On "Stereotypical Thinking"

One line of thinking that is constantly reinforced in academia is that one should avoid all stereotypical thinking, and that all stereotypical thinking is ignorance and bigotry.

By the logic of science itself, if something takes place at a rate greater than chance then there must be a reason for it. It may be a completely different reason from what one would expect it to be, but there will be a reason regardless.

Thus, many people saw the long-time failure of African countries as being caused by black people being inferior. Rather the reasons are historical rather than racial. These countries had been governed by alien powers for centuries, and they did not know how to govern themselves. They are getting better at it, and Africa is improving. In recent decade and a half, some of the highest rates of economic growth around the world have been recorded by Nigeria, Ethiopia and Angola.

No, it is not ignorant or bigoted to say that for a long time Africa was a mess. It is however completely ignorant and bigoted to say that the reason is the racial inferiority of black people.

We've gone so far as to claim any statement made about any given population as being bigoted. In fact there are all sorts of cultural and social differences among populations, and some statements about them are correct. It is correct to say, for example, that violence against women by Muslim fundamentalists is extreme; that Russians tend to drink too much; that many black guys in the inner city – as well as many white “rednecks” - are brutes.

Real reasons for social phenomena are not found through artificial blindness. They are found by seeing the situations in which things occur at a greater rate than chance and finding the correct cause. A person honest to his scientific training will do just that.

Political correctness is not even scientific. It is a way of plucking out people's eyes so that they do not see the obvious. Real science will look for real causes whenever confronted with a phenomenon that takes place at a greater rate than chance. It is this kind of thinking that should be encouraged. The result will be obliteration of both deliberate blindness and false prejudicial explanations; and the outcome will be correct description of social phenomena, resulting in possibility for correct solutions.