I wasn't there, and neither were you, so I am not about to claim one version of events is correct and another is incorrect. On the other hand, you appear to have completely accepted the mostly benign point of view as fact, and discounted the other as total hyperbole.
Hi Michael. I'm feeling philosophic today and I've been ruminating the question of difference in perceptions.
When I was a programmer trainee some 30 years ago, I fell in love with the word, default. I used it incessantly. Still do. After observing that people didn't know what I meant, I looked it up in the dictionary and discovered that the word was not there in the context I was using. I was using the word, default, to mean whatever it is that you do in the absence of some influence to the contrary. Off and on over the years, while continuing to use the word, I've checked to see if my meaning had made its way into the dictionary. Today, for the first time, I found this in Websters: 5 : a selection automatically used by a computer program in the absence of a choice made by the user. At least now the computer usage has arrived as option 5. Maybe mine will appear soon.
Back when I fell in love with this word, I formed a premise that differences between people were rooted in different senses of the default for that situation.
Take, for example, exiting an elevator. Some uninformed gentlemen try to squish against the walls to allow ladies to exit first thinking they're being polite. Male devotees of Emily Post exit first because manners so dictate. Some practical and egalitarian souls think the people in the front of the elevator, regardless of gender, should exit first. Some people think that the default for any occasion is "me first." They all think they're acting appropriately based on their perception of the default and that everyone else must be a jerk.
Another example is the differences you and I have had over various government actions. You automatically attribute government output as another Clinton lie. I automatically attribute government output as bureaucracy behaving like bureaucracy. So, in situations where we do not have all the information, we have entirely different senses of what is most plausible. One reason I hang out in places like this is because I enjoy observing these differences play out.
I'm sure you've heard the saying that the right explanation is usually the simplest one. Usually, but not always. The question becomes how much energy do you want to put into investigating the myriad possibilities when a simple, plausible explanation is available.
For example, lets say you're in bed, asleep, at 5 a.m. You are awakened to a thump on your front porch. What could it be? It could be a burglar trying to get into your house. It could be a UFO landing in your front yard. It could be the twin you never knew you had knocking on your front door. Or it could be the newspaper being delivered. Most people would assume it's the newspaper and go right back to sleep. That choice could be fatal, but most people would make it. Others wouldn't be able to fall asleep and would need to get up and look around. Still others would call the police and say that a UFO had landed.
My default is to accept a benign, plausible explanation until and unless I have reason to think otherwise.
All of which is apropos of nothing much. Like I said, just ruminating.
Karen |
