[extropy-chat] Re: extropy-chat Digest, Vol 26, Issue 10

[Jack Parkinson]

Dirk wrote:
>So, who blew up the trains?
>Was it little old white ladies?
>However, I think I can stand behind the statement that 'not a single Black
>citizen bombed the trains in London'.

>>Any statement that begins: 'All Moslems/blacks/Irish/Poles... (insert
>> favorite despised minority here) is just a confession of personal
>> prejudice, bigotry and ignorance...

>Well, death to your straw man - because I didn't say 'all'.
Dirk

No, you didn't - but if you meant your comments to be restricted to the 
actual perpetrators rather than the groups they (putatively) represent - 
then you phrased your critique pretty badly.

AND - you are still phrasing it badly in the comments above that seeks to 
generalise attributes across massive social groups. If two 'little old white 
ladies' go on a shop-lifting spree, or cause a traffic pile-up because of 
their lack of driving ability - according to the way I read your comments we 
can then assume that all 'little old white ladies' are thieves and should 
have their driving licences revoked.

To answer your question about the trains: They were blown up by criminals. 
Religious zealots. You are attempting to smear a broad cross section of the 
world community - hundreds of millions of people - by implicating them in 
this act by religious association.

But when a Protestant commits an horrendous crime - do you automatically 
blame all of them?

When you accuse me of creating a straw man, you comfortably ignore the fact 
that you are selectively using news items to reinforce your own innate 
prejudices on the topics of race and religion.

Jack Parkinson