But certainly there is not the
least scientific evidence which would enable anyone to argue that men
are born with the political habits of the country in which they are
born. In so far as political habits are alike in a nation, the first
places to look for an explanation are the nursery, the school, the
church, not in that limbo inhabited by Group Minds and National Souls.
Until you have thoroughly failed to see tradition being handed on from
parents, teachers, priests, and uncles, it is a solecism of the worst
order to ascribe political differences to the germ plasm.
It is possible to generalize tentatively and with a decent humility
about comparative differences within the same category of education
and experience. Yet even this is a tricky enterprise. For almost no
two experiences are exactly alike, not even of two children in the
same household. The older son never does have the experience of being
the younger. And therefore, until we are able to discount the
difference in nurture, we must withhold judgment about differences of
nature. As well judge the productivity of two soils by comparing their
yield before you know which is in Labrador and which in Iowa, whether
they have been cultivated and enriched, exhausted, or allowed to run
wild.
CHAPTER VII
STEREOTYPES AS DEFENSE
1
THERE is another reason, besides economy of effort, why we so often
hold to our stereotypes when we might pursue a more disinterested
vision.
Pages:
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107