From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   One constant refrain I hear from partially educated people is that one should   
   avoid stereotypes and generalizations. They may find it unbelievable, but I   
   actually have an informed response to this claim. When something exists at a   
   rate greater than    
   chance, there is going to be a reason for it; although it may be a completely   
   different reason from what you would expect.   
      
   Most stereotypes and generalizations have roots in reality. The explanations   
   that are given however are typically wrong. Instead of addressing these wrong   
   explanations, the academia seeks to shame them; which then reinforces the   
   claim by conservatives    
   that the academia is forcing a party line down people's throats instead of   
   giving them actual education.   
      
   A person would say something about one or another group. The academic will   
   say, "No, this is a stereotype" or "No, this is a generalization." The person   
   would look again and say, "No, this definitely is going on." So then the   
   person would decide that the    
   academic is full of crap. This would reinforce him in his - typically - wrong   
   explanations.   
      
   Then he would teach his explanations to other people. On one side we see   
   bigotry; on the other side we see artificial blindness. The two reinforce and   
   strengthen one another.   
      
   The solution is not doing away with “stereotypes” or “gene   
   alizations.” The solution is finding out the actual reasons for these   
   things. Once again: If something exists at a rate greater than chance, there   
   will be a reason for it; and the    
   academics should not dismiss such things but use them as grounds for more   
   research.   
      
   Has Africa been, as many people claim, a mess? Yes. The reason is not racial   
   inferiority but history. These countries had been governed by alien powers for   
   centuries, and they did not know how to govern themselves. They are getting   
   better at it, and the    
   world's highest rates of economic growth in the last decade and a half have   
   been recorded by African countries.   
      
   Is Israel, as many people claim, full of fascists? Yes. The reason is not that   
   the Jews are evil but that they have learned their lessons from Second World   
   War too well. If you have had your ancestors espouse liberal pacifism and work   
   hard and peacefully    
   to better other countries only to wind up in gas chambers, you would want your   
   own country as well, and you would want to make sure that nobody can destroy   
   it. They have taken a legitimate sentiment too far, to the point that they use   
   the military for    
   all sorts of things that can be better solved through trade or diplomacy. The   
   reason is not any kind of an ethnic evil but a legitimate sentiment taken too   
   far.   
      
   Is Europe, as many people claim, full of gutless people? Yes. The reason once   
   again is a lesson from Second World War being learned too well. If you've had   
   your continent run over by a bunch of homicidal maniacs in the name of   
   nationalism, you would hate    
   war and nationalism as well. The Europeans became pacifistic – for a   
   legitimate reason – to the point of being accommodating to regimes that   
   should not be accommodated. The reason is not moral corruption on the part of   
   the Europeans; the reason,    
   again, is a lesson learned too well.   
      
   In all of these places, there are people who take objection to the main thrust   
   of their cultures, or try to. These people find themselves in the middle of a   
   war. They rightfully see the wrong in their cultures, but they have no   
   knowledge or experience of    
   any other way. This sets them up for failure. If they fail in any manner, it   
   reinforces the claim by everyone around them that their way is the right way.   
   And if they succeed, they are seen by the people around them as infidels,   
   traitors or dangerous    
   antisocial individuals.   
      
   The solution is neither false bigoted explanations nor deliberate blindness.   
   The solution is finding the correct cause.   
      
   If the academia seeks greater credibility in society, it will not teach   
   artificial blindness. It will look for real explanations for social phenomena.   
   These will solve two complementary problems – bigoted beliefs and artificial   
   blindness posing as    
   intelligence and education – at the same time.   
      
   It will also return the academia to its original purpose: As a place where   
   people learn thinking habits and knowledge, not a place where they are being   
   taught a party line. Conservatives are right to regard political correctness   
   as fascism masquerading    
   as tolerance. In a democracy, wrong ideas are meant to be met with better   
   ideas rather than with censorship.   
      
   But the academics and the intellectuals have become lazy. They have decided to   
   teach artificial blindness instead of thinking skills. This has vastly reduced   
   their credibility. The American anti-intellectual climate is not only a result   
   of demagoguery.    
   It is a result of the fact that the folks in the academia are failing to speak   
   to them.   
      
   There is in fact a legitimate task for the contemporary intellectuals and   
   academics. It is to confront wrong explanations with right ones. It is to   
   explain rightfully why some things exist at a greater rate than chance, that   
   beget correct stereotypes but    
   not correct explanations.   
      
   That will get rid of bigotry for real. And it will restore the academics and   
   intellectuals to their rightful standing in society.   
      
   I seek to do just this with a number of cultures.   
      
   More at https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatthought   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)