Malcolm Gladwell, author of the books "Blink" and " The Tipping Point" writes a rather good article in the New Yorker this week about the both the power and danger of generalizations, and more specifically, what kind of generalizations are useful and what kinds are not. He explores this topic with an exploration of the logic (ill-conceived, he shows us) behind legislation that bans specific breeds. There are good generalizations, Mr. Gladwell points out, that one can make about dogs that attack people but they are not about the breed of dog and, if we want, really, to prevent attacks, we had best look at generalizations that are really predictive (like the owner having a prior record of disturbance) and make our legislaton based on those. The article is well-crafted and well-researched and Gladwell is exploring an issue here of importance to creating good public policy in additon to sensible policy legislation regarding canines. Go ahead and read it: Troublemakers: What pit bulls can teach us about profiling.
