That is, "notallmen", "notallwomen", "notallmuslims", or whatever they be. Personally I find them silly on one hand, because when people say something about a large group of people, are they really implying that every. single. member. of that group acts this way? On the other hand, I think messages like this remind people not to make unfair generalizations.
A lot of the time, they are garbage. I agree with you that nobody should be making generalizations and people who do assume "all X" really need to stop. But I think when most people vent, they are venting about an individual. Saying "Not all X" comes off way defensive (as if they were talking about you) and dismisses the frustration, hurt (or even abuse in extreme situations) that the person was talking about. True not everyone is that way, but if one person in the group WAS that way, we should be confronting them or changing things; not excusing behavior because others do not do such a thing.
Eh, I think it's pretty clear that no one uses it with any amount of seriousness anymore. It's a gag, a joke-format and a meme. Which is a bit of a shame because it was even funnier when lonely chauvinists weren't aware of how ridiculous they sounded when they used "#notallmen" with a straight face, like they were making some salient point. LOL good times. Now it's just a tired gag that, in my opinion, has run it's course. Let it die people. The world is full of idiocy ripe for satire, let's make fun of something else.
The problem with the "not all" distinction when discussing social issues is that it paves the way for all members of the group that is being addressed to detach themselves. For example: Personally, I often use qualifiers automatically, but I completely understand the argument against it when speaking frankly on social issues. Clearly, all people in any specific group are not the same, but when we critique a social phenomenon we are almost always critiquing the bigger picture.
I don't know much of its intrinsic morale. I do know, though, that according to my own experience, it's very often used in a very offensive way (like when Bill Maher uses it, or hobby-far-right wingers).
Agreeing w/ Gen. When it comes to stereotypes, though, I find it more useful to format it as, "As with [non-stereotyped group here], some [stereotyped group] [stereotyped action] and other [stereotyped group] [stereotype-breaking action]." ---------- Post added 17th Apr 2015 at 09:40 PM ---------- Otherwise those that fit the stereotyped are often made to feel like bad [marginalized trait] people.
