a – Generalities are pointless.
b- Then I shouldn’t listen to you?
a- What do you mean? I don’t use generalities. I’m enlightened and don’t want to offend people.
b- You just used one. “Generalities are pointless” is a generality. Therefore, I guess it’s pointless.
a – What are you talking about?
b – I bet you hold to some generalities, like ‘birds fly,’ even though some don’t; ‘smoking is unhealthy,’ even though people like George Burns smoked until they were a hundred; and ‘it’s not safe to walk alone in dark allies at 2am,’ even though some are probably safe. Saying “generalities are pointless” is a generality, which, I guess, you consider pointless.
a – (eye roll) Whatever.
b – The truth is generalities are important when they’re not abused. They often keep us safe and make the world around us intelligible. We descend to the level of other animals when we don’t use the intellect to make generalities. Animals sense and react to phenomena. We, on the other hand, are able to abstract essences of a thing’s species in order to understand it. I can apply the generality of ‘dogs bite’ to a tiny chihuahua as well as a large great dane.
a – I’m not interested in your philosophy. We shouldn’t offend people who are different.
b- Sure. But those who are offended by generalities are the ones being selfish and offensive. “Men have two arms” is not inherently offensive to someone who was born with only one. Generalities are not meant to apply to every individual in a species. Those who understand the meaning and value of generalities know this.
a – (Silence.)
b – By the way, isn’t it interesting how Leftists like yourself are offended only by generalities related to race and sex?
a – That’s because they’ve been so abused in the past.
b – True. In a fallen world all generalities and stereotypes are abused by some. But your reactionary response throws out the proverbial baby with the bath water; and it sacrifices truth for feelings, which is a main pillar of the left’s strategy to destroy society. Attacking generalities is a way of obfuscating uncomfortable truths, which enables evil to triumph.
a – You’re mean.
