isn't corrupt there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

If you believe that Armageddon will come in your lifetime there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

Logical? I don't know. But it's practical. The world is overloaded with information and opinions and people who believe either of the above probably aren't worth my time. I don't care if Joe Blogs is a really smart guy who just has odd beliefs. If he can get something like that wrong, he's probably not very well developed in the common sense department, and that's all that matters.

[Shadowrun]

[ QUOTE ]
If you believe that bible is literally true there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

If you believe that Bush isn't corrupt there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

If you believe that Armageddon will come in your lifetime there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

Logical? I don't know. But it's practical. The world is overloaded with information and opinions and people who believe either of the above probably aren't worth my time. I don't care if Joe Blogs is a really smart guy who just has odd beliefs. If he can get something like that wrong, he's probably not very well developed in the common sense department, and that's all that matters.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you read this post your an idiot..... oh wait what does that make me [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[RJT]

Isn’t the title itself a sweeping generalization?

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
Isn’t the title itself a sweeping generalization?

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG IRONIC BRAIN MELTING!!!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[madnak]

[ QUOTE ]
If you believe that bible is literally true there's an excellent chance that you're an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're a human being there's an excellent chance you're an idiot. Believing the Bible is literally true doesn't make you an idiot, and that's the important point.

[ QUOTE ]
Logical? I don't know. But it's practical. The world is overloaded with information and opinions and people who believe either of the above probably aren't worth my time. I don't care if Joe Blogs is a really smart guy who just has odd beliefs. If he can get something like that wrong, he's probably not very well developed in the common sense department, and that's all that matters.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Practicality is a funny thing. Most brilliant artists, and many brilliant thinkers, have had extremely crazy beliefs. "Common sense" can be a liability.

But that's tangential. This isn't what my OP was about, and it wasn't directed toward you. Disregarding Joe Blogger as a stupid nutcase is entirely justified - but when you suggest that everyone who agrees with Joe is also a stupid nutcase, then you've moved into the realm of unsupportable and illogical claims.

[DougShrapnel]

Can I get away with Human stupidity knows no limits?

[madnak]

I make exceptions for misanthropy.