Some people argue that prejudice is holding any preconceived notion whatsoever, which is perhaps technically true, but that results in a functionally USELESS concept, because prediction and assumption are basic and fundamental facets of human life, without which we cannot operate.
You can’t live your life going to bed every night and wondering if gravity will still exist in the morning, and you can’t wake up every morning wondering if just maybe all the people you meet that day will speak another language than the one you would otherwise assume because it is typical in your area.
So if you object to “prejudice” on those grounds, you’re in trouble.
—
Consequently, I prefer the much more down to earth definition that prejudice is unfairly judging someone in advance, absent of information.
It’s not prejudice to judge fairly based on actual established evidence. For example, thinking badly of a known murderer or an avowed Nazi isn’t prejudice.
It’s also not prejudice if what you are assuming is overwhelmingly true in most cases, or is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
The assumption that cats are inherently selfish, callous, and even cruel creatures? Not prejudice! Because ya know… it’s like saying water is wet.
Sure, sometimes you might find exceptions and outliers – after all, sometimes water gets cold and becomes solid, at which point it isn’t wet anymore! But as a general rule? Yeah, cats are self obsessed, even when they’re sweet and cute.
Go carefully here D. Most racial and religious bigots believe their opinions are based on “perfectly reasonable assumptions” because they’re extrapolating from either hate or a broken data set.
An example? Only a minuscule fraction of the water in the universe is liquid and hence “wet”.
“An example? Only a minuscule fraction of the water in the universe is liquid and hence “wet”.”
That’s context, though. Everything is only true in its proper context. The pacific ocean is huge in human context, but far less than microscopic in cosmic context. That doesn’t mean it’s not the largest ocean on planet, and that for essentially all intents and purposes, a human can always safely treat it as utterly massive.
In contrast, racists don’t have “perfectly reasonably assumptions” on their side, they have demented delusion and willful ignorance of facts – not just context.
The claims racists make are absurd on their very face – “people of [Race X] are all criminals”, or “people of [Race Y] are intellectually inferior”, are the sorts of arguments that don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny and rigor. It’s like arguing that all dogs are vicious, or that birds intentionally crap on your freshly washed car – only a lunatic could seriously believe such arguments, because they fall apart at a moment’s thought or investigation.
Scott Adams points out that what many think of as prejudice is actually quite normal.
Humans are pattern recognition machines, and unfortunately really bad at it.
This is why the discipline and skill of critical thinking is so important.
Sadly, critical thinking is hard and requires consistent application, and so is far too often neglected in our education or even just in daily life.
Surely Artie has a redoubt from which he can mobilize defenses? And I’d be surprised if he is unaware of Pavane’s plans to effect a “Starlight Bark” escape to Lovetron…
He may have a bolt hole to retreat to, but it’s hard to mobilize the people if they’re sick of listening to you. Also, said bolt hole would likely be gerbil-sized, which limit the type of defenses on hand.
A lot of the millennials don’t even know how to use a can opener—too many flip-tops. (And the spell check on this insists I’ve misspelled “millennials.”)
It depends entirely on the parents of the millennials in question. There are a number of people even from the previous generation whose parents didn’t give a rat’s rear end about actually preparing their children for adulthood.
But while the number of ill-prepared individuals is increasing exponentially with each generation, it’s a bit unfair to judge all millennials equally.
My mother used (and occasionally still uses) a can opener that, whenever I used it, I cut my hand on the can. I switched to a different kind when I moved out. But flip lids *are* easier. And I’m sure some millennials *do* know how to use a can opener.
HT and Cinnamon would get along fine. After all, they are both cats. All cats are really alike, except the big cats don’t know how to use humans properly.
Big cats don’t need humans. H.T. is acting on something other than his tiger instinct, otherwise he wouldn’t have any use for humans either (except maybe as an afternoon snack).
Meh, most cats can barely tolerate each other, if that. There are exceptions, of course. (We have had some cats that have gotten along reasonably well with each other.) However, the odds that Cinnamon and H.T. would get along well (or at all) are pretty low. Most likely, they would despise each other.
As Helen had to remind Dave a few times, giving something that isn’t a human human-level intelligence doesn’t mean that it will have the same priorities or levels of empathy and compassion as a human. It makes more sense for it not to, in fact.
At this point, we need an owl to swoop down, seize Artie in his talons and fly away! Cutting to an aerial panorama as Artie says “Thanks, Ollie!” & the owl kindly replies “Looked like you could use a lift! Where to?”
“Why did I go to this guy first?”
Perhaps because he’s the sanest and most cooperative of those available?>_>
That’s a depressing thought.
They are in San Francisco. Sanity is not exactly thick on the ground there.
He happened to be out front.
Cinnamon seems to have his priorities in proper order. ^_^
Yep. It’s getting really tough to change my nap schedule, too.
Reminds me of episode two of Sex, Death and Robots.
First thing I thought of, too. But in that story, who exactly was around to can things anymore?
Ah yes, the main reason cats tolerate us.
Opposable thumbs.
I think those strange flat claws they use so neatly as grooming tools have something to do with it too.
Some people argue that prejudice is holding any preconceived notion whatsoever, which is perhaps technically true, but that results in a functionally USELESS concept, because prediction and assumption are basic and fundamental facets of human life, without which we cannot operate.
You can’t live your life going to bed every night and wondering if gravity will still exist in the morning, and you can’t wake up every morning wondering if just maybe all the people you meet that day will speak another language than the one you would otherwise assume because it is typical in your area.
So if you object to “prejudice” on those grounds, you’re in trouble.
—
Consequently, I prefer the much more down to earth definition that prejudice is unfairly judging someone in advance, absent of information.
It’s not prejudice to judge fairly based on actual established evidence. For example, thinking badly of a known murderer or an avowed Nazi isn’t prejudice.
It’s also not prejudice if what you are assuming is overwhelmingly true in most cases, or is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
The assumption that cats are inherently selfish, callous, and even cruel creatures? Not prejudice! Because ya know… it’s like saying water is wet.
Sure, sometimes you might find exceptions and outliers – after all, sometimes water gets cold and becomes solid, at which point it isn’t wet anymore! But as a general rule? Yeah, cats are self obsessed, even when they’re sweet and cute.
Go carefully here D. Most racial and religious bigots believe their opinions are based on “perfectly reasonable assumptions” because they’re extrapolating from either hate or a broken data set.
An example? Only a minuscule fraction of the water in the universe is liquid and hence “wet”.
“An example? Only a minuscule fraction of the water in the universe is liquid and hence “wet”.”
That’s context, though. Everything is only true in its proper context. The pacific ocean is huge in human context, but far less than microscopic in cosmic context. That doesn’t mean it’s not the largest ocean on planet, and that for essentially all intents and purposes, a human can always safely treat it as utterly massive.
In contrast, racists don’t have “perfectly reasonably assumptions” on their side, they have demented delusion and willful ignorance of facts – not just context.
The claims racists make are absurd on their very face – “people of [Race X] are all criminals”, or “people of [Race Y] are intellectually inferior”, are the sorts of arguments that don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny and rigor. It’s like arguing that all dogs are vicious, or that birds intentionally crap on your freshly washed car – only a lunatic could seriously believe such arguments, because they fall apart at a moment’s thought or investigation.
He said prejudiced against cats, not prejudiced toward them.
We found the cat! Presumably also a non-human sapient, since it can type!
Scott Adams points out that what many think of as prejudice is actually quite normal.
Humans are pattern recognition machines, and unfortunately really bad at it.
This is why the discipline and skill of critical thinking is so important.
Sadly, critical thinking is hard and requires consistent application, and so is far too often neglected in our education or even just in daily life.
Surely Artie has a redoubt from which he can mobilize defenses? And I’d be surprised if he is unaware of Pavane’s plans to effect a “Starlight Bark” escape to Lovetron…
There’s probably a Fortress of Solitude around, but, most likely, they keep the commodes in there.
He may have a bolt hole to retreat to, but it’s hard to mobilize the people if they’re sick of listening to you. Also, said bolt hole would likely be gerbil-sized, which limit the type of defenses on hand.
A lot of the millennials don’t even know how to use a can opener—too many flip-tops. (And the spell check on this insists I’ve misspelled “millennials.”)
I’m 36, which plants me right among millennials and that’s complete BS.
You see incredible lapses here and there. One prominent (young) politician was filmed showing she had never seen a garbage disposal before.
It depends entirely on the parents of the millennials in question. There are a number of people even from the previous generation whose parents didn’t give a rat’s rear end about actually preparing their children for adulthood.
But while the number of ill-prepared individuals is increasing exponentially with each generation, it’s a bit unfair to judge all millennials equally.
And yes, I do realize that you said “a lot” not “all”.
My mother used (and occasionally still uses) a can opener that, whenever I used it, I cut my hand on the can. I switched to a different kind when I moved out. But flip lids *are* easier. And I’m sure some millennials *do* know how to use a can opener.
Meanwhile, I (a Gen X-er) have never quite figured out how to answer my mobile without a 40% chance of rejecting the call by mistake….
HT and Cinnamon would get along fine. After all, they are both cats. All cats are really alike, except the big cats don’t know how to use humans properly.
That’s because big cats only think they’re alpha.
Big cats don’t need humans. H.T. is acting on something other than his tiger instinct, otherwise he wouldn’t have any use for humans either (except maybe as an afternoon snack).
Meh, most cats can barely tolerate each other, if that. There are exceptions, of course. (We have had some cats that have gotten along reasonably well with each other.) However, the odds that Cinnamon and H.T. would get along well (or at all) are pretty low. Most likely, they would despise each other.
As Helen had to remind Dave a few times, giving something that isn’t a human human-level intelligence doesn’t mean that it will have the same priorities or levels of empathy and compassion as a human. It makes more sense for it not to, in fact.
Cinnamon implies he’s passing as a cat. So what is he?
Probably like Leo; just genetically manipulated.
We never did get the “how” and “why” of H. T. and his creator(s).
Cinnamon implies he’s passing as ordinary. He didn’t say what kind of ordinary animal.
A cat, just not a normal one.
At this point, we need an owl to swoop down, seize Artie in his talons and fly away! Cutting to an aerial panorama as Artie says “Thanks, Ollie!” & the owl kindly replies “Looked like you could use a lift! Where to?”