The following I’ve been told about ‘everybody’.

Everybody:

  1. Needs somebody.
  2. Needs friends and confidants.
  3. Gets sick at some point.
  4. Is born and dies.
  5. Has good in their hearts.
  6. Is capable of evil.
  7. Breaths air, sleeps, eats, drinks water, and goes to the toilet.
  8. Has brains.
  9. Is free to do what they want.
Not everybody:

  1. Likes cake, ice-cream or whateverrrrr.
  2. Is evil.
  3. Is a money-grabbing so and so.
  4. Hates people.
  5. Is capable of destructiveness.
  6. Likes computers.
  7. Has a car.
  8. Can ride a bicycle.
  9. Uses their brains effectively.
  10. Is smart.

Did I say the above lists were complete or that I needed help with them? I did NOT! Do I need to repeat that? I won’t!

Now, why I am pre-occupied with ‘everybody‘? Well, ‘everybody’ means ‘all people’ or a majority of people. But ‘a majority’ does not define what percentage of people.

People who make assertions about ‘everybody’ or ‘not everybody’ simply do not know everybody!! In effect statements such as ‘everybody thinks… (wha’everrr)‘ means that the person making the statement, has an estimate or expectation about people in general. But hold on how can one person know ‘everybody’ or what they might think or feel? It is simply impossible. What they’re doing is making a generalisation based only on their knowledge of people.

Passing strange, that I’ve been told “Don’t generalise!!” But hey ho – some people seemed to have special privileges to do just that! Dare I say, “Everybody except me, is allowed to generalise! WTF!” Well, I do dare – and I say it!Did I name anyone or allude to any identifiable individual? I did NOT!  Well, tough – I’ll generalise as I please just like ‘everybody’ else!

Now I come to ‘not everybody’. To say that, ‘Not everybody is evil‘ – is a self-evident truth, simply because there must be one or a handful of exceptions. So – I think ‘not everybody‘ is a useless statement. How? Although it is a truth, it is not an argument against anything.

Then we have statement such as, “If everybody who needs treatment turns up for treatment, the health services would meltdown.” It is a purely nonsensical sort of statement. How? Firstly, ‘if’ is a conditional. The probability of ‘if‘ is not stated, but it is assumed to be a probability.

What the devil could I care about what ‘everybody’ does or thinks etc. I don’t. But when people throw around statements containing ‘everybody’, it suggests that I should fall line. Tough- I’m not everybody! End of!