Seeing Whole Elephants

[This post is a reworking of an email I sent to a "too-prominent local Libertarian" trying to convince him that his extreme views on public schools were contributing to the marginalization of the Libertarian Party. I've never figured out whether he actually holds those extreme views or just enjoys engaging in extreme political rhetoric.]

An unfortunately too-prominent local Libertarian condemns public education as a dismal failure that needs to be shut down immediately. Whole blogs are dedicated to informing us that Walmart is evil. Anti-internationalists gleefully rattle off lists of every scandal that has ever occurred in the United Nations.

What do they all have in common? All are looking at huge, complex institutions with selective vision -- seeing only the parts of the elephant that support their preconceived point of view.

It's human nature. I do it, too, although I'm trying to squash the habit.

Once we've made up our mind about something, once we identify with a political camp, we don't want to consider evidence that contradicts our stance. It hurts our brains. To use a fancy phrase, it causes, "cognitive dissonance."

But, the truth is that huge real-world institutions or phenomena are rarely purely evil or purely good: It's true that there's a lot to criticize about the public schools, Walmart, the United Nations, whatever. But, it's simultaneously true that public education has provided opportunity and excellent education for many people; that Walmart is an innovator in inventory and supply chain management, and provides excellent bargains to the very poor that it is accused of exploiting; and the United Nations has kept the peace in many troubled places and saved childrens' lives.

It's all true at the same time. Reality is more complex than any idealogy I've ever heard of. If we are wise, we should push ourselves to see the whole elephant, not just the parts we want to see. It doesn't mean that we have to suspend all judgement or abandon our guiding values. It just means that we base our views on a solid, always growing understanding of what really is.

The irony is, if you are trying to develop a balanced view of some political issue, people with biased points of view are a valuable source of information. On the Internet, they're the ones who bring out all the information that many would prefer to keep hidden. You just gotta be willing to triangulate between all the extremes, and sort out the information from the misinformation.