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I take it you're talking about the Middle East in its most narrow sense here. Legolas Send a noteboard - 24/01/2011 09:56:22 PM
It looks like most of the refugees from Iraq to Sweden are Assyrian Christians. While there have been a few isolated honor killings among Middle Eastern Christians, 99% (or more) of honor killings are performed by Muslims. Virtually all female genital mutilation is performed by Muslims. In short, the fact that these communities are largely Christian makes it easy to show that they would not be involved in honor killings. As a result, the statements are probably bad generalizations.

Because as soon as you include Egypt or other African countries, your statement about the genital mutilation becomes flagrantly untrue (and genital mutilation is a far bigger problem in Egypt and the other African countries than in the Middle East proper, so...). I have serious doubts about your statement about the honor killings as well, but I don't really have any hard data on that that would allow me to disprove it.
I do, however, stand by the position that generalizations are appropriate when statistics bear them out. They should not be applied at the individual level to someone you don't know, but when referring to a group it is okay to use factually correct generalizations. For example, "Let's not serve beef at the fundraiser - half the people who are giving money are Hindus".

I agree with that.
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So the Irish government has basically imploded. Stephen - 23/01/2011 04:47:10 PM 1641 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1012 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 907 Views
You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:27:05 PM 1041 Views
Re: You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:34:47 PM 976 Views
I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:41:34 PM 954 Views
Re: I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:43:41 PM 894 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 975 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 865 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 926 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1174 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1022 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 866 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1001 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 935 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 820 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 785 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 866 Views
And Britain had to live with the Conservative Wilderness for 15 years before it could get there *NM* Roland00 - 24/01/2011 02:43:16 AM 477 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 897 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 963 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 979 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1018 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1169 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 940 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1016 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 955 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1057 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 908 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1010 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 968 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 928 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 931 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 906 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 808 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1094 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 924 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 980 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 942 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 458 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 879 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1013 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1034 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 876 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1106 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 997 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 945 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 969 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 932 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 890 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 905 Views
I take it you're talking about the Middle East in its most narrow sense here. Legolas - 24/01/2011 09:56:22 PM 944 Views
... the fact that they are asylum seekers, and their skill certainly shouldn't matter in that case. jh - 24/01/2011 07:08:14 PM 833 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1099 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 827 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 953 Views
Hopefully they'll stop using Irish officially as a way to cut down on unnecessary costs. Tom - 23/01/2011 10:57:08 PM 886 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 957 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 862 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 889 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 847 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 905 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 881 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 881 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 917 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1299 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 461 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 853 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1082 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 831 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 987 Views
I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:48:54 PM 950 Views
Re: I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Legolas - 27/01/2011 08:42:21 PM 839 Views
Presumably because they agree with J.R.R. Tolkien and Tómas Sæmundsson about language's importance. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:16:05 PM 997 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 947 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 919 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 946 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 920 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 985 Views
The thing is, people who feel really strongly about that usually insist it's a separate language. Tim - 28/01/2011 04:20:57 PM 807 Views
It's really more about having a unique silly costume to wear at Miss Universe pageants. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:09:10 AM 791 Views
You're confusing what we sell to gullible American tourists with what we actually value . *NM* Tim - 28/01/2011 04:15:01 PM 408 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 527 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 816 Views
The Celtic Tiger is dead, Ireland had a GDP contraction of 14% in the last two years. Roland00 - 24/01/2011 01:47:06 PM 904 Views
It's still there, but it aimed a bit too high and got a bit scorched. Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:07:36 PM 779 Views
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