Learning not Leaning

Learn, Don't Lean.

no time to proof read, spelling errors abound…enjoy!

As you may have guessed (it’s no secret), these blogs are born out of frustrating conversations.  Conversations which just make me smack my forehead and, after a second or two of resistance, give up because debate is obviously pointless.  I’m talking about conversations / discussions / debates where I just can’t respect the other point of view because it’s asserting a point of view that has, quite obviously, been pulled from elsewhere.  The tell tale signs to me are:

• They are one sided, not willing to even look at the other side
• They use the exact same examples I’ve heard on TV, radio, read in the news, or heard thrown around in the local coffee shop
• They rely on ‘common sense’.  They have a “well, everyone knows…” attitude about them without any actual facts or specifics

These conversations are frustrating not because I disagree with a point being made (sometimes I don’t) but because they smack of ignorance.  They are full of popular thinking which was handed down to the person by someone else.  There’s no fact checking.  No critical thinking.  No honest debate.  They’re beliefs without basis, assertions without learning.

One Side Learns, The Other Side Leans

Normally, there’s 2 (or more) sides to a conversation like this.  There’s a belief or point being debated.  We live in a world where ‘everyone is entitled to their own ideas’, but we never stop to consider the fact that some people’s ‘ideas’ are uneducated.  They’re talking points.  They’re never researched or investigated.  They’re easy to assert (maybe because they’re simple) but aren’t based on fact (sounds like sound-byte TV to me!).

For most issues I encounter, there is pretty obviously a side of the discussion which educates itself (usually endlessly) and one that doesn’t.  Now, it seems obvious that logic dictates that the side who is actively educating themselves on the issue is going to be closer to the truth, doesn’t it?  But in this ‘everyone has an right’ society, we overlook this point.  We think that, ignorant or not, everyone can be right.  Guess what?  That’s crap.

One side is usually learning and the other side is ‘leaning’ on someone else’s ideas without actually fact checking or learning anything for themselves.

An Example

Let’s take an example of the learning vs. leaning idea:  Ever since Food Inc. I hear lots of discussions about eating meat.  Some people are against it, some people want to be against it, and some people defend their God given right to devour corn fed flesh.  But did you ever notice something?  How many books are there about how great it is to eat meat?  How many scientists are out there saying “eating factory meat is great for our environment!”?  None, that’s how many.  On the other hand, how many people are writing books about the way meat-eating is wreaking havoc on our planet?  How many news articles are there about what factory farms do to their workers?  Generally, how many ‘for’ arguments vs. ‘against’ arguments are there?

This should tell you something:  The people defending meat eating, to their death, aren’t out there reading book after book about how great it is.  They aren’t pouring over the studies that show it’s great for our world and economy.  They’re not because these things don’t exist.  Yet, those out there against eating meat are sucking up book after book, study after study, learning all they can about the issue. They devour newspapers, news reports, and expert (and amateur) testimony on the subject.

Who here is learning and who is leaning?  Who, is a more reliably source of fact and information?

We didn’t deal with those who want to be meat eaters. These are the folks who saw Food Inc. and think they understand the whole situation.  They’re almost as bad as those defending meat in the sense that they’re simply taking pop culture thinking (and a single source) at it’s word, regurgitating everything they heard.  They don’t continue study, they don’t dive deeper.  They’re leaning (not learning) on a single film.  Better..but still leaning.

Learn to Say “I don’t know”

If we could all learn to say “I don’t know” more often, we’d be in better shape.  If you’re in a converation about food, or government, or politics, and you haven’t actually studied it, dove in, learned about it…just admit you don’t know.  There’s no shame in that.  Owning up to ignorance keeps it at bay.

On the other hand, next time you’re talking about how bad the president is, or how bad the economy is, make sure you’re basing it on concrete information.  Make sure you haven’t taken Rush Limbaugh’s word for it. Make sure you aren’t just believing everything the New York Times spouts off.  Read books & newspapers….LOTS of them.  Once you feel like you actually understand what’s going on (and can defend that with FACT instead of gut feelings) then converse.

But until then, stop leaning.  It’s really annoying (and embarasses you even if you don’t know it)