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Generalizations are a necessary part of communications. Listing the exceptions to every statement made would unnecessarily complicate our speech to the point of
by zcid 8y ago
Generalizations are a necessary part of communications. Listing the exceptions to every statement made would unnecessarily complicate our speech to the point of incomprehension.
Everyone knows there are some strong women out there. Common knowledge shouldn't need to be repeated at every opportunity in order to prevent imaginary slights.
- DanBC 8y agoBut in this specific example - women in aviation - we do need to be careful, because for many years when people said "women can't do this" they did mean "no woman can do this, no matter how hard they train". See for one notable example see the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (also called the Mercury 13). For years the route to become a pilot for NASA included being a military test pilot, and that was forbidden to women, and so women were unable to become NASA pilots even if they outperformed men on NASA's tests. https://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/flats.html https://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/flats.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13 https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/29/17393698/netflix-documentary-mercury-13-women-space-astronauts-margaret-weitekamp-interview https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/29/17393698/netflix-document...