🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <33C55876.172D@cp.duluth.mn.us>,
   "Geary N. Searfoss" <gscpa@cp.duluth.mn.us> wrote:

>Maybe some people don't care about the resource or about the health and 
>welfare of the people that work for them, but my bet is that it's not too 
>many. It really is innaccurate and unfair to paint everyone with the same 
>brush just because they happen to be "management" or any other group 
>(religious, ethnic, philosophical or otherwise). 
>
>When someone uses generalizations it just reinforces in my mind that what 
>they have to say should not be taken seriously.

First of all, it sounds like a generalization, along the lines of "People who 
make generalizations shouldn't be taken seriously," is at work in your brain.

BUT... IF... YOU.. ARE.. LYING.. THEN... THAT... MEANS... YOU ARE....  
TELLING.. THE TRUTH... BUT IF YOU.... ARE.. TELLING.. THE TRUTH.. YOU MUST 
BE... LYING...  OW... OW.. OW... THERE IS SMOKE COMING OUT OF MY BRAIN.. 
OW... MALFUNCTION... MALFUNCTION
(all you Trekkies out there take note)

Secondly, I'm not crazy about generalizations either, because they're 
necessarily at least *partly* inaccurate, mine included.  But there's 
something to be said for trying to see the forest rather than getting bogged 
down in describing each tree.  If you don't try and reach for some overall 
meaning or big picture, your clarity and purpose get diluted in the flood of 
mind-numbingly complicated trivia.  So admittedly, a generalization is just 
the mechanism by which a feeble human brain handles thinking about something 
complicated.  But like it or not, it's also how we lame humans tend to cope 
with life.  How far do you think we'd get if we couldn't form some kind of 
generalistic conception of our surroundings?  Such as "running a red light is 
bad" or "all human beings die" or "mmmm, beer."

That's not to say that we should go around creating trends or overarching 
"truths," where there are none.  But I think in the case of the timber 
industry here in the PNW, there has been a long and unfortunate history of 
just the kind of thing I'm talking about.  I make my statement based on the 
verifiable history of the actions of several of the timber companies doing 
business in the PNW.  You're right though, to be totally accurate I should 
have said "several" timber companies like I just did, instead of generalizing, 
because it doesn't really complicate the issue too badly.



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