Resist making hasty generalizations about anything

In a recent letter, Monte Heil stated that his own quote “most liberals are intimidated by logic” was “no more a fallacy than saying that most girls are frightened by spiders and slimy things.” I find myself wondering if Mr. Heil really has such an outdated, chauvinistic view of the female gender, or if he just likes to be outrageous on every topic.

As a biologist and an educator with four decades of experience, I can assure the author that girls are no more afraid of spiders and slimy things than boys. Even in biology and chemistry graduate programs, (Science, 19 June 2020, Vol. 368, Issue 6497, pp 1317-1319), there is a 1:1 ratio of men and women.

Mr. Heil would have been much more accurate had he said, “people are frightened by spiders and slimy things” (words like “most” should be backed up by actual data). In the same vein, saying that people are intimidated by logic would be the more correct statement.

We should all resist making hasty generalizations about any group of people, then calling those sweeping misstatements “facts.” Facts use empirical evidence derived by approved research methods, and that can pass the scrutiny of peers. Facts do not make judgements or have negative connotations.

BONNIE JAKUBOS

Sagle