Message 1270 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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From the top:

>I have always found such pigeon-holing wholly anathema to humanism

Through to:

> I am a bartender. 

;)

I must apologise for leading Q. into believing that observing traits in the 
masses implied that I supported genocide etc.

In my post where I took the 'Ordering Technique' international (and seems to 
have been something of the trigger here)I prefaced the 'jingoism' with:

> We as humans MUST categorise in order to make sense 
> of an environment that is getting progressively more
> diverse every year... 

I stand by this opinion. Judgement calls, labels, classifications, 
stereotypes, are all part of the tools of the mental process.

Working in (to drag this back into the forum topics) a bar - we make these 
judgement calls every night.

Shock horror, if a rowdy group of frat boys comes in I MAKE AN ASSUMPTION 
based on their appearances about what they would like to drink, what music 
they'll be wanting to listen to, where I'd like to see them seated.
They are followed in by an elderly Japanese couple.
Guess what? I will TREAT THESE FOLK DIFFERENTLY - based on something as un-PC 
as their nationality.

When I do this, 'its logical extension is the shallow brutalism' that means 
that in this case possibly both groups will end up with an experience they are 
happy with. Nobody invaded nobody. In fact, those two members of their 
respective stereotype may have minutely become more tolerant of each other.

The much lauded dictionary referred to in this thread is basically a 
collection of small labels for big ideas. Categories. Classifications.
Knocking all labels as bad is illogical and reduces your ability to observe 
significantly.

Anyway. That's my little philosophy. Off topic as it may be.

Railling against war is fine, I'm working on a little protest project myself. 
However IMO, a point comes across better when you build an argument starting 
from common ground, rather than foam at the mouth from the word go. 
It's a hard call to change anyones mind and get them to agree with a statement 
containing the clause "You are utterly fucking pathetic"

Sorry for keeping this alive.

.dan.