{"id":288,"date":"2010-02-10T08:07:56","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T15:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=288"},"modified":"2010-02-10T08:07:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T15:07:56","slug":"288","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/10\/288\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort with complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being comfortable with complexity.<\/strong> It’s something that’s been on my mind for years. But I was reminded of it again after reading an otherwise-sneering Mother Jones profile<\/em><\/a> of the New York Times’s<\/em> “conservative” columnist, Ross Douthat.<\/p>\n

Now, Douthat isn’t “conservative” by any standard most folks would recognize around here (federal wage subsidies, anyone?). But what got Mother to ooohing and aaahing is that Douthat is apparently a thinker who is comfortable with nuance and complexity.<\/p>\n

The writer, Mark Oppenheimer, just could not wrap his head around the idea of a “conservative” who didn’t toe some O’Reillyesque party line.<\/p>\n

Of course, if you weren’t Mother Jones<\/i> you’d realize you could say the same thing about the alleged other side. Nat Hentoff, Glenn Greenwald, and my old favorite Sam Smith are all “liberals” who don’t toe anybody’s<\/i> line. And they’re just as exceptional.<\/p>\n

All of them are exceptions in an atmosphere where public discourse is so often nothing but black-and-white judgments. And rants. I don’t care whether you’re talking about some FoxNewsie or uber-knee-jerker Keith Olbermann. The fashion is: “My worldview, white; your worldview, black. And I’m gonna shout it to the rooftops.”<\/p>\n

I’m bringing this up not because anybody ought to give a damn about any columnist’s or commentator’s opinion. But because this bears on personal freedom in a way that’s been nagging at my brain for a very long time.<\/p>\n

I believe that one vital personal charactistic for freedom seekers is being comfortable with complexity. Seeing nuance. Not dividing all reality into stark blacks and whites.<\/p>\n

Of course there are<\/i> moral blacks and whites. Serial killing of innocents? As black as it gets. Taxation? Black, black, black.<\/p>\n

But I’ll bet some reader is already jumping in, thinking, “But wait, taxation is necessary and sometimes it’s used for beneficial purposes.” And some other reader might be asking, “Hm. Do politicians qualify as innocents?”<\/p>\n

And thus the world rolls on. Complex and nuanced.<\/p>\n

Yet you’d never know it, reading and listening to most opinionizers: Sarah Palin — saint and savior! Sarah Palin — brainless Barbie doll and neo-con puppet! Global warming is ‘settled science’ and anybody who questions even one iota of it is a ‘denier.’ If you’re against the war on terror, you’re a ‘terrorist sympathizer.’ If you don’t like Obama’s policies, you’re a ‘racist.’<\/i> And so on and so on — on every side.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen the same black-and-white knee jerking in messages from readers over the years. For instance, if I ever dare link to or cite the ACLU in a favorable way, I’m certain to get an email from somebody deriding me as a big-government liberal and\/or a complete ignoramus who doesn’t know what an eeeeeevil organization I’m praising. The reality is that, from my freedomista perspective, the ACLU has taken some great positions (free speech) and some incredibly poor ones (against gun rights, in favor of nouveau political rights). Some black. Some white. Lots of gray.<\/p>\n

And what kind of fool would I be if I insisted only those who agreed with me 100 percent on every issue could be my friends and allies? I’d have darned few allies or friends! And likewise, what kind of “freedom” is it that insists that every person espouse identical views or live life within the narrowest range of opinion or lifestyle? <\/p>\n

T’aint freedom at all. Nuance and complexity are inherent<\/i> in freedom, and minds capable of considering them are needed for both personal and political freedom.<\/p>\n

These are just my first quick thoughts. More on this subject, probably within the next few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being comfortable with complexity. It’s something that’s been on my mind for years. But I was reminded of it again after reading an otherwise-sneering Mother Jones profile of the New York Times’s “conservative” columnist, Ross Douthat. Now, Douthat isn’t “conservative” by any standard most folks would recognize around here (federal wage subsidies, anyone?). But what got Mother to ooohing and aaahing is that Douthat is apparently a thinker who is comfortable with nuance and complexity. The writer, Mark Oppenheimer, just could not wrap his head around the idea of a “conservative” who didn’t toe some O’Reillyesque party line. Of course,…<\/p>\n

Continue readingComfort with complexity<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mind-and-spirit","category-miscellaneous","category-poly-ticks","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}