Suppose you had the choice of two bridges. One was designed by an artist to be beautiful. The other was designed by engineers and scientists to be safe and efficient. Which bridge would you choose to drive over every day? Used car salesmen and politicians are not known to be honest or accurate. Used cars are a problem that we can live with, but I don't want used car salesmen to decide the future of our society, the future of our country, or the future of the world. I want politicians that respect the truth and the facts and try to make rational and caring decisions. Beliefs, opinions, theories and fantasies are quite easy to produce. All that we have been taught and told growing up, our life experiences, our prejudices, and media exposure constantly lead us into beliefs and opinions to explain or justify ourselves and our lives. This process requires little if any attention to truth or fact, and it requires very little time or effort to get results. Unfortunately, it is probably a pretty normal human process. On the other hand, the search for truth and facts takes time, energy and dedication. The researcher must be dedicated to the truth even if the facts conflict with his personal life, prejudices, beliefs and theories. It takes real dedication to sort through the piles of information with honest, rational thought to find the real truth and the real facts. It takes real dedication to accept history and facts that painfully conflict with our personal history and beliefs. Most or our politicians probably do not have the time or talent to do the research for truth and facts, but they need to be strong enough to accept truth and fact. They need to have advisors who deal with real truth and facts. Our politicians need to listen to these advisors and make decisions based on truth and facts. Our nation needs to go over the bridge that is safe and strong and leads to a better world.
Truth and facts are all very well, but access to them does not guarantee that they will be used. We h. sapiens can be arranged along many continuums. Consider one which places people on a line. One end of the line represents those who act only based on their prejudices and emotions. The other end? Those who are exemplified by, say, the character Mr. Spock, of Star Trek. Almost all of us fall somewhere along the line, not at the ends. Almost all of us will be influenced to some degree by things other than the facts of an issue. Add in the ability to compartmentalize, common among those who score high on the RWA Scale, and we can start to gain some understanding of why facts are insufficient to reach truth, as far as political decisions go. From An Essay On Man, by Alexander Pope: "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer; Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little, or too much: Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd; Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd: The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!" Regards, stay safe 'n well.
