# Generalisations/Memes you hate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2017, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795 "2017-09-20T10:42:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/41 "2017-09-21T17:23:16Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I was actually going to start a thread about the endless follow your dreams, Carpe Diem, You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, memes that seem to be posted on Facebook by some of the least successful people career wise that I know. I much prefer a very well thought out career path and I understand that in my industry and particularly at my firm that nothing happens quickly and careful career planning is far more important that dreams or positive thinking, Adding on to this: The idea that you have a Genuine Self, and the idea that you can’t fully realize your Genuine Self in a “corporate” job. (Yes, I put “corporate” in quotes because _any_ intelligent business is organized as a corporation. A company which consists solely of the owner is a corporation if the owner’s in any way competent. In this context, “corporate” means “large”; “possessing an HR department” is a pretty good proxy for what “large” means.) The Genuine Self concept is very philosophical: It seems deep and obviously true, but the more you poke it, the more holes it seems to have, until it, ghost-like, disappears into a fog of muddled thinking and unclear premises. I don’t doubt the existence of a _personality_, but personality isn’t the whole of a person and, in specific, doesn’t dictate which specific job or jobs they’d be happy with. Personality is too vague a construct, demonstrable as it may be, and everything else is contingent on life experience and sheer chance. Even accepting some version of the Genuine Self premise, well, why _can’t_ it be realized in a “corporate” setting? I mean, I _know_ why the Sixties Shiny Happy Hippie People thought it couldn’t, but unless you’ve bought into their specific Romantic Counterculture their reasoning tends to fall flat. This part, the idea that “corporate” jobs are inherently unfulfilling, is a truism, in that unless you accept it as true on faith, it can’t be shown to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/42 "2017-09-21T17:26:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think it’s demonstrably true that the 2011 **The Thing** is worse than John Carpenter’s 1982 **The Thing**. > Howard Hawks fans insists that both are worse than the 1951 **The Thing**. While it may well hold true in this instance, the idea that remakes and sequels are necessarily worse than the original is disproven in multiple instances as well. For example _The Maltese Falcon_ (the only one you’ve ever heard of, the one with Bogart) is a remake, as is _The Magnificent Seven_, and were I a true cineast, I could keep rattling them off. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/43 "2017-09-21T17:52:13Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The Baby Boomers once popularized “don’t trust anybody over 30”. So it drives me nuts when those Baby Boomer retirees complain about the “youth”. (In truth, it would drive me nuts regardless of who said it; the whole idea that the younger generation is too degenerate/lazy/coddled tracks back for [generations](http://mentalfloss.com/article/52209/15-historical-complaints-about-young-people-ruining-everything)). This bothers me too, but for a completely different reason. The phrase was coined by Jack Weinberg of the Berkeley Free Speech movement in 1964. He was 24 at the time. Nobody at the Free Speech movement was a boomer. Pretty much nobody in the following movements, whether Yippie or SDS or Flower Power or Diggers, were boomers. Hardly anybody in rock music in the 1960s were boomers. Ralph Gleason, who popularized the phrase, certainly wasn’t a boomer. Just as a side issue. because a phrase is how it is used and not how it was originally meant, the reason Weinberg even said it in the first place was to refute the notion that the Movement was being controlled by adult outside forces. To get back on the thread, I hate everything under the sun being blamed on boomers when 90% of the time those things were started by pre-boomers. I also hate people using “politically correct” as meaning “anything I don’t like.” In the worst possible irony, boomers get blamed for political correctness too, even though its use was started by pre-boomers. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/44 "2017-09-21T17:55:53Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This seems a bit aside from most of the example so far, but the accepted wisdom that I hate is that you can categorize people’s personalities in a meaningful way by plotting their position on some kind of grid. I’m looking at you, Briggs Myers, among many others. There are more than 16 types of people and you don’t get to know any of them by putting them in one of your little boxes. Not 16, 4. [You Are Your Blood Type](https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Blood-Type/dp/0671633422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506016477&sr=8-1&keywords=You+Are+Your+Blood+Type). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/45 "2017-09-21T18:12:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > To get back on the thread, I hate everything under the sun being blamed on boomers when 90% of the time those things were started by pre-boomers. I also hate people using “politically correct” as meaning “anything I don’t like.” In the worst possible irony, boomers get blamed for political correctness too, even though its use was started by pre-boomers. Speaking of which, the “snowflake generation” that received “participation trophies” didn’t come up with the idea of participation trophies and aren’t naive enough to think that they mean anything. But I have no dog in this fight since I am the invisible Gen X. ---
**Author:** ![Tio\_Gringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Tio\_Gringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tio_Gringo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/46 "2017-09-21T18:16:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Adding on to this: The idea that you have a Genuine Self, and the idea that you can’t fully realize your Genuine Self in a “corporate” job. Yes! I work for a Fortune 500 company and I love my job and my company. On the personal side: I am paid well, have excellent benefits, and have an excellent work/life balance. The company is an excellent community neighbor and annually gives millions of dollars back to the community (including a multi-million dollar donation for Hurricane Harvey relief). They also, strongly support education and literacy. I short, I am proud to work for a global corporation and feel that if anything they help to enhance my “Genuine Self.” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/47 "2017-09-21T18:30:59Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Money doesn’t buy happiness. > > Fuck that meme. Money doesn’t buy happiness. But it can buy a jet ski. And it’s hard to be unhappy when you are on a jet ski. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/48 "2017-09-21T19:29:51Z")
Another shitty meme: Things always happen for a reason. No they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/49 "2017-09-21T19:54:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I also hate people using “politically correct” as meaning “anything I don’t like.” I hate the idea that “politically correct” only means stuff liberals do. I can go down a freaking list of “politically correct” ideas conservatives have, defining “politically correct” as “utterly divorced from reality but must be believed in to be part of this political group” (_not_ the original definition, BTW), but this is IMHO, not The Pit or Great Debates. It also gets up my nose when people think they can “debate” facts. You can, and should, debate _using_ facts, but thinking you can talk your way around reality is insane. > [@Tio\_Gringo](#): > > Yes! I work for a Fortune 500 company and I love my job and my company. On the personal side: I am paid well, have excellent benefits, and **have an excellent work/life balance**. _This_ part I bolded is something I almost mentioned in my original rant on the subject because, apparently, a job which _does_ help you realize your Genuine Self is an obsession, something you pursue every waking hour, and, conversely, a job you go, do, and then _stop doing_ every day is somehow soul-sucking. No. Burnout is soul-sucking, and having a job which consumes your existence is only going to help you realize your Genuine Self if your Genuine Self is a burnt-out husk with no support system or, indeed, existence beyond that one job. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Another shitty meme: Things always happen for a reason. > > No they don’t. Oh, this goes far deeper. Ask the obvious question (“What reason?”) and get the obvious answer (“Because of who you are as a person!”) and let the implications sink in: If good things happen, it means you’re a good person. If bad things happen, it means you’re a bad person. Therefore, we positively shouldn’t help people to whom bad things have happened, as they brought them down upon themselves (_Must have!_) and are now reaping their just rewards. Inherit the wind and all that. There’s no better way to refuse to be charitable while maintaining the moral high ground. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/50 "2017-09-21T19:59:33Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Another shitty meme: Things always happen for a reason. > > No they don’t. That’s not a meme, it’s an [aphorism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphorism) (but I agree it’s shitty, whatever it is). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/51 "2017-09-21T20:13:26Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Speaking of which, the “snowflake generation” that received “participation trophies” didn’t come up with the idea of participation trophies and aren’t naive enough to think that they mean anything. But I have no dog in this fight since I am the invisible Gen X. Eh. By definition, young people can’t win. It’s almost like it’s a prejudice or something. [This made the rounds a little while ago: Young people aren’t going out and drinking and having sex like previous generations did.](http://www.metafilter.com/169529/I-havent-heard-of-anyone-who-goes-out-anddrinks-with-their-friends) You know, the kinds of stuff old people complain about: “You kids only think of drugs and booze and sex! In my day, we had jobs! That’s what you need: More work, so you can learn that life isn’t fun!” OK, guess what the article says. No, guess. Hey, here’s a quote: > [@](#): > > “On the one hand, I know she’s safe, she’s not out getting pregnant or smoking pot or drinking or doing all kinds of risky stuff that I can imagine would be age appropriate,” she said. But Haskew wonders whether her daughter is missing out on life lessons those behaviors can teach. And that’s the tone: Kids These Days are missing out on important milestones and rites of passage by, I don’t know, _not_ getting blackout drunk on Southern Comfort and/or wrapping their beater around a tree and/or getting a one-night-stand pregnant because _that_ is how _adults_ plan their lives. There’s no awareness of the irony. There’s no awareness that they’re hand-wringing about the _lack_ of things which always inspire hand-wringing. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/52 "2017-09-21T20:26:56Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > How so? I typically don’t see it in real life in my circles but why is it problematic on TV? I would say it is annoying having white males as the scapegoat, but I don’t want to ruin this thread. (please, readers, don’t.) > > I’m genuinely curious as to why it can potentially be problematic What \*\*Kenobi \*\*said. It’s not so much that the advertisers specifically have a thing against white men (although, maybe some do) as it is that need a “safe” target, and white men are the safest target. Mock women and you’ll get a feminist backlash. Mock racial minorities and you’ll get a race backlash. Mock Muslims and you’ll get an Islamophobia backlash. Mock gays and you’ll get a homophobia backlash. Mock a straight, white, male and you might get \*some \*backlash from MRAs or the alt-right, but it’s a much safer target, all things considered. Certainly much less backlash than if you portray anyone else as the doofus. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/53 "2017-09-21T21:41:48Z")
I have a personal hatred of the concept that ‘If you try hard enough, anything is possible!’ Because no, sorry, it isn’t. The root of this hatred is from an ‘employability course’ I was once sent on, while out of work following surgery. The people running the course were chirpy, cheerful, extremely fond of telling everyone they could achieve anything if they tried hard enough, and highly annoying. There was one guy on the course who was, well, more than a bit odd. It turned out that he’d survived a murder attempt as a toddler (by his father, they apparently initially thought he would never walk or talk again), and had been left with pretty serious brain damage, including severe epilepsy. He had seizures ‘most days’. His lifetime ambition was to be a bus driver. Yeah, for most people, that’s a perfectly viable ambition, however for someone who, short of a major medical breakthough, _is legally barred from ever holding a fucking driving licence_, it unfortunately is not. Instead of acknowledging his dream, but trying to help him find something else he was interested in but was physically capable of, or at least wasn’t legally barred from ever doing, the dumbass course managers did their very, very, best to encourage this poor brain damaged sod to carry on dedicating himself to trying to get somewhere that no action on his part could ever get him closer to. Fine, let a dream be a dream, and I’m not advocating taking that away from people, but sometimes stuff just cannot happen. Having an impossible dream for the future is one thing, encouraging someone (especially someone as vulnerable and suggestible as that guy) to waste all their time, thoughts and energy on trying to make that impossible dream a reality is not doing them a kindness. It was years ago, but the memory still pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/54 "2017-09-21T22:15:21Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I was actually going to start a thread about the endless follow your dreams, Carpe Diem, You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, memes that seem to be posted on Facebook by some of the least successful people career wise that I know. I much prefer a very well thought out career path and I understand that in my industry and particularly at my firm that nothing happens quickly and careful career planning is far more important that dreams or positive thinking, Oh, Holy Christ, I hate this shit. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/55 "2017-09-21T22:24:47Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I have a personal hatred of the concept that ‘If you try hard enough, anything is possible!’ Because no, sorry, it isn’t. It’s all the more ironic when people post this about things that, by definition, are exclusive and limited to one in many thousands. “Anyone can be president if they try hard enough!” What, so America is going to have 500,000 presidents? “Anyone can be an Olympic gold medalist!” What, is the IOC going to hand out 200,000 golds in skating? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/56 "2017-09-21T22:31:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Money doesn’t buy happiness. > > Fuck that meme. And all the more condescending when it’s said by a rich person to a poor person, or an audience of poor people. Even if it’s intended to be well-meaning. Man, this thread might be headed to the Pit soon… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/57 "2017-09-21T23:15:26Z")
“This lovely forest (or similar scene) is an antidepressant” – Yeah, no. I’m tired, in equal shares, of stuff whining about Millennials and of Millennials whining about the stuff whining about Millennials. The former stuff is usually grumpy “In my day…” garbage and the Millennials should know better than to get into a trolled tizzy over every Buzzfeed article. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/58 "2017-09-22T02:49:09Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > the Millennials should know better than to get into a trolled tizzy over every Buzzfeed article. And I’m tired of stupid generalizations. Hey, wait. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/59 "2017-09-22T04:08:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Businesses that display the Jesus Fish on their vehicles/in their advertising. Holy Mackerel! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795/60 "2017-09-22T14:34:18Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Holy Mackerel! Commander McBragg: Quite! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generalisations-memes-you-hate/796795.md?page=4)