ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Danger of Generalizing Hot Button Topics

Updated on December 11, 2014
M. T. Dremer profile image

M. T. Dremer is a far-left liberal that believes the U.S. government can, and should, be saved from big money.

Language is powerful. It can inform or confuse, instill fear or instill hope, build up or tear down. When it comes to every-day conversation (particularly with the internet) it’s easy to think that what you say doesn’t really matter. Making broad generalizations, like all Americans are fat, goes relatively unnoticed, right? The person who says it knows, logically, that not all Americans are fat, but whether it’s intentional or not, they’ve just called every American (the North and South continents) overweight. One person saying something like this is relatively easy to ignore. But what if it isn’t one person? What if it’s hundreds or thousands of people making the same generalization? Does it start to wear on the minds of the subject? Does it hurt them psychologically? Does it damage their reputation in the eyes of others who have never even met them?

This type of harmful generalization comes in many different forms. An overt statement is the easiest to spot. Someone who says ‘Muslims are violent people’ might be more likely to have their viewpoint refuted by whoever is listening. But what if they phrase it differently? What if they say “Why are Muslims so violent?” or make a joke about Muslims being terrorists? I would argue that this type of generalization is worse than the overt kind because it passively assumes something offensive. Asking why Muslims are so violent implies and assumes that all Muslims are violent. It turns a complex subject into the equivalent of a sound bite, then uses it as the foundation of something else.

Overgeneralizing certain groups can lead to widespread distrust and animosity.
Overgeneralizing certain groups can lead to widespread distrust and animosity. | Source

There is a good chance that, if you’ve spent any time communicating on the internet, you’ve run into this in some form or another. Forums, social media and Q&A comments have allowed these types of generalizations to run wild. Questions like “Why do atheists hate god?”, “Are women too sensitive?” and “Why are black people lazy?” are all offensive generalizations. Pretty much every hot button issue has its own memes, quotes and questions that oversimplify to the point of bigotry.

But, am I just whining for the sake of whining? Saying what is ‘politically correct’ isn’t always easy and some might say that we’ve gotten too sensitive, or nit-picky, where hot button issues are concerned. Though, one of the best tests is to ask yourself if you’re on one side of the issue you’re talking about. Say, for example, there is a riot occurring between African Americans and the police. If you’re not African American and you’re not a member of the police, then you probably aren’t qualified to comment on the situation. You can have an opinion (It’s hard not to have them) but the further you are from the parties involved, the easier it is to fall into the pitfalls of generalizations. Even when close to one side, it would still be better to listen to their opinion before jumping to your own conclusions.

Again, however, why is this important? Can’t the person who is offended by my generalized question just suck it up? I had to deal with X when someone said Y. It’s true that the world is filled with offensive things. All of us have to ‘deal with it’ to a certain extent. But I don’t think that anyone would deny certain people have to suck it up more than others. Certain groups, be they gender, racial, political or religious, encounter more resistance and more bigotry than others. And the more someone is forced to deal with insults and offenses, the harder it becomes to brush it off. At best they become a little bitter, at worst they become violent. This then turns into self fulfilling prophecy. If you ask a Muslim person why he is violent over and over again, eventually he might lash out at you. It’s like poking a bear with a stick; it might ignore a few jabs, but eventually it’s going to take a swipe at you. It doesn’t mean that the bear is violent, it means you provoked it. Now just imagine these agitating generalizations on the scale of hundreds or thousands. Would you be able to shrug off an unending onslaught of casual insults? If you think that you could do it with ease, then you’ve probably never been on that side of the issue.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)