SUNDAY THOUGHTS : BLANKET STATEMENTS

Whether uttered or posted, blanket statements, reveal a lot about those who make them. For them to be true or credible, one would have had to encountered EVERYONE, and everything, and that’s impossible. 

It’s the deficit in lived experience, that makes some blanket statements so irresponsible and ridiculous.

It’s the degree of hurt or prejudice, that makes them potentially dangerous.

The world is so much bigger than anyone’s circle or neighborhood, and some statements scream that a person has not ventured very far outside of them much, or at all.

ARE all people one way or another, or is it just the handful of people you’ve chosen to be around? Have you met and studied everyone?

DO all people behave or think a certain way, or is it just the handful of people you’ve seen on TV?

IS it true that “they” ALL feel a certain way, or is it just the ones you’ve met, or bothered to ask?

How do the actions of ONE person, or a few people, cause someone to indict, criticize, accuse, judge, distrust, ridicule, avoid, slander, and demonize an entire gender, group, profession, or demographic? That ONE bad exchange, relationship, or experience, can be a beast, I guess—and so can misinformation and ignorance. They can fool someone into thinking they’re an expert on ALL, when the only take they have, is that ONE unfortunate circumstance—that may not even be true, right, or a reasonable representation. 

Don’t let anyone or anything make you bigoted, prove your limited reach, demonstrate your lack of education, or expose your gullibility, or small thinking. Information is everywhere. Google is still free.

If you’re fair, you always have to reserve the notion that the problem may lie with YOU, not THEM. The problem may be, how you were raised, what you were taught, who you hung around, what you heard, choose to read, or were led to believe. Others don’t have to fall in line, be like you, follow your rules, traditions, habits, or orders. They don’t have to adopt your ways, support your causes, or embrace your tastes, in order to be right, good, or acceptable.

The need to change, fix, validate, own, control, and correct others, and their lack of desire, willingness to allow it, or their failure to comply or agree, leads to frustration, and the uttering of blanket statements that simply aren’t true. 

Nothing is monolithic. There are always exceptions that will aggressively push back on being lumped into one category, and ask, “Who told you that? Where did you get that idea from?”

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions, but don’t let it be said that you sound like a fool. Don’t let ignorance (or unfounded fear) cause you to cling to, or spew bogus ideas and theories. Don’t forfeit what could be meaningful, productive, horizon-expanding relationships and experiences, because you won’t simply think for yourself, check your facts, dissect your own philosophies, open your eyes— or let go of a lie.