Left and right are somewhat ambiguous. A little experiment. I closed my right eye and took my picture with the computer. While I was taking the shot, I saw this.
How I See Myself on Screen
When I loaded the photo into Photoshop, it looked like this.
How Others See Me
If you do much photography, you know about this left-right confusion. It's the reason you think there is something vaguely wrong with a selfie unless it has been intentionally flipped to show you what you are used to seeing in the mirror.
That is also true in the domain of ideas. We need an App to help us see others as they see themselves, a sort of Robbie Burns backwards: instead of To a Louse, on Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church, let it be To A Lovely Lady at Church, (ignoring the louse). The others need the same App so they can see us as we see ourselves. Actually we all have the App. It's called Empathy. But it takes practice and effort, so we make snap judgments about people because they aren't worth the bother.
Complicating things, we use labels for people without defining them. For example, we keep labeling people left and right without saying what we mean; and if we said what we meant it would miss the nuances that define real people. Are they too stressed to deal with novelty? Have their lives been so safe and privileged that they don't understand when people need help? Are they so alone and afraid that they will say and do whatever it takes to belong? Each of us is living the latest chapter in a lengthy story. What we call left and right hides an elaborate flux of conflicting life issues that have brought us to this point.
To Empathy,
on seeing a friend cope,
with or without lice.
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Left Brain - Right Brain: Psychology Today
Emergencies Act: CBC News, Paul Rouleau, February 17, 2023
Musing on your recent posts. It does seem that we are sorted into different "groups' whether we like it or not. And we cannot deny that we often bump up against opinions and perspective that seem just wrong, or ridiculous or somehow unfathomable. And yet those folks are known and loved by us. Our typical reaction is either to walk away, agree to disagree, or just shout louder in our own familiar language.
ReplyDeleteIt would probably be much more fruitful if, when we recognize an "opposite", we worked harder to see or understand that rationale. Even if we're trying to persuade or influence the other opinion we're more likely to succeed if we can speak their language.
Following some commentary on current conservative political leaders who hope to tilt the education system towards their preferred viewpoints, some of these language lessons have come to mind.
Notions of "fairness' vs notions of "compassion" ought surely to be able to co-exist, Maybe, though, we could shift our emphasis when speaking to a left/right wing opponent.
Yes, Marion. I would like to see myself as less of a judgmental shouter and more a listener and reasoner. Not sure how others see me. Work in progress.
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