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Bite your tongue...
Jul. 1st, 2003 09:08 pmAs I've noticed a few times in the past week, sometimes it's simply necessary to keep your trap shut...
I'm a scientist and teacher by training and personal inclination. When I note a flaw in the facts or reasoning under which another person operates, my usual reaction is to point out the truth, and repair the flawed reasoning. There are times and places, however, where this is exactly the wrong thing to do. This, of course, is infuriating.
On occasion, the social and personal situation is such that trying to get someone to accept the truth causes more harm than good. No useful purpose is served if, in the process of illumination, one generates such acrimony that the audience ceases to listen. Social order can take precedence over the truth, and a wise person knows when to cease and desist for the sake of quiet. The wise person can prioritize.
That doesn't mean there isn't an ape sitting in the back of the wise person's skull, raging and rattling the bars over how damned foolish it is to not present the truth just for the sake of some random people's fragile sensibilities. The ape wants to know, in plain and simple terms, why it is that human beings can't take facts without getting all bent out of shape, and tells the wise man, in no uncertain terms, that it thinks that using the facts to bend people out of shape would build a little character. What does not kill them makes them stronger, says the ape. The ape, knowing nothing of social niceties, would happily take a club and beat the truth into the student - educating them and inducing a thicker skin at the same time...
The wise person wonders exactly how much is saved by chaining up these apes, and how much is lost.
I'm a scientist and teacher by training and personal inclination. When I note a flaw in the facts or reasoning under which another person operates, my usual reaction is to point out the truth, and repair the flawed reasoning. There are times and places, however, where this is exactly the wrong thing to do. This, of course, is infuriating.
On occasion, the social and personal situation is such that trying to get someone to accept the truth causes more harm than good. No useful purpose is served if, in the process of illumination, one generates such acrimony that the audience ceases to listen. Social order can take precedence over the truth, and a wise person knows when to cease and desist for the sake of quiet. The wise person can prioritize.
That doesn't mean there isn't an ape sitting in the back of the wise person's skull, raging and rattling the bars over how damned foolish it is to not present the truth just for the sake of some random people's fragile sensibilities. The ape wants to know, in plain and simple terms, why it is that human beings can't take facts without getting all bent out of shape, and tells the wise man, in no uncertain terms, that it thinks that using the facts to bend people out of shape would build a little character. What does not kill them makes them stronger, says the ape. The ape, knowing nothing of social niceties, would happily take a club and beat the truth into the student - educating them and inducing a thicker skin at the same time...
The wise person wonders exactly how much is saved by chaining up these apes, and how much is lost.
