Reid: "Men, When They're Out of Work, Tend to Become Abusive."

Via the Anchoress, who calls him an asshat:

"I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand," Reid said on the Senate floor. "Why? Men don't have jobs."

Reid said that the effects of joblessness on domestic violence were especially pronounced among men, because, Reid said, women tend to be less abusive.

"Women don't have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time," he said.

"Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive," the majority leader added. "Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed.”

Jerk.

This is called a hasty generalization. Reid is characterizing an entire group of people (men) based on his personal experience. Unfortunately, his personal experience isn't the whole picture. This is the fallacy of incomplete samples. In fact women are as likely to initiate violence on parters. It's just that men are less likely to take advantage of shelters or crisis hotlines. That doesn't mean that women "tend to become abusive." It means that a fraction of the groups of people, men and women, have partner violence proclivities. It doesn't mean that all men and women do. That's a hasty generalization.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:30 PM

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