“Selective perception” was best described by Paul Simon in his song, “The Boxer.” “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest,” Simon sang. There were many examples of “selective perception” on the News Tribune’s Feb. 28 Opinion page. I’ll mention three.
One letter-writer said the current cold weather disproves the opinions of 97 percent to 98 percent of climate scientists, totally ignoring that one of the main outcomes of global warming is weather patterns becoming more volatile. Anyone who thinks the weather isn’t more volatile hasn’t been paying attention. Did you notice the East Coast this winter?
Another letter-writer talked about President Barack Obama’s “imperial presidency,” totally ignoring the obstructiveness of the Republicans in both houses of Congress, whose stated sole goal was to block anything the president did and to make him a one-term president. I’m guessing the writer never criticized the “imperial presidency” of George W. Bush, where the overreaching of the president really began and, in all cases I’m aware of, was worse than anything Obama has done.
Because most Republicans I know assume they are “right” about everything, “compromise” has disappeared from their vocabulary - and their actions.
The last letter-writer assumed I meant in my previous letter that “all religions are the same.” What I meant was that all fanatics are the same. All fanatics have the same problem. Their egos won’t let them believe they could be wrong about anything regarding their belief system. They believe their opinions are facts.
Did Adolf Hitler believe he was wrong? Did the Communists believe they were wrong? Does ISIL believe it’s wrong? Did any of these letter-writers believe their opinions could be wrong or misinformed? Apparently, they’re still learning that the path to wisdom often involves going from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
Gary Burt
Marble
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