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Generalizing (which is okay) means acknowledging things that are more often than not, or often true, but realizing it does not apply for every case.
Stereotyping (which is wrong) is the belief that generalizations really apply all across the board.
Political Correctness is telling white lies that claim falsely that all generalizations are true less than 50% of the time, when some actually are true more than 50% of the time.
As an example - I'm a guy, and if someone said "most guys like sports", even though I hate sports, I would not be offended, because it is true and pretty much every guy besides me I know likes sports aside from a couple. That is a true, honest generalization.
Now - if someone told me, "you are a guy so you must like sports", I would be pissed off, because they are stereotyping me. That is narrow-minded and ignorant.
The person who says "only some guys like sports" is making a "socially sensitive" statement. Since some can mean anywhere from 1% to 99%, it's not dishonest, so there's nothing wrong with it really.
Now, a person who says "only a minority of guys like sports", is just telling a blatant falsehood. That is dishonest political correctness, well intentioned, but a white lie.
It's not a huge problem, I mean it's better to hate generalizations than to be racist, but it almost seems like people are brainwashed when they say "don't generalize" when anyone makes some kind of broad statement that has not one hint of bigotry.