How does one point out the one tiny nugget of truth in an otherwise noxious stereotype without being immediately shut down as a wholehearted supporter and propagandist of such a stereotype? Apparently some topics are considered such thoroughly poisoned wells that absolutely nothing other than a 100.00% denouncement is tolerated. Basically, any statement of the sort that might be phrased as “Yes, I know that almost all X are not like that; but…”
Individual people can fit stereotypes. Whole groups of people? no, never.
So many of us complain of this exact thing, I believe that the majority of folks on both sides would agree with you but for some reason, the influencers are louder and more demanding of absolute devotion.
Can you give an example of what you feel could be a “tiny nugget of truth in an otherwise noxious stereotype?”
Why would you want to?
In today’s polarized political climate, just don’t.
Yeah. If you never pick up that broad brush in the first place, you’ll quite likely be okay.
Not the OP, but almost every stereotype contains some truth to it, otherwise it couldn’t have possibly arisen in the first place.
Basketball is indeed popular with quite a few black people. There are indeed quite a few Jews who work in banking and finance. There are quite a few bad Asian car drivers. Quite a few people in Appalachia and the South are rednecks. Etc. etc.
A stereotype couldn’t possibly stick if there weren’t truthful examples of it.
Jew work in banking and finance is just a fact – Jews have all kinds of jobs. Jews are lawyers, bakers, cab drivers, why there’s a whole country with a large majority of Jewish people and they seem to get all the jobs done.
Jews work in banking because they are greedy and want to control the world – that’s a bigoted stereotype.
I’m sure some Asians are bad drivers, but there are a lot of bad drivers out there.
Basketball has a lot of black players – that’s a fact, that’s not a bigoted stereotype.
OP: give us an example of a bigoted stereotype with a tiny nugget of truth.
Re-reading your OP, you refute your own premise with:
I’m not touching that with a twenty-foot barge pole.
That’s the question and if you can’t say why, then you have the answer to the OP.
Repeating for emphasis and agreement. I try to stay away from generalizations, because they don’t contain any useful information in thinking about individual people. And any non-trivial generalizations that attempt to talk about all members of some group are ipso facto wrong.
If you know (of) a person you think fits a stereotype, you should be clear in your mind that this fact doesn’t prove anything about the broader truth of the stereotype.
All this has nothing to do with polarized climate, or influencers, or anything but simple logic and a recognition of reality.
Making this an amazingly useless OP and debate.
Several times, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene have actually said things that were correct.
If almost all X are not like that, then there is no truth in a stereotype claiming that almost all X are like that. Nothing there to point out.
It’s the exact nature of stereotypes that they don’t recognize that an occasional X being “like that” doesn’t say anything about anyone else in the group.
OK, tell us in general terms why you want to point out the tiny nugget of truth in a stereotype. Is it to further some argument?
I’m not seeing any reason to do so, unless it’s a back-door argument of why it’s not a stereotype and is simply the truth. But maybe you have a good reason I’m not seeing.
For purposes of the OP’s topic: were those things “nuggets of truth” that were part of otherwise odious stereotypes?
I am sure that Marjorie Taylor Greene has said many many correct, truthful things in her life, including “today is Tuesday,” “the car needs gas,” and (amazing as it may seem) “I am a Congresswoman,” but none of which are relevant to the OP’s topic.
The smart thing to do is keep that nugget of wisdom to oneself.
The very challenge in your question is exactly why I’m not going there.
I don’t understand what you mean by “challenge in your question," or why that prevents you from explaining what you want to discuss.