There are many humans in this world who view things in a polar way. In America this is expressed through the words liberal and conservative. I have observed people who consider everyone to be either a conservative or a liberal. Usually they will demonize one and praise the other. It makes no difference which camp the person considers theirself to be in, there's always a tacit assumption that they're bad and we're good. If their ideas get challenged then the challenger is considered to be in the other camp and therefore bad. The discussion is over.
The intellectual depth of this way of thinking is lacking. By taking any issue and considering only two ways to approach the issue, a person has already limited their options. If someone presents a third or fourth way to approach an issue then this new approach does not receive an honest treatment. In any many body system there are an infinite amount of initial conditions that will result in an infinite number of different outcomes. When those bodies are humans, then the system becomes even more complex and unpredictable. Just for the fun, if the system is a quantum system then there are many possible outcomes given just one set of initial conditions.
The only intellectually honest way to approach a problem is to approach the problem with a blank slate, no assumptions. In fact this is the only approach that has yielded meaningful examples. In order to be great, Copernicus had to remove the assumption that the earth was at the center of the universe. Einstein had to throw out basic assumptions about time and space to make his breakthrough. When approaching problems it makes no difference if the problem is physical, social, or mathematical. The best approach is without any assumptions.
The next time you find yourself debating an issue with a friend try to observe yourself. Do you catch yourself putting a person in any one of a few groups. Are you really debating the issue? If you purposely observe yourself debating issues with many different people, you should notice that some people think in the polar way I describe. When you get past the polarity you should be in a very nice position to build some very meaningful friendships with the people who have done the same.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, October 20, 2007
I Blamed the Victim (a parable)
Edward walks through my town carrying a whip. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, he makes us go in the whip house and make whips. It’s important that we make these whips because society would fall apart with out these whips. Plus, every week Edward takes some of the whips, sells them, and throws us a party.
Ronald, who works beside me, is a doctor. One day he didn’t show up to make whips because he wanted to earn more money to help out one of his patients. Edward came to find Ronald and make sure that he went to the whip house. Ronald was upset that Edward was going to whip him for not working, and whipped Edward. Edward was harsher than I’ve ever seen him and Ronald ended up in the hospital. Ronald was upset because Edward would whip him if he didn’t make whips. Edward was worried that other people would also not want to make whips so he had to be harsh on Ronald.
How could we have a party if Edward didn’t have these whips to sell? Well, after Ronald’s outburst Edward was worried that someone else would attack Edward like Ronald did. So Edward hired Frank to be his bodyguard, and carry a whip too. Frank was big, strong man, who was not as smart as Edward. One time I walked toward Frank to ask him a question and he lashed me across the cheek. Now, I try my best to stay away from Frank. It’s a good thing that we have Frank though, because if more people didn’t make whips then Edward couldn’t throw us a party. We now have parties only three times a month, so that Edward can afford Frank. It’s a good thing we have Frank though
One Friday night I overheard some people chatting.
I heard Sara say “Edward is a mad man.”
“Oh, but Frank is worse.” Ted said in a harsh voice.
Sara’s husband noted “If we all didn’t work for Ed than he wouldn’t have any whips to whip us with.”
Most of the people talking were quite respectable people, but Ted who thinks that Edward is part of a secret society that is secretly trying to kill everyone. Once I asked him who was in this society. He said Edward, Frank, and other famous people some of whom were dead. Then Ted started to tell me some things that didn’t really make sense. I smiled and said that was interesting, and tried to end the conversation. To this day I doubt Ted’s intelligence.
The truth was that Ed and Frank were in an organization, and it wasn’t secret but it wasn’t advertised. Ed and Frank belonged to the national union of order and parties. This union wanted to hire a bodyguard for Edward before Frank was hired. Frank was also a member before he was hired.
The next Monday the twenty I overheard in that room didn’t show up to make whips. Most people didn’t notice, but some people asked Edward where they were. Edward said that that wasn’t important, and that he would look into it. The next day Edward came with Ted and lashed him so that we all could see. Ted screamed about some secret society that we didn’t know existed. It was difficult to understand what Ted was thinking. Then a funny thing happened. I could see that Edward was whipping Ted, and Edward hadn’t whipped anyone, but I blamed Ted for his plight.
Ronald, who works beside me, is a doctor. One day he didn’t show up to make whips because he wanted to earn more money to help out one of his patients. Edward came to find Ronald and make sure that he went to the whip house. Ronald was upset that Edward was going to whip him for not working, and whipped Edward. Edward was harsher than I’ve ever seen him and Ronald ended up in the hospital. Ronald was upset because Edward would whip him if he didn’t make whips. Edward was worried that other people would also not want to make whips so he had to be harsh on Ronald.
How could we have a party if Edward didn’t have these whips to sell? Well, after Ronald’s outburst Edward was worried that someone else would attack Edward like Ronald did. So Edward hired Frank to be his bodyguard, and carry a whip too. Frank was big, strong man, who was not as smart as Edward. One time I walked toward Frank to ask him a question and he lashed me across the cheek. Now, I try my best to stay away from Frank. It’s a good thing that we have Frank though, because if more people didn’t make whips then Edward couldn’t throw us a party. We now have parties only three times a month, so that Edward can afford Frank. It’s a good thing we have Frank though
One Friday night I overheard some people chatting.
I heard Sara say “Edward is a mad man.”
“Oh, but Frank is worse.” Ted said in a harsh voice.
Sara’s husband noted “If we all didn’t work for Ed than he wouldn’t have any whips to whip us with.”
Most of the people talking were quite respectable people, but Ted who thinks that Edward is part of a secret society that is secretly trying to kill everyone. Once I asked him who was in this society. He said Edward, Frank, and other famous people some of whom were dead. Then Ted started to tell me some things that didn’t really make sense. I smiled and said that was interesting, and tried to end the conversation. To this day I doubt Ted’s intelligence.
The truth was that Ed and Frank were in an organization, and it wasn’t secret but it wasn’t advertised. Ed and Frank belonged to the national union of order and parties. This union wanted to hire a bodyguard for Edward before Frank was hired. Frank was also a member before he was hired.
The next Monday the twenty I overheard in that room didn’t show up to make whips. Most people didn’t notice, but some people asked Edward where they were. Edward said that that wasn’t important, and that he would look into it. The next day Edward came with Ted and lashed him so that we all could see. Ted screamed about some secret society that we didn’t know existed. It was difficult to understand what Ted was thinking. Then a funny thing happened. I could see that Edward was whipping Ted, and Edward hadn’t whipped anyone, but I blamed Ted for his plight.
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