I subscribe to a professional e-newsletter called "Crucial Skills;" and read a column by Kerry Patterson, one of the co-authors of a book that has been making the circuit in leadership circles, Crucial Conversations. It's very good. The book, that is.
But it is the column, Hidden Dangers, that resonated so well for me. Paterson spends the first half recounting dumb and dangerous things he did in his childhood. I could relate to a lot of them, but that part was not the point. He eventually works around to identifying a real, hidden danger that is deadly to our collective, societal health, which he labels, "assuming our own omniscience." (Perhaps he had been watching Rush Limbaugh, or Al Franken, or both). He goes on:
"Here’s how this ugly assumption works. People routinely talk about something as complicated as revamping the country’s massive healthcare system as if their view is remarkably simple, completely obvious, and held by all smart people. Of course, their opponents’ view is just plain stupid. So stupid in fact, that you can’t talk about it without rolling your eyes. This, of course, comes from people at both ends of the continuum."
It is this sometimes overt, and more often unspoken, but perceptible message, from political candidates, commentators, lobbyists, and anyone with an agenda at all, that devalues our collective wisdom. The truth is always complex, and there are always many sides to an issue. And, ultimately, "truth," and "right," and "fairness," and "prudence," require effort--sustained, collective effort--to attain.
Anyone who can't get that through their head just makes me want to roll my eyes.
(Thank you, Mr. Paterson, for giving eloquent voice to a feeling I have had since moving back to the U.S. seven years ago. Spot on.)
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