Are All Generalizations Really False?

8 min readOct 16, 2023

Seeing “generalization” in a new or different perspective.

Apparently the answer seems to be in “yes” or “affirmative” if we believe a statement attributed to Mark Twain, the famous American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer of 19th century (also called “Father of American Literature”) and that is now deemed as one of his most famous quotes as reproduced below:

Although the second phrase, “including this one” seems to be negating or contradicting the first phrase that makes the whole quote look like a puzzling or paradoxical statement, but together they make some sense as the first phrase seems to be the essence of the whole quote that is: “generalizations are not absolute truth.”

However, in the absence of (our ability to find or know due to human limitations) an absolute truth we can only rely on generalizations (or opinions accepted by majority as truth based on some particular past experiences) even though at the risk of ignoring the fact that there are also as well as always some exceptions to nearly all the rules or norms. In other words, we must not over-generalize, make sweeping assumption, or ignore the exception(s) by blindly enforcing one single rule or idea to every one or every situation as it can lead to “stereotypes,” “cliches,” and “biases”

For instance, American generalization or stereotypes about “Muslims” or “Terrorism” especially after 9/11 (2001). Ironically, after the attacks on the famous twin towers in New York, all the Muslims (with popular Muslim names and looks etc.) were seen or labelled as savages, uncivilized, and terrorists etc., but more ironically many other from South Asia who looked like Muslims, such as Sikhs (wearing turbans and long beards like some supposed prototypes of Muslims) also faced backlash, discrimination, and some were reportedly even killed on suspicion.

Sikhs and Muslims are distinct from each other in spite of having some similarities rooted in shared cultural traditions/history (photo credit: https://www.sikhiwiki.org/)

Regardless, generalizations, as some pundits suggest, are mostly used as mental short cuts in a complex and multidimensional world to simplify things enabling us to save a considerable time and energy to reach a conclusion or make some decision(s), and then take action accrdingly. Thus they apparently seem helpful in a sense that they allow us to act timely and confidently or sensibly in a new or unfamiliar situation — no muss, no fuss. For instance, snakes are generally believed to be dangerous due to being poisonous and thus most people always fear snakes and try to keep away from them or kill after finding them nearby. And, although it is said that among more than 3000 species of snakes only about 600 are venomous, and only about 200, or seven percent, can kill or inflict serious injuries, but most people can’t have so much knowledge or expertise to know beforehand which snake is dangerous and which is not. So the best option for most of them is to kill a snake as soon as it appears in front of them.

In short, we can say that generalizations can help us make sense of a perplexing and seemingly chaotic world as we can deal with a new or suddenly emerged problem or situation by having connection with our past experience(s). That is why it is also deemed a fundamental learning process.

However, blindly applying generalizations to humans or over-generalize some concepts or perceptions to draw doubtful or unwarranted conclusions can not be called desirable in any sense, especially when they become the basis for discrimination and victimization of specific individuals or communities.

For example, it is not fair to label a member of a group to have certain characteristics without having actual and complete information about that particular individual. Technically generalization is called a “cognitive distortion” that involves making broad and sweeping statements or conclusions based on limited evidence or experiences causing troubles for the victim or target of over-generalization as the above cited example of “Sikh Community” shows. Psychologists are of the view that human brain constantly uses past experiences to interpret new ones, so unless you take conscious control of your thoughts, your mind will revert to what it does

So what is the solution?

There are lot of opinions, suggestions, and theories by psychologist such as, identifying our thought patterns and reframing overgeneralized thoughts, ignoring our perceptions/feelings and seeking solid evidence, considering other perspectives etc.

However, solution, in my view, is easy and simple if we change our perspective a little. It will make a lot of difference if we don’t consider everything, every situation/phenomenon/event, every person a solid reality but an idea. In other words, as Plato very very succinctly describes in his Theory of Forms (Platonic Forms), every object or quality that exists in the external world/reality is basically an idea and has a Form: dogs, cats, humans, oceans, mountains, tables, colors, beauty, love, goodness, and courage etc.

But what is worth pondering, according to Plato, is that these objects in physical world are not perfect and complete because physical world is not as real or true as ideas or (standard) forms and thus they are mere imitations of the ideas which are timeless, absolute and unchangeable. And thus we can also call them “eternal truths.” While phenomena are mere shadows mimicking the idea or Form; that is, momentary portrayals of the Form under different circumstances.

For example, there are countless tables in the world but the Form or idea or standard universal model of tableness is at the core; it is the essence of all of them. To make the point more clear, imagine you are looking at a table. It has various qualities or characteristics that are particular to that table: it’s made of certain material, it has four legs of certain length and style, it is placed between chairs at a specific place etc. For Plato, it is the idea of a table that we might be able to abstract from various individual tables, and that abstraction would be the Form of the table. Forms are these abstract, ideal entities., we cannot perceive/observe them directly (as he explains in his famous Allegory of the Cave) but only have some inkling in their physical manifestation.

And, ironically, physical manifestations that look real to us, when we perceive them through our five senses, are often imperfect and ephemeral as they are in constant change of existence. They have a beginning, existence of a short duration, and then an ending. Moreover, we also can’t completely trust our senses as they can give us false information, especially when we have some disability (mental or physical), such as myopia or paranoia etc.

Thus only external appearances of an object or a person should not play a crucial role in judging (or labeling) them. The external appearances (or generalizations) may not be true and there may be some hidden inner qualities to boot. It also can’t be denied that a sinful person or criminal is never an isolated individual but a product of whole society. Thus society can’t absolve itself of the wrongdoings committed by individuals.

Moreover, as Wayne Walter Dyer, a popular American self-help advocate,and motivational speaker has pointed out, “when You Judge Another Person, You Don’t Define Them. You Define Yourself.”

In simple words, as some sages/philosophers keep telling us, it’s all in our heads. The truth is, the root cause(s) of many of today’s problems and challenges can be found in this upper part of our body that sits on our shoulder.

Hence when we say “America,” it is a concept or idea of America that we have constructed in our mind or that has been portrayed by media as synonymous with things like money, power, domination, duplicity etc. And this “America” can be found anywhere and in any person who believes in the American ideals of money, power, and domination etc.

Similarly, when someone says “Pakistan,” there emerges in our mind an image of such negative attributes as “Corruption,” “Poverty,” “Terrorism,” “Fakery” etc. However, corruption, poverty, fakery and terrorism can be found in nearly all the countries of the world even though in varying degrees and in various forms that might be visible as well as invisible.

Thus there can be “America” in Pakistan and Pakistan in America.

Conclusion

As Mahatma Gandhi (20th century’s anti-colonial Indian nationalist and political ethicist who believed in nonviolence) is believed to have said, “Hate the sin and not the sinner.” And a variation of this quote (believed to be a Christian Cliche) even goes further by suggesting “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” This also means that when we see something bad or evil or someone committing sin we should try to learn some lesson not to repeat that in our life and not hate or condemn the sinner or the doer as this will not solve the problem. Then we all are imperfect and thus commit mistakes and go wrong on many occasions in life (but like to label, blame and condemn others more than correcting ourselves) as Richard Murphy’s law or epigram reveals in a clever and amusing way:

And here is another variation of the quote that seems to warn the people who think that they are sin-proof saints:

In simple words, we should try avoid blaming or criticizing people who are ephemeral, momentary and constantly changing manifestation of ideas, both good and bad. Thus we should commend or criticize the idea and not the person. And this change in perspective, in my view, can be an effective way of avoiding generalization.

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