The Off Topic Topic

[Valmy]

Society will grind to a halt if people have to ascertain absolute knowledge about other individuals when dealing with them. Do I know if the airline pilot knows what they're doing, or should I cancel my flight? Or should I assume that they do, and relax?

Well it is different if the person is understood to be vetted to do a job. 

[The Brain]

Society will grind to a halt if people have to ascertain absolute knowledge about other individuals when dealing with them. Do I know if the airline pilot knows what they're doing, or should I cancel my flight? Or should I assume that they do, and relax?

Well it is different if the person is understood to be vetted to do a job. 

How? It's all probabilities. Not all airline pilots know what they're doing.

[Tamas]

Hot take: to claim that you can "present" as member of a gender means that you believe each gender has behaviours (clothing etc) which define them. Which is the exact behaviour BB did with his original theatre claim.

[Tamas]

Sabaton guy contributing to Sabaton parody 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39CyUAnKUso

[garbon]

Hot take: to claim that you can "present" as member of a gender means that you believe each gender has behaviours (clothing etc) which define them. Which is the exact behaviour BB did with his original theatre claim.

Just sit down.

[Tamas]

Hot take: to claim that you can "present" as member of a gender means that you believe each gender has behaviours (clothing etc) which define them. Which is the exact behaviour BB did with his original theatre claim.

Just sit down.

I mean, how else can you "present" a gender? There must be agreed rules/guidelines that define attribute X as making you gender Y otherwise "presenting" is not possible.

[Sheilbh]

There's a difference, though, between a generalisation forming a stereotype which I think is the thing many of you are talking about and a stereotype emerging from the social construction/rules (which I think is actually more the gay men and musicals point though I could be wrong). Both may also be tied to actual reality - which is, in turn, constrained and constructed in other ways.

[Syt]

Even if we assume that gays are more into theater and musicals - is that intrinsically, or is this because it developed over time, e.g. because certain activities were "safe spaces" more so than others.

[Admiral Yi]

There's a difference, though, between a generalisation forming a stereotype which I think is the thing many of you are talking about and a stereotype emerging from the social construction/rules (which I think is actually more the gay men and musicals point though I could be wrong). Both may also be tied to actual reality - which is, in turn, constrained and constructed in other ways.

Society compels gay men to like musical theater? 

[Tamas]

Even if we assume that gays are more into theater and musicals - is that intrinsically, or is this because it developed over time, e.g. because certain activities were "safe spaces" more so than others.

I am pretty sure the safe space bit is part of it. I mean, imagine you want to be part of a community that'll accept you as a gay man, even nowadays let alone previous decades: would you choose the theater or a football team?

[PJL]

So like Jews and banking / finance. Other careers were restricted to them in the past so they became merchants and then bankers. Which in turn created the stereotypes for them.

[DGuller]

It only gives you a probability about a person, but not facts about them.

If 75% of all people with blonde hair and green eyes like eggs for breakfast, then there's a better than even chance a random person with blonde hair and green eyes that you meet will like eggs for breakfast, but you won't know until you ask them.

It does give you a probability, but I wouldn't preface it with "only".  Probabilities are information also.  Probability is not as good as certainty, but it's better than ignorance.

[Grey Fox]

Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason & while can be demeaning they will usually comme from a place of reality.

Also, the human mind loves confirmation bias.

My cousin, she's a cop. She says that the Academy (& the regular school before) was lesbian heaven. She was pretty happy about it too.

[Valmy]

Society will grind to a halt if people have to ascertain absolute knowledge about other individuals when dealing with them. Do I know if the airline pilot knows what they're doing, or should I cancel my flight? Or should I assume that they do, and relax?

Well it is different if the person is understood to be vetted to do a job. 

How? It's all probabilities. Not all airline pilots know what they're doing.

Ok but the probability that somebody with a job of airline pilot can pilot airplanes is different than assuming every airline pilot is a married man who cheats on his wife when he stays overnight in a city while doing his job.

The first is, you know, central to being an airline pilot and the second is a generality that may even be true for a majority of airline pilots but is probably unfair to just assume about all of them.

[The Brain]

Society will grind to a halt if people have to ascertain absolute knowledge about other individuals when dealing with them. Do I know if the airline pilot knows what they're doing, or should I cancel my flight? Or should I assume that they do, and relax?

Well it is different if the person is understood to be vetted to do a job. 

How? It's all probabilities. Not all airline pilots know what they're doing.

Ok but the probability that somebody with a job of airline pilot can pilot airplanes is different than assuming every airline pilot is a married man who cheats on his wife when he stays overnight in a city while doing his job.

The first is, you know, central to being an airline pilot and the second is a generality that may even be true for a majority of airline pilots but is probably unfair to just assume about all of them.

I don't think that every probability is the same, if that's what you mean.