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Comment by LogicX | Hacker News Reader

OT: Am I the only one who holds the opinion that stereotypes are a useful evolutionary trait, and are not to be conflated necessarily with prejudice and discrimination? (Sorry for Wikipedia ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype#Relationship_with_o... )

As the author points out, there are exceptions to what he's saying (as with most things), but if something is an observation (or stereotype) of a measurable portion of a group, I find that to be of value when taking things into consideration and 'grokking' the world. It does not mean to ignore conflicting evidence.

How would you propose he provide 'facts' to back up what he's saying, When you provide no facts to counter what he's said? Agree with ricricucit that his experience in the field is sufficient facts for me (also helps I have similar experiences in the field, and so concur with his facts)

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You don't concur with his facts, you concur with his opinions.

And providing facts to back his opinions wouldn't be hard if he was serious about making good points.

"Given that a high percentage of business school classes funnel into Wall Street and multinational corporations, it’s also a given that any top-tier MBA has classmates are all making ridiculously high salaries and have extremely powerful jobs" --> Really, what's the percentage? Do most MBA grads get "ridiculously high salaries"? How about doing some actual research and backing these opinions with facts.

For example - http://poetsandquants.com/2013/08/15/mba-pay-hbs-vs-duke-tex...

Points out that the median salary for Harvard MBA grads is only $120k, hardly what I'd call "ridiculously high". Duke and Texas are even less. You see, my argument is now much better now that I've provided a fact, rather than throwing around a baseless opinion.

1. I can see "why" proving those opinions (to have them become "facts" for you) publicly might not be "the best thing to do" for whoever is writing. Same goes for anybody saying "i have had this experience before".

2."any top-tier MBA has classmates" means that _not all_ MBA grads have ridiculously high salary.

3. i can ensure you that 120k as an average salary, for anybody working in a startup (the word "startup" is in the link title), might be considered "too much" although it depends on where the startup is. Considering the fact that he doesn't mention "USA" or "Harvard" you'll have to consider much more than that portion (so you didn't actually provided any fact, but just learned how difficult could be to prove it).

With this said, i personally see a "comparison"...so "ridiculously high" might imply "compared to what an MBA grad might make per year in his startup"...which (for a person that feels special) can result into a "probably i don't earn enough" kind of thoughts. I think that's why, i believe, you find that sentence inside the paragraph "Entitlement".

This response was a rambling piece of nothingness.

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