Why Generalisations Are Bad

[proverbial_one]

(and yes, I spelled that with an S because that's still what comes naturally to me!)

There have been two generalisations bugging me recently. By this, I mean the 'lumping together' of things even though there are differences in those things.

Comments

[farchivist]

1) That's being caused by a rising tide of nationalism. Us vs them; virulence is especially high against H1-Bs, who are perceived as "taking jobs away from Americans". Never mind who's more qualified or who will work for a lower salary; we need to reinstate tariffs, forbid companies from having jobs overseas, and have everything here in the USA with nothing but American staff.

2) The mental health database thing perturbs me, as I see it often mentioned as a solution over at Free Republic. The gist seems to be have that database AND bring back the asylums and lock up all the mentally ill in them, be they depressed, schizophrenic, whatever. It's all psychos, right? Right. 0.o It's rather astounding how ignorant the majority seem to be about mental health. And medications/medicine in general.

A few have pointed out that locking up all the mentally ill is a really bad idea, as that could be turned against conservatives in general just as easily as it could liberals. Don't know how much traction that's getting yet.