Poll: Okay, gotta do it... Why do people make such general statements?

[Fractral]

To be a bit more positive than many of the responses here, I think quite often the person making the statement has a more specific meaning in mind but doesn't realize that not everyone else will see that specific meaning. For example, a few months back my sister came out with the comment 'Everyone who uses the internet is a loser' but after I pointed out she used facebook a lot she clarified that she simply meant 4Chan.
So in this case the person making the statement probably means 'Why do a noticeably significant number of these people have this trait', they're just formulating it poorly. Bad communication causes a lot of problems on the internet.

 

[RJ 17]

Why is it that some people - not everybody, but some people - point at some mass of other people (be they part of a country or business or whatnot) and ask why they ALL say or do that thing which, chances are, the question itself is probably not even remotely true of 'everybody'

I dunno, why did you ask such a general question? Seems if you can find your own motivation for this topic then you'd be on the right track to finding the motivation behind the general questions of others.

 

[HardkorSB]

Only semi-serious, but I have to ask... I see sometimes a question around here that goes "Why does [INSERT GROUP OR NATION OR EVERYBODY HERE] always [INSERT SUBJECT ENACTED OR SPOKEN OR WHATEVER]?". Why is it that some people - not everybody, but some people - point at some mass of other people (be they part of a country or business or whatnot) and ask why they ALL say or do that thing which, chances are, the question itself is probably not even remotely true of 'everybody'?

(If you don't have a specific answer or just don't feel like providing one, say something amusingly general or even irrelevant - because this IS Off-Topic, after all - for funsies.)

OK, here's sentence number 1:

"Canadians are polite people."

Here's sentence number 2:

"Some Canadians, just some, not all of them, are polite, although I'm aware that it might be just my cultural perception, for all I know what constitutes politeness where I live might mean something completely else in other places, but based on my limited encounters with people who claimed to be Canadian, I can say that those particular people were, in my humble opinion, polite."

Now, which sentence is less of a pain in the ass to say?

That's why people make such general statements.

 

[FalloutJack]

I dunno, why did you ask such a general question?

It was deliberate. The main body is far more detailed than the title question on purpose.

Simpler way?

Or, you could just say "There are a fair few polite Canadians.". Language streamlines itself.

 

[happyninja42]

Only semi-serious, but I have to ask... I see sometimes a question around here that goes "Why does [INSERT GROUP OR NATION OR EVERYBODY HERE] always [INSERT SUBJECT ENACTED OR SPOKEN OR WHATEVER]?". Why is it that some people - not everybody, but some people - point at some mass of other people (be they part of a country or business or whatnot) and ask why they ALL say or do that thing which, chances are, the question itself is probably not even remotely true of 'everybody'?

(If you don't have a specific answer or just don't feel like providing one, say something amusingly general or even irrelevant - because this IS Off-Topic, after all - for funsies.)

I don't know, why do people on this forum do the "I am an [Insert Occupation/Political View/Whatever], ask me anything" threads? People like to discuss things, and we make generalizations based on personal experience. I've done it myself a few times, though I try to make the disclaimer of "I know not everyone feels this way", to try and stop the inevitable responses of "I don't think that way so you're statement is wrong!". It never works, even when you say "I know this isn't 100%, I am asking the people who actually think this way to respond", you will STILL get 3 dozen responses from people who really shouldn't be bothering to answer the question. But hey, it's the internet, so what can you do.

Based on my own examples of this type question, I usually ask it when I see a common trend from personal observation, and I'm either polling to see if the observation holds up from a larger sample base, or to just get some insight on it. For example, when the Powerpuff Girls were huge, pretty much any girl/woman I spoke to that mentioned they liked the show, and expressed a love for Buttercup, would have the same reason as to why they liked her. The answer I always got "Because she's a *****." This always puzzled me, that the reason they would give, was due to a personality trait that if you directly called THEM that, they would take it as an insult. This seemed contradictory to me, as I can't recall anyone saying they liked a male character "Because he's a dick/asshole." It's usually some other quality, even if he does happen to be a dick/asshole.

So I asked the forum. I can only assume that other people have a similar quandry and are tossing it up for further discussion with a larger audience, to try and make sense of it.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

People make generalized statements about large groups for one reason, it's because we tend to see a large group, even very diverse ones, as homogeneous singular entities. For example a lot of non-Americans tend to think of Americans as a humongous mass of white people in American flag tee shirts, shorts, and sandals, partially because that's generally the easiest way for them to identify an American tourist. A lot of people tend to think of the Japanese as generally wearing school uniforms, or traditional kimonos and living in housing with paper walls. Why is that? Because it's a popular, if inaccurate, stereotypical image of Japanese people, outside of Japan that is. Basically when dealing with huge nebulous things people default to a simplistic view, because it's easy to do mentally. Also because when we generalize we're usually upset about something so taking a negative example, then amplifying it to cover a large group we're upset with is a satisfying method of venting frustration.

 

[FalloutJack]

I don't know, why do people on this forum do the "I am an [Insert Occupation/Political View/Whatever], ask me anything" threads?

WAIT! I answered this one, and I did it for you because you asked! I found out that it's actually quite fun and challenging.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

I guess it's because said group of people engage in certain behavior on given circumstances. Probably, I mean, it really depends.

 

[IceForce]

Plus you get more indignation views that way. because you never actually seem to have anything to say about the subject or have even thought or read about it for 10 or 15 seconds.

I was going to say the same That's how you get a lot of replies.

What they said.

People have mastered the art of clickbait. That's really all there is to it.

 

[Strazdas]

because people always see things through themselves. Person A meets 5 people that like X and all 5 turn out to be jerks. person A things all people that like X are jerks because thats the only experience Person A had.

There is a benefit to generalizations, though. It allows easy identification of repeated fenomenom. Just look how the Fedora meme pretty much killed any popularity that hat had even though not everyone wearing one fit the description. Generalizations are very powerful. They are also very simple, and people dont like having to think about stuff. Live is complex nowadays and there is a real movement to escape to more simple times. be it zombie movies (often representing return to simple times where killing what you didnt like was the solution) or games (rules set in stone, NPCs dont cheat, simple existence). Generalizations simplify people (whether you like it or not) and thats prtly why they are so popular.

P.S. You clearly are aware your title is a generalization.

"Why do so many people named FalloutJack betray humanity to the space lizards? I know, I know, not all of them do, but many."

The Hydrans are a better people! They have a better way of life! Don't judge me!

Noone can surpass the purity of Alpacas!

If you take the aforementioned "Why americans want the world to end?" thread as an example, the real question is "Why do people in First World countries find apocalypse scenarios appealing". It has nothing to do with a specific nationality.

because apocalypse scenarios usually end up in much simpler setups. at least in fiction. current life is very complex and moves at extremely fast pace. especially compared to how life was even as far as 50 years back. and it weighs on people. People want life to be simpler. Apocalypse fiction shows a world that is more simple.

 

[hermes]

Human nature. People like to think in absolutes, and we generalize different human groups by observable traits that we think differentiate members of a particular group with other groups. It is a form of simplification, because otherwise, no kind of general statement could be said about people and they would only be... people.

And notice that I use the general "WE", because I said it is human nature. Everybody does it, even people that like to think they don't, as if they are above the rest of the world. It is really annoying, because by doing so, they are not only acting out of perceived pride of being better than the rest, but they are giving a good example of generalized thinking as a way to distance themselves from other, perceived, inferior groups. Or, to put it as an example of generalized statement: Why do many people believe they are better than the average in many perceived traits? Don't they realize that is (by the definition of average) impossible?

 

[chikusho]

A person is smart. People are dumb. And when we make observations this continues.

Except for when the opposite is true, where crowd sourced information proves to be statistically more accurate than individual knowledge.

 

[FalloutJack]

IS THIS REAL LIFE?

Do not attempt to change the channel. We control the vertical, we control the horizontal, and we can make Queen show.

 

[Zen Bard]

You left off the most general of general answers in your poll; "Because"

Example:

"Why do people always generalize?"

"Because."

(Or if you read a lot of Cracked: "because reasons")

 

[FalloutJack]

You left off the most general of general answers in your poll; "Because"

Example:

"Why do people always generalize?"

"Because."

(Or if you read a lot of Cracked: "because reasons")

Those are just general general answers, the basics. I invited the more fun ones for posting purposes. Like...another good-but-short one also explains my lack of 'because': Nobody's Perfect.

 

[Zen Bard]

You left off the most general of general answers in your poll; "Because"

Example:

"Why do people always generalize?"

"Because."

(Or if you read a lot of Cracked: "because reasons")

Those are just general general answers, the basics. I invited the more fun ones for posting purposes. Like...another good-but-short one also explains my lack of 'because': Nobody's Perfect.

So you're saying, in general, my answer about about generalities was too general?

Excellent! I'll take that!