Generally speaking, we’re all just as bad

IN this allegedly post-truth, preBrexit, and fake news era of President Trump (or as his entourage call him, “The Donald”), and our own BoJo, people are accused of making too many generalisations.

Indeed, outraged in discovering that some people actually dare disagree with them, some within the metropolitan, liberal, right-on Jezmonista brigade have claimed that the less intelligent you are, the more generalisations you tend to make.

Givowwer! Isn’t that in itself a generalisation? Although, to be fair, so is my generalisation of every one in Jesmond being an upper-middle class, beardyweirdy and quinoa consuming lefty hipster .

Generally (there it is again!) anybody who doesn’t have to take their socks off to count to 20 realises that, clearly, not all Mexicans are criminals and not all gadgies with ridiculous haircuts are xenophobic totalitarian dictators.

In fact, The Donald such views go beyond generalisation and into the dodgier area of stereotypes .

So why do we generalise? Generalisations are absolutely necessary in order to learn anything and make sense of the world around us.

If I see a gadgie in a Toon top I can make the generalisation that he probably supports Newcastle United – this is made in light of my past memories and experiences.

Obviously, it’s not 100% certainly the case – he might be a Mackem on a highly dangerous stag night bet; a nervous student trying to blend in; or an escaped lag on the run from a badly run private prison who has nicked it off a washing line.

The beauty of generalisation is that I don’t have to stop the bloke and ask him if he is any of the aforementioned categories.

That would be both weird and wrong, while potentially leading to violence.

We also tend to generalise more about things we divvn’t like, while getting really specific in detail about the stuff we do.

When we whinge, it tends to be about large, generalised groups of people or things.

For example – “ah cannot stand ... gaffas, health food, maths, decorating, chavs, exercise, students, internet dating, weddings, bodybuilders, shopping, etc.

Conversely, however, we tend to get very specific and detailed with our passions and likes – especially those who attract us.

“Ah love petite, intelligent, French-looking brunettes of about five foot six with brown eyes, a great figure, long shiny hair and a cute little nose that wrinkles when they smile” (that’s the Mrs by the way – I’m not daft).

That’s why dating sites are big on detail – a profile that just announced “seeking bloke” or “female wanted” would probably get our weirdo/ serial killer warning light flashing in disco mode.

Similarly, expressing hates in detail would be equally disturbing and bizarre – “I can’t stand slightly overweight blokes from central Runcorn with confidence issues called Keith who live in rented flats above cheap tanning salons, drink full-fat cola, pick their body cavities and voted for Brexit.”

So keep on generalising readers – I just have!