Taking on the Extremes

I was doing a little thinking lately - a dangerous pastime you know.  And that thinking had to do with how easy it seems to be for many of us to get distracted from things we can do something about by putting something in front of us that is extremely BAD from our point of view.

Pick an issue or problem.  Pick any one of them.  And I bet we can find some extreme points of view on the topic.  Heck.  Pick an obviously hot topic - like abortion, guns, war, transgender persons, etc...  and we can immediately identify the extremes of each of these issues.  Then, it feels like we dutifully line ourselves up against the extreme that is most repugnant to our own personal sensitivities.

And this is how we allow ourselves to ignore inconvenient facts that don't align with our side of the issue.  This is especially the case if we do not personally know and care about someone who might actually land on the other side - for whatever reason.  It gets even sadder when we allow ourselves to doubt the love, friendship and respect we might have had for someone and replace it with spite and anger simply because we can't be bothered to recognize what extremism is doing to us.

Now I am going to call us out - each and every person who likes to take a side and make their opponents out to be incompetent at best and ...well, whatever is worst.  I bet you and I can come up with our own words - which is something I also find to be a bit sad.  Why?  Because most of us think some very uncharitable thoughts about people who don't line up with us on topics that are sensitive for us.

We Are Lazy and Should Expect More of Ourselves

Why do we give so much attention to the extremes?  Well, it's because it is so much easier to take on an opponent when they are (to you) almost certainly wrong.  We like the easy opponent.  We like opponents that have no redeeming values.  And we like them to be wrong.  Very, very wrong.  

And then we like to pretend everyone else who doesn't fully agree with us is taking that extreme position.  That way there is no risk to us that we have to maybe consider a point that doesn't line up completely on our side.

It is so much more difficult to discuss the nuances where both parties agree with some, but not all, of an issue.  And it is much, MUCH harder to line up with a radical view when you know someone who has a personal experience that fleshes out the problem and you learn it isn't really so easy as "yes" or "no."

As a result of our laziness, we give power to people who like to accentuate the extremes.  We allow them to have more voice and more power than they should have.  We let them do our thinking for us.  And they often tell us that the moderating voice is a useless one.

I am sorry, but I have a tendency to distrust anyone who is completely certain that they KNOW they are right and their solution is the absolute best.  I have yet to find a single human who is perfect, myself included.  I just might be a prime example of the flawed human.  Yet I still think I am right to believe that if an issue is actually big and worthy enough to elicit a strong response, it is likely too complex to boil down to two extremes and one correct answer.

If you want to point to a higher power and say - there's your correct answer - I won't argue with you.  But, I will point out that YOU are still flawed.  I am still flawed.  That means we are incapable of understanding the perfection of that answer and we are prone to misinterpreting the truth to fit our desires.... so we can stay lazy and so someone else can be bad (or pick your word you identified earlier in the blog).  

We introduce flaws into perfection by our very participation.  This should humble us and make us more, not less, willing to hear opposing views and differing viewpoints.  We should be more, not less, likely to appreciate the appearance of exceptions to the rules that we embrace because they make us comfortable.  And more, not less, willing to recognize the extremes as... extreme.  Extremes have value because they give us points to ponder as we consider the problem as a whole.  But, they should not be given more value than any of the complex stances that might fall in between.

I'll get down off the "soapbox" now.  Thank you for reading and considering.