Wayne Dyer once said that the highest form of ignorance is the rejection of a concept about which you know nothing. This resonates within me as I watch people look to labels for recognition as to whether or not an idea is acceptable to them. Rather than research the idea, people will reject it solely on the label: conservative or liberal, Israeli or Palestinian, Christian or Muslim, capitalist or socialist/Marxist/Maoist/Leninist/etc., democrat or republican, nationalist or loyalist......(I think you get my meaning).
Within this labeling there is the misinformed idea of only having two points in the argument so often on will hear that if you don't accept one sides' position that must mean you accept the other side. What a faulty propaganda fear driven notion. I believe that there are many positions within any argument. And horrors there might even be positions which take ideas from both sides to come up with a solution.
Look for yourself. Find out about the 'other side' but also find out about everything else in between and beyond. Look beyond the pundits for your opinion. Look beyond the labels for your decision.
This couldn't be more relevant to what we are dealing with in our Hill fly-in this week. "I don't know anything about it, I just know I don't like it." What sort of crap argument is that?!!? A very concise and timely statement you have here, my dear.
ReplyDeleteAnd when did you become so wise? I printed this out and read it to my little group, it was so spot on.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, too. As you stated, when it comes to labeling, many times people see that there are only two points to an argument, much like a pendulum- the swinging from side to side, the extremes are all that matter or are worthy of attention. There is no between!
ReplyDeleteIgnorance, fear, and quite frankly, the ease of labeling (a scapegoat for whatever means) is what makes it such a common practice. Sure we all do it, especially at first glance, but indeed, looking to the labels for guidance and truth is just about as far from solution, unity, or truth as one might get.
I think of this concept of labeling as related to colors.
As an artist, I try to see the colors of the picture before me. The world is not just in black or white. For example, when looking at a professional painting from a far, it's easy to see the outlines as colored in black. But, if you go up closer, you will see that in most cases an artist rarely uses the color black for shading or lining. Instead, they will use a darker color brown or green, purple, or blue. It's amazing to me that within colors, there is not just one color but many fused and blended together. It's beautiful and awe inspiring.
People are like that too. We are not all one color or the other. (Black and White)We are many shades. Recently, I've thought about this a lot with Mormonism. Even just in Utah Valley, there are so many different types of Mormons. I won't go into details because there are so many examples, but in sum, I get what you're saying. It can be aggravating sometimes, but I guess that's where it's some peoples loss.