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Generalisations a form
of mental myopia JUDGING people in black and white is "emotional blindness." In other words, it is thinking myopia. Generalisations make for simplicity. But they lead to intellectual myopia. Myopia is short vision eye-wise. Intellectual myopia is short vision life-wise. It is shortcut thinking. For instance, it is easy to blurt out that British table manners are perfect and those of Indians and others imperfect. This attitude is not confined to trivial matters like table manners. In more important matters, it can lead to disastrous consequences in many spheres of life. In marriage, for
example, a generalisation can lead to a minor verbal tiff which
develops into a major conflict, resulting into a bleeding
relationship. So, in friendship. A sweeping statement, like "He
is very selfish", may strain a friendship. |
Generalisations are a form of thought malady. We might have had the experience of one dishonest office clerk. But, we gos about for the rest of our lives proclaiming that all clerks are dishonest. A lot of harm is done to the social fabric by generalists (pun unintended) spreading untruths and large-scale slanders. There is a tendency in man to pick the "easy" view. And the easy way. A most sweeping generalisation, for example, was the theory propounded by the two-nation politicians which resulted in the tragic partition of India. It caused the death of millions of innocent people and its evil effects still fester in the subcontinent. Militancy in Punjab and Kashmir are also examples. A friend of mine had very strong views on drink. His son asked him whether the men coming out from a bar were "drunkards." To my amazement, my friend said, "Yes." "They are. And they end up in the gutter." He must have known that this was untrue but so strong was his prejudice against drinking that he couldn’t resist using the opportunity for an anti-drink tirade. One who shows an imbalanced and extreme dislike for a vice or failing usually has an unusually strong unconscious tendency to indulge in it. This means that it is the law of compensation working in reverse. Praise (undeserved) is as superficial as flattery or condemnation. It is okay for girls to think that all things foreign are just swell. It is understandable for them to have a crush on Madonna. But adults, in mind as well as years, should be able to admire others for qualities of mind and heart. Their invasion of our culture, their own failings, should not be lost sight of. Again, one must beware of talking of Indians en masse. There is no such thing as "the average Indian." The child’s definition of an average as "a thing hens lay eggs on" is a piece of clear thinking compared with some adult usage of the term. Mental myopics see the world in two hues (black and white) and pay no heed to the differences, the infinite gradations with which nature has fashioned the world. Most of the black-and-white categorisations we do, if we examine them closely relate not to other persons or ideas but also to ourselves. A relative is good simply because he sends a new year greeting. Another is "bad" because he does not. Reality proves, in due course of time, that the former is a devil, the latter an "angel." This is the evil off black-and-white thinking. Mahatma Gandhi had said: "Hate the crime, not the criminal. Sin, not the sinner." Even the most hardened criminal is not all "black." There are gradations in all of us, and only the mentally and emotionally "blind" fail to notice this. We are all like a black and white picture which has shades of grey, which gradually merge into the black and white. Sin and virtue are in every one. Sin
because we are made of flesh; virtue because we have a soul. |