Reply #109: I agree that most people don't intend to.... [View All]

[Lerkfish]

and I'm not saying its about me, Lerkfish. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself well if you are getting that impression.

I'm saying that if people assign guilt of the actions of a few to a large group, it does several bad things: It automatically unjustly labels people as enemies who are considering themselves an ally...which is counterproductive, and forces them to feel like they constantly have to be on the defensive. It misdirects the outrage and therefore diffuses it and makes it less efficient. It makes people like me realize the person making the stereotyped judgement is unwilling to rationally differentiate between groups who are obviously different, therefore a meaningful discussiong is out of reach.
It also means that people like me are being forced out of the big tent because of the actions of people we don't agree with.