Listening to the Reality of the Other Side: Is Context Lost in Tainted Perception?
I’m really curious about how the same story can be reported with such diverse points of view. I get that truth is dependent on context to determine meaning, but I hear stories that are supposedly about the same event. In one story the actions reported are wonderful, and in the other reporting, the actions are no less than demonic. It makes me wonder if either storyteller is aware of the context of what is reported. The idea is to present facts but what actually happens is the facts are tainted with the beliefs of the presenter or his handlers. Tainting facts changes the perception of those facts.
The recent reporting surrounding Brittney Griner may illustrate my point. The facts are that the USA and Russia while in the midst of a war negotiated the release of two people. One is a sports star and the other is a purveyor of misery. Nonetheless, they are both people. None of those facts have been disputed. However, the import of those facts have been tainted. News outlets such as CNN reported those facts as though they supported a positive thing that the Biden administration accomplished. And it is a positive thing. However, there are those who can not find anything positive in anything the Biden administration does.
Don Jr. Tweeted that she was an America-hating women’s basketball player. Benny Johnson stated that because she was released it was a “collapse of an empire.” At least we can rest assured that this was not plagiarized. The conservative talk show host Jesse Kelly tweeted, “She’s a Black lesbian who hates America. Biden is just bringing another voter back home.” Clearly the context of each side of the reporting is the result of the context in which presenters present their agenda. The facts are merely interpreted to support their individual agendas.
That these two interpretations of a single event are not often acknowledged by either the listener nor the presenter is perhaps at least one of the roots of deep frustrations in the realm of political discourse. In other words, denying the truth does not alter the facts. In the Brittney Griner example, the fact is that an American citizen was held on a questionable charge for an advantage by Russia, and she is no longer an advantage, so she was swapped or freed. That set of facts really cannot be denied. What that set of facts means is entirely within the realm of speculation. We will have to wait to see what comes about as a result of these facts. Our opinions about those eventual outcomes will not alter them. The only alteration will be the interpretations.
The same kind of thing is taking place around the classified documents found at the residence of Big Orange. They are classified documents and not something that just anyone should have access to. Yet Big Orange is claiming that those documents belong to him. Within the context of the position he once held that can not be true. He was not and never will be the government. No person can be the government in a democracy. The documents Big Orange is claiming as personal property are part of the collective memory of all of the government. Governing requires the participation of thousands of people. It simply is not possible to change all the people fulfilling all the functions of government every time a new politician is elected to an office. That newbie will have no idea how birth certificate information is stored, for an obscure example. The newbie will not even know what the rules concerning behavior of people around him or her should actually be based on the protocols of years of interactions with the power of the office held. Is this what some fact reporters call the Deep State? If it is, it is purely interpretive, and not at all factual. But opinions by their nature have no basis in reality unless we follow facts as opposed to following interpretations. Interpreting by its nature relies on assumptions. Assumptions by their nature must interpret limited factual evidence
It could be that one reason for extremism is the very concepts of right and wrong or perhaps good and evil. What makes a belief right? This is a difficult question to answer. In the context of current Republican talking points, the only right answer can only be that if Dark Brandon did it then whatever he did was wrong. But that can only be true in the context that Joe Biden is and has been pretty damned successful at his job by a different set of measurements. From the perspective of Democratic thinking it doesn’t make any difference how the money that Joe is spending gets paid because the people need the help and the earth needs to be livable. But from the Republican point of view the companies that pay their living expenses might not be as willing to pay for fancy things like live-aboard yachts and golf club memberships if they have to pay taxes which are too high. It isn’t like they’re having record profits or anything.
Now, here’s the question. Are they doing anything illegal? No, they’re not. But if you ask if they are doing anything wrong the answer is not nearly as clear. Is it wrong to make larger and larger profits at the expense of people who are working stiffs? Not from the point of view of non-human corporations. From that point of view they are “right” and the working folks are “wrong”. That’s obviously wrong to anyone who considers humanity as part of the world in which he lives. If one is to be empathetic to the needs of other humans one must be honest with oneself concerning one’s own humanity and whether that is important. Corporations do not have the ability to embrace empathy. But then that’s what a balance of power entails. If I can manage to consider these issues from outside a dichotometric stance of right/wrong or good/bad it becomes easier to give credence to the other extreme of this particular thought. Neither side of the issue is right or wrong. They both have a set of facts that they must address. That both sides will have to address all of the issues on both sides is just plain old common horse sense.
There must always be practical ways to accomplish things that are necessary for humans to survive. That is something that any person who is alive today must address. Imagine that we were all in the path of a forest fire. We’d all be looking after our own but we’d also be keenly aware of the struggles of our neighbors. It’s wise therefore to consider the power of kindness. It’s essential that we all voice our opinions and it’s important to consider the opinions of others to be as important and as real as our own. I think one reason for the recent election results was because people identified with the democratic principle of empathizing with the human conditions. Now let’s consider Brittney’s relationship with Russia. Brittney played ball in Russian women’s basketball where she was a star. She was derided in her native country of the United States but she did not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vlad took that personally perhaps and was making a brutal point that Brittney did not have the right to disagree with her adopted basketball homeland. If that is even close to real then what Biden did was nothing short of brilliant diplomacy based on a lifetime of listening to the reality of the other side. Well done, Sir.
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