[Vision2020] Offensive Cartoon (in my opinion)

Sue Hovey suehovey at moscow.com
Thu Feb 19 19:48:00 PST 2009


As you, of course, happened to tweak one of mine.  I laud you for being a 
self educated man.  I know many teachers, myself included, who would have 
felt blessed to have had you as a student.  And the only point I was trying 
to make with the generalizations statement, was to point out you were 
spreading them around with such a broad brush.

Interesting was your segue from the discourse on an analysis of the 
cartoon's intent directly to the implication, "oh well, after all it's the 
fault of parents and the education system......" (to paraphrase a bit.) 
Being both a parent and a teacher who tried to teach my children and my 
students to be analytical, logical, and fair in their generalizations......

Sue







----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chasuk" <chasuk at gmail.com>
To: "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>
Cc: "Kai Eiselein" <editor at lataheagle.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Offensive Cartoon (in my opinion)


> On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 12:02, Sue Hovey <suehovey at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> Perhaps it was we who taught you to generalize.
>
> I've never understood the objection to the non-scientific use of
> generalizations. When someone says, "I've been to Los Angeles millions
> of times," no one objects, because it is intuitively understood to be
> hyperbole.  One would think that generalizations would be similarly
> understood.  it seems pointless (and sometimes disingenuous) to append
> qualifiers to every statement when the context (and common sense)
> should make the generalization obvious.  I also feel frustrated when
> people say, "Well, that's just your opinion."  This is a "Duh!"
> moment.  Of course it is my opinion.  If I were expressing someone
> else's, I would attribute it to them.
>
> Generalizations are bad when they are used to punish someone unjustly
> -- and for a host of related reasons -- but they are also convenient.
> If I said, "Men are taller than women," only the painfully literal
> would believe that I meant that this was true 100% of the time.
>
> My apologies, Sue, if it seems I am picking on you.  I'm not.  You
> just happened to tweak one of my pet peeves.
>
> Chas
> 



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