Food for thought

[beetiger]

Said by chipuni, on a friend's (locked) post, but I think the importance of this statement transcends the context:


The difference between "I don't understand X" and "I should attack X" is gigantic. People aren't taught that "I don't understand X" is an opportunity, not a threat.

Comments

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

I guess, in evolutionary terms, the idea that 'other' is not the eqivolent of 'enemy' is pretty new, and still not accepted in some circles.

The automatic assumption that life is a zero-sum game (Everything you share with someone else is automatically a lessening of yourself, including thoughts/ideas) is burned so deeply in the human psyche that I don't expect it to go away anytime soon. (On this track, Bucky Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth might interest you.)

Comparisons between human and ape behavior have been made at length WRT this, IIRC, and suggest that it might possibly be something hardwired.

Re:

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

True. Hence the implication that *teaching* this, on a rational level, if we want to have a functioning and diverse society, is important.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Or a simple statement rather than a threat.

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine is in his first year as a high school chem teacher. He's set up a way for his students to indicate that they're lost: they wave a blank piece of paper like a white flag of surrender. I thought that was brilliant: a humorous and non-threatening way to say "I don't understand," and a way to emphasize that the whole point of the class is understanding the material, not looking cool. (He's an MIT alum. Yeah, it shows sometimes :-))

Thanks for the pithy statement: it is nearly universally applicable. "I don't understand" and "I'm wrong" are seen (in our mainstream culture) as confessions of weakness or submission. How incredibly dangerous!

Re:

[serenainverse.livejournal.com]

I think it may be an automatic reaction to the grading system ... if we punish people for being wrong, repeatedly pressing upon them the dire consequences of failure, they will never be willing to show weakness.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

*blush*

Thank you for the support!

[neverbefound.livejournal.com]

Wow!

Amazing how clearly that's articulated.

Oh. ran across you thanks to Janezero's journal (and some stolen time at the office ...heh)

Where I'm from originally, people will tend to say "that's different" about anything new encountered, and some of them say it with a frown, some with a smile. It's the smilers that I try to find.