We have been socially conditioned to believe that when two opposing views collide, one will win and the other will lose.
This is why we have winner-take-all political systems, competitive debating, high-priced lawyers, and religions that refuse to accept any truth except their own.
The problem with this sociological phenomenon is that it is based on the presumption that in such a situation, one perspective must be correct, the other must be wrong.
This is an illogical and faulty assumption.
Perspective, by definition, is a point of view, and each person based on their own position in the world has a unique perspective on how things work.
An African-American child growing up in Alabama is going to have a very different perspective on law enforcement, for example, than an upper-middle-class white child growing up in Vancouver, Canada.
Neither of these perspectives are wrong; in fact, each is invaluable to understanding the wider picture of North American law enforcement and what works and what does not.
The only way that we as individuals can broaden our perspectives, minimize our blind spots, and better understand the world around us is by seeking to understand perspectives that are different from our own, rather than trying to win an argument.
So consider this an exhortation to seek out perspectives and ideas that differ from your own, even those that stand in direct opposition to your own, and seek to understand these different perspectives.
By seeking first to understand, you will become a better-informed citizen, and when our citizenry is better informed, our society will follow.
The inevitable question following a conversation on differing perspectives is what to do with absolute truth. We will explore this together in my next post.