We Hope For Stories

I ended the previous note with the admonition don't judge. None of the 23 readers so far have called me on that, so I have to provide my own rebuttal.

Of course judging is what I myself was doing. If you recall, I was engaged in the typical judgmental activity of identifying a target that is not one of us, highlighting things they have done that I disagree with, ignoring anything useful or innocuous that they may have accomplished, and wrapping them up in a pithy epithet to convince readers I am obviously right before tossing it all in the trash.

My inner imp was enjoying the whole game. My inner sage is trying to get a grip and pull this out of the trash, because trashing someone is disposing of the good with the bad. It is also an invitation to be trashed in turn, and there is enough of that going on in parliament. I am ashamed. That's a lie. I'm just trying to be clever. Or whatever. Anyway let me try to do better. Here goes.

I admit, in retrospect, that PDS deserves credit for her public service. Anyone with authority in government gets criticism no matter what they do because policy is always a compromise between competing imperatives, outcomes are always uncertain, and individuals value things differently. It takes some courage to walk into that storm. Much gratitude from me to anyone who engages in public service.

Nevertheless, judgment is at the heart of the social contract. As members of family, city, province, country, NATO, G20, WHO, United Nations, planet Earth, we weigh rights and duties at each level of association and decide where the balance of virtue lies. Individuals judge differently, so we settle what to do by discussion, debate, voting, promises, threats, sanctions and war.

I don't apologize for judging. I am one of many, one of a species that survives by judging. But judging well would be good. So we should be aware of what factors influence judgment and then judge competently. Here is a short list of these factors.

Circumstances
Information about circumstances
Perception
Memory
Emotions
Values
Instinct
Cognition, ideas, understanding
Tradition and change
Imagination
Group affinity
Benefits and costs of association
Structure, maps and models of reality
Leadership and autonomy
Evolution
Culture, history, myth, story
Everything else

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If it sounds like I am repeating myself, you've got that right. And if I run out of stories to tell, I will return here and do more repeating.

But we love the stories.
When we begin reading,
we hope for stories.
It's the same with writing.

Maybe next time.

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Until then, you might enjoy more judgment:
Just Have a Think: Big Oil, Big Lies and Big Al.

Fossil Fuels and Climate Change: CBC News