Thursday, January 3, 2008
Misinformation
Ill-informed as we often are, we might leap to an assumption that religious people are often homeschoolers and therefore right-wingers and therefore supporters of Mike Huckabee. On the other hand, no one can know everything about everything (which is a perfectly good reason that we form mistaken opinions now and then) but that doesn't stop us from making incorrect assumptions based on thin evidence. Just as every one of the assumptions I voiced in the first sentence is false at least some of the time, it is also true that one vocal and influential homeschooling blogger adamantly opposes Huckabee, thus providing clear evidence that one should never jump from a to b to c.

If a person believes xyz and knows some people who believe xyz and also believe wxy, it is nevertheless wrong to assume that all people who believe xyz also believe wxy. Some examples come quickly to mind: New Yorkers are not all loud pushy and rude (although some are - but so are people from lots of other places), Southerners are not all religious lunatics (although some are - but so are people from lots of other places), Californians are not all touchy-feely hippies (although some are - but so are people from lots of other places), retired people do not all wear plaid and play golf (although some do - but so do people who just have strange taste even if they're employed and young), every girl does not like pink (although some do - as do (gasp!) some boys), etc., etc.

I'd love to know your own favorite bad assumptions; I'll write a longer post about this soon.

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 2:37 PM


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