Life's Not Binary. Not Much Is Binary.

[MineralMan]

Something that truly not binary is a person's politics. Many people sometimes make the mistake of thinking that someone else is either with them or against them when it comes to political issues. Applying a binary nature to politics just flat never works. It doesn't work with much of anything having to do with human beings.

There are many other issues and beliefs that are far from binary, even though some people claim to have an on or off belief regarding those issues or beliefs.

Years ago, I talked to someone who was arguing with me about violence. That person professed to be completely opposed to any violent actions and claimed to be a total pacifist. Anyone who could countenance violence was simply wrong, and that was that. This person, however, had two young children. I asked her, "Imagine that you are walking down the street and a stranger tries to grab one of your children and carry that child off? How would you respond?" The answer, of course, was that she would fight that person to protect her child. The point was made that she was not a total pacifist at all, but considered violence to be acceptable in that circumstance.

The reality is that every issue, moral, political, or other issue, has beliefs that lie along a line that represents the full range of options regarding that issue. There are end points to most such lines. But few people actually have beliefs that are at the end points. Instead, their beliefs fall somewhere on the line, as do the beliefs of every other person.

So it is with political issues, as well. There's a line with thousands, or even millions, of points along it for every political issue. Perhaps the line extends between anarchy and monarchy. Few people sit on either end of that line. Very few. Everyone else is somewhere along the line between the two positions. If you are truly at one end or the other and demand that people either agree with you or are the enemy, you will have many enemies and few friends. Probably, if someone actually started asking serious questions of you, it'd probably turn out that you really aren't at one end of the line or the other, anyhow. You just think you are.

That's where tolerance comes in. If you do not expect others to be binary in their beliefs and positions, you have a far better chance of coming to some sort of agreement that lets you both carry on. If you insist on a binary solution to issues that lie on a long line of possible positions, you'll agree with almost nobody, and will be marginalized. That's how it all works.

The woman who proclaimed herself an absolute pacifist was not that at all. She was only a pacifist under some circumstances, but not all. She thought her views were on a binary scale, but they were not. It's human nature to make that error in thinking. Humans aren't binary. Thank goodness.

[hugo_from_TN]

1. There are 10 kind of people in the world

Those that understand binary and those that don't.

[yourout]

2. Yep....we live in an analog world.

[Teaser]

4. Or we live in a digital world

But our resolution isn't strong enough to see the 1s and 0s.

[damntexdem]

3. But dummy variables are.

;-)

But for non-dummies, yes life is more variable.