My previous post talked a lot about choice, and how little we consciously exercise our ability to do so.
This post is meant to talk a bit more about what sorts of choices we can make, and the impact they can have.
Perception and perspective... well, it's a bit like being an optimist or a pessimist. Both are valid ways of looking at the world. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. And it's practically impossible to convince an optimist to be pessimistic or a pessimist to be optimistic - or at least, that's the perception. Life changing events may change that.
But the other funny thing about optimists and pessimists is that the way they view the world can shape the world around them, and what they find. The observer effect appears to apply to more than just physics, which is probably why so many self-helf books argue that you need to change your mindset, change the way you perceive the world around you.
Anyways, tuck all that in the back of your mind as I discuss something somewhat different. I think I've touched on this before, though I forget what I've posted and what I haven't, so forgive me if I repeat myself.
Some decades ago I was reading about Pablo Escobar, and how the US Government worked with Colombia to try to take down him and his cartel. One of the things that struck me was that he genuinely didn't seem to understand why the US Government was out to get him. The idea that President Bush (iirc) and his administration genuinely saw it as a matter of justice, genuinely wanted to capture a perceived criminal... he just didn't believe it. He kept thinking there was something else going on.
It reminds me a bit about Russia, and their perception of human rights issues. Noting the hypocrisy in so much of what we do, they fail to realize that there are people who genuinely believe in these issues and honestly are pushing for them as a matter of justice, and instead seem to think it's just another bargaining tactic.
It's as though 'truth, justice, and the American way', the perception that (for better or worse) I'd say I was raised with, is somehow foreign and anathema to people who grow up in a grittier world.
Just as optimism and pessimism seem reasonable to optimists and pessimists, people who grow up in a world without justice (a world where might makes right) feel justified in living and acting as though that's how the world works, just as people who grow up in a nicer world feel like it's reasonable to believe differently. How you answer a question like "is justice possible", "can people be unbiased", "is fairness possible" says a lot about which attitude shaped you.
When I was assigned to the New York National Guard for deployment, I felt as though I was dealing with culture shock. It was a very different world, one where "I got mine, how you do?" seemed to sum up their perspective on everything. And just as an optimist can't convince a pessimist (and vice versa) they felt that any other way of looking at things was unreasonably naive. A colleague explained to me once that he didn't bother getting offended at the various shenanigans, because you knew that if you were in that position you'd be doing the same thing. Like, don't get upset when the HR person somehow 'loses' the paperwork for someone they dislike... if you get into that position of power you'd do the same to whoever you disliked.
Deploying to Iraq at the same time was interesting, because their perspective seemed to match the local culture better than mine. I heard many American soldiers express a negative perception, more in keeping with my midwestern American upbringing, regarding the blatant corruption of the societies we were working with. (Never mind that Iraqis and Afghans would point out that our own society has corruption aplenty, particularly when you start talking about corporations and big money, and that paying an administrative fee for a driver's license isn't much different from bribing a government official for one.)
The tweet that started off all this kind of reminded me of this, because it makes me think of a similar question - is it better to have the black and white mentality of the average white American, even if it's not consciously chosen? Or is it better to have someone raised in a world more like the one Pablo Escobar lived in, who consciously chooses to try and be more just?
The 'consciously chosen' part is key, here... as that black and white morality all too often comes without any conscious choice. Any awareness that there's another way of looking at things. Pablo Escobar is a criminal, one who profited from selling harmful and illegal drugs to millions of people, and he's just plain bad.
But the world that created him, the world he probably grew up in, the world that so many criminals do... is a world where the very concept of justice seems a joke. Where they learn to do what they've got to do in the world they live in, and accept that that's just what you do. "I got mine, how you do."
In some ways I think that the importance of Christianity, an importance that we've forgotten as the world it created became mainstream and accepted, was in helping people who grew up in a 'might makes right' sort of world to realize that they can choose to make it different. That if you follow the guidelines set down (to try and love thy neighbor as thyself, to treat a stranger with the same care and consideration you do your closest friends, to stop judging others, etc. To break out of the tribal mentality where you treat your family and close friends differently, offer them honesty and respect and a good deal in business where you might try to take advantage of a stranger)... you, collectively, will create an entirely different world. One where complete strangers can enter into a business agreement and not be afraid they'll be cheated.
I think Christianity, as it's meant to be, is in direct opposition to the sentiment that "I got mine, how you do."
As I keep saying about optimism and pessimism, both perspectives have some validity. There's evidence in the world for both. You can choose to focus on things that support either, and it'd be hard to argue that you're wrong.
So the real question is - which world do you want to live in?
Because whichever perspective you hold will shape your actions, and in turn shape the shared experience of you and those around you. If you believe that you would do exactly what those in power are doing if given the chance, if you accept that 'that's just the way it is', and focus on getting yours... you will make choices that prove the truth of your perspective. You help perpetuate the belief, through the choices you make. And you make that world more and more a reality.
If, on the other hand, you believe that there is some possibility of justice (hard though it is, impossible though it may be to prove), that belief will also shape your actions and the shared experience of those around you. As one example, your willingness to accept results that are not in your favor so long as the process is perceived as fair and just helps create a world where people believe we can get past the biases and self-interest endemic to our experience.
Both perspectives can also play an interesting role in the perception of power... one accepts the perks that go with power (like the ability to hire an expensive lawyer to reduce your sentence) while the other holds that with power comes responsibility, and those in power should be held to the same standard - or even higher - as everyone else.
In one, it's perfectly acceptable to use everything at their disposable to pursue their own self-interest. In the other, the powerful have to be even better than the rest of us, wiser and more honest. After all, the ability to hold the powerful accountable is the truest test of whether the world is capable of justice.
Which world do you want to live in? And what conscious choices are you making to create that world?
This post is meant to talk a bit more about what sorts of choices we can make, and the impact they can have.
Perception and perspective... well, it's a bit like being an optimist or a pessimist. Both are valid ways of looking at the world. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. And it's practically impossible to convince an optimist to be pessimistic or a pessimist to be optimistic - or at least, that's the perception. Life changing events may change that.
But the other funny thing about optimists and pessimists is that the way they view the world can shape the world around them, and what they find. The observer effect appears to apply to more than just physics, which is probably why so many self-helf books argue that you need to change your mindset, change the way you perceive the world around you.
Anyways, tuck all that in the back of your mind as I discuss something somewhat different. I think I've touched on this before, though I forget what I've posted and what I haven't, so forgive me if I repeat myself.
Some decades ago I was reading about Pablo Escobar, and how the US Government worked with Colombia to try to take down him and his cartel. One of the things that struck me was that he genuinely didn't seem to understand why the US Government was out to get him. The idea that President Bush (iirc) and his administration genuinely saw it as a matter of justice, genuinely wanted to capture a perceived criminal... he just didn't believe it. He kept thinking there was something else going on.
It reminds me a bit about Russia, and their perception of human rights issues. Noting the hypocrisy in so much of what we do, they fail to realize that there are people who genuinely believe in these issues and honestly are pushing for them as a matter of justice, and instead seem to think it's just another bargaining tactic.
It's as though 'truth, justice, and the American way', the perception that (for better or worse) I'd say I was raised with, is somehow foreign and anathema to people who grow up in a grittier world.
Just as optimism and pessimism seem reasonable to optimists and pessimists, people who grow up in a world without justice (a world where might makes right) feel justified in living and acting as though that's how the world works, just as people who grow up in a nicer world feel like it's reasonable to believe differently. How you answer a question like "is justice possible", "can people be unbiased", "is fairness possible" says a lot about which attitude shaped you.
When I was assigned to the New York National Guard for deployment, I felt as though I was dealing with culture shock. It was a very different world, one where "I got mine, how you do?" seemed to sum up their perspective on everything. And just as an optimist can't convince a pessimist (and vice versa) they felt that any other way of looking at things was unreasonably naive. A colleague explained to me once that he didn't bother getting offended at the various shenanigans, because you knew that if you were in that position you'd be doing the same thing. Like, don't get upset when the HR person somehow 'loses' the paperwork for someone they dislike... if you get into that position of power you'd do the same to whoever you disliked.
Deploying to Iraq at the same time was interesting, because their perspective seemed to match the local culture better than mine. I heard many American soldiers express a negative perception, more in keeping with my midwestern American upbringing, regarding the blatant corruption of the societies we were working with. (Never mind that Iraqis and Afghans would point out that our own society has corruption aplenty, particularly when you start talking about corporations and big money, and that paying an administrative fee for a driver's license isn't much different from bribing a government official for one.)
The tweet that started off all this kind of reminded me of this, because it makes me think of a similar question - is it better to have the black and white mentality of the average white American, even if it's not consciously chosen? Or is it better to have someone raised in a world more like the one Pablo Escobar lived in, who consciously chooses to try and be more just?
The 'consciously chosen' part is key, here... as that black and white morality all too often comes without any conscious choice. Any awareness that there's another way of looking at things. Pablo Escobar is a criminal, one who profited from selling harmful and illegal drugs to millions of people, and he's just plain bad.
But the world that created him, the world he probably grew up in, the world that so many criminals do... is a world where the very concept of justice seems a joke. Where they learn to do what they've got to do in the world they live in, and accept that that's just what you do. "I got mine, how you do."
In some ways I think that the importance of Christianity, an importance that we've forgotten as the world it created became mainstream and accepted, was in helping people who grew up in a 'might makes right' sort of world to realize that they can choose to make it different. That if you follow the guidelines set down (to try and love thy neighbor as thyself, to treat a stranger with the same care and consideration you do your closest friends, to stop judging others, etc. To break out of the tribal mentality where you treat your family and close friends differently, offer them honesty and respect and a good deal in business where you might try to take advantage of a stranger)... you, collectively, will create an entirely different world. One where complete strangers can enter into a business agreement and not be afraid they'll be cheated.
I think Christianity, as it's meant to be, is in direct opposition to the sentiment that "I got mine, how you do."
As I keep saying about optimism and pessimism, both perspectives have some validity. There's evidence in the world for both. You can choose to focus on things that support either, and it'd be hard to argue that you're wrong.
So the real question is - which world do you want to live in?
Because whichever perspective you hold will shape your actions, and in turn shape the shared experience of you and those around you. If you believe that you would do exactly what those in power are doing if given the chance, if you accept that 'that's just the way it is', and focus on getting yours... you will make choices that prove the truth of your perspective. You help perpetuate the belief, through the choices you make. And you make that world more and more a reality.
If, on the other hand, you believe that there is some possibility of justice (hard though it is, impossible though it may be to prove), that belief will also shape your actions and the shared experience of those around you. As one example, your willingness to accept results that are not in your favor so long as the process is perceived as fair and just helps create a world where people believe we can get past the biases and self-interest endemic to our experience.
Both perspectives can also play an interesting role in the perception of power... one accepts the perks that go with power (like the ability to hire an expensive lawyer to reduce your sentence) while the other holds that with power comes responsibility, and those in power should be held to the same standard - or even higher - as everyone else.
In one, it's perfectly acceptable to use everything at their disposable to pursue their own self-interest. In the other, the powerful have to be even better than the rest of us, wiser and more honest. After all, the ability to hold the powerful accountable is the truest test of whether the world is capable of justice.
Which world do you want to live in? And what conscious choices are you making to create that world?
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