Good morning everyone! I usually start this post by saying that one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. But maybe there are days where that just isn’t true. Maybe some days we need some serious reflection, some introspection, and a readjustment of our attitude and values. So with apologies to the optimism usually present in this space, let’s dig in and do some hard work today. Here’s the quote:
The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’
–– Isaac Asimov
Back in grade school, we used to use “it’s a free country” to justify all sorts of goofy behavior, without ever giving a second thought to what it meant. But here is what it means: this country was founded on the idea that the government cannot take away your rights without due process. It was created based on that principle because its founders sought refuge from a place where something exactly like that was done. And over the years other people from different countries who limited freedoms also made their way here and contributed to that idea, advanced it, and reaffirmed it. And make no mistake, it is a brilliant concept and fundamental to our success as a nation.
But that idea succeeded in part because of the concept of the “marketplace of ideas.” This is the notion that, just like the free economic market will react to products to sort out the best and eliminate the unworthy, so too will free and unfettered philosophical discourse lead to the finest ideas rising to the top. And for years this idea was indeed successful: ideas were vetted through years of culling and cultivating, debate and discussion. They grew and were pruned and people evaluated them until the best ones remained. (Is this a bit of a rosy glass to view history through? Sure. Plenty of bad ideas – slavery among others – had their eloquent defenders for years. But time and truth have allowed society to hone its thoughts – often with America at the vanguard – to improve upon the good ideas and weed out the bad ones).
The unspoken and underappreciated truth underpinning this progress has been the constant existence of leaders who viewed their role not as bosses or CEOs of the world, but rather as servants to the people, to ensure that the marketplace was kept in balance. And by the same token, the people wanted (and knew they needed) someone to guide the way, who could make good decisions using a good process.
Now we arrive back at our quote: the false notion that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. How many people walking around (or posting or tweeting or talking on TV) embody this notion? Did it start with that grade school bully punching someone in the arm and declaring the right to do so because “it’s a free country”? There is an old quote with an interesting attribution history, which goes: “the right to swing your arms ends at the other man’s nose.” Many of today’s ersatz philosophers fail to grasp that “freedom” does not mean that if you say it, then it becomes correct.
And so these two ideas intersect: the idea that freedom does not equal being correct, and that the marketplace of ideas has been circumvented by “social media,” the “24-hour news cycle,” and “talking heads.” No longer is there any opportunity for respectful discourse and true evaluation of thoughts. No longer does “freedom” mean a space where the best of our nature can come out on top, and we can make strides toward equality and accomplishment. Instead, everyone thinks they are right all the time, even when they are told by subject matter experts that they are wrong. I can assure you, if you come to me for heart surgery, or advice on estate planning, or a great stock tip, I cannot help you. I won’t even try. Because I know that there are those out there who have studied and proven their expertise. But we seem unable to apply this concept to our daily lives sometimes: just admit that there are things to which you do not know the answer, and concede that there are experts who may know more.
Asimov identified it as a “strain of anti-intellectualism.” A weird but also frightening movie once painted it as a natural selection-type inevitability, but 500 years in the future. And the year 2020 has decided to thrust it to the forefront on several stages. So if you have read this far, then I’m going to try to wind it back toward a true MMM post, with a positive bent and a bit of a high note for a finish. If it has to be simple for people to understand, then let’s keep it simple. I find myself wondering more and more why we can’t just adopt this mantra that seems to sum it all up. Right or wrong, disagreement or no, expert or simply a know-it-all, we can still make it our mantra to “Be Excellent to Each Other.” That takes no expertise whatsoever.
Have a great week everybody.