>and belches that "what else could you expect from population X anyway" before leaving - us all now unsure how to proceed. :) Can we be consistent?

Well, it has a certain historical consistency. Not sure I'd call it belching - Adorno, for example, quite known for such summary judgments, had impecable high class manners in every other way :) Exceptions, of course, know who they are. But this insistence of never generalizing is the enemy of thinking - which should be about trying to see above the particularities of individuals to be of any use.

But yes, I probably should give more context.