Patterico's Pontifications

2/27/2015

On Differing Perspectives: An Essay

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:45 am



As I make this great journey through life, one thing I have learned is that different people really do have different perspectives. For example, my honestly held belief that government is unnecessary to address a particular issue will always be balanced by someone who says we need oversight in that area. And, to address more artistic matters: my belief that say, a piece of music is truly sublime (or wretched) will inevitably be countered by somebody who — with equal honesty and and sincerity — believes the same music is wretched (or sublime).

It’s easy to discount other points of view as being the product of inferior or dishonest minds. Your love for that rap song shows that your mind is not as cultured as mine, which appreciates Beethoven; on the other hand, your love of Proust must be feigned, because nobody really reads such garbage — while my love of Michael Connelly is at least genuine.

But that sort of “my way is the only way” attitude — discounting other viewpoints as wrong– is both callow and lazy. True maturity lies in realizing and accepting that people can honestly hold perspectives that are, quite simply, different from yours. Indeed, if this country can be said to be founded on a single unifying message, it is acceptance of different frames of reference. Our strength lies in understanding that other ways of looking at things are not wrong; they are just unfamiliar.

The fact that someone sees a political issue, or a work of art, in a different manner than you happen to see it, does not make that person inferior, or dishonest, or wrong. They are simply different. That’s all. Once you have fully accepted this concept and put it into practice in your own life, you will have achieved a level of wisdom that will serve you well.

. . .

. . .

. . .

That said . . . those of you who say the dress is blue and black are out of your fucking minds.

MORE: Take the poll.

Xkcd. (Thanks to The Sage and JRM.)

Get it? If not, explainxkcd. (Thanks to Kevin M.)

And remember:

46 Responses to “On Differing Perspectives: An Essay”

  1. I apologize to those offended by profanity, but the joke really just doesn’t work without it.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Shirley, they can’t be serious.

    narciso (ee1f88)

  3. I hate to tell you this: It is black and blue.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  4. {sigh}, one more time

    The Science is Settled

    good joke though, yeah the profanity made it work.

    seeRpea (188f90)

  5. it’s like yesterday i was watching the news and i saw one black llama and one white llama

    and i was texting with my friend D who was watching the exact same stream

    except he saw one white llama and one black llama

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  6. The tweet is spot on. And if no one asks Obama about it, he will probably find a reason to mention it.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  7. I think Taylor should change her contacts,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  8. You probably saw it, happyfeet, but Twitchy did the llama colors, too.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  9. love it!

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  10. I hate to tell you this: It is black and blue.

    DRJ (e80d46) — 2/27/2015 @ 7:51 am

    The real dress? I know. But the colors are actually closer to gold and white on the screen; Adobe shows this.

    One could do a think piece on “seeing things as they really are” and make a case for each position.

    Patterico (9622fb)

  11. If it were the actual thing, there would be no issue. If it were an honest print from 35mm color film it would not be an issue, unless someone chose print the negative and not the positive. It’s an issue because of how digital images are stored and delivered. Your computer sent ambiguous information, which area V4 of your visual cortex could interpret either to the left direction or to the right direction on the color wheel.

    It’s not question of perspective. It’s a question of how your information is filtered.

    Net Neutrality!

    nk (dbc370)

  12. It appears gold and white and shadowed. Shadowed stuff causes the brain to adjust… weirdly, sometimes.

    But my money is on a camera or rendering failure, assuming the dress really is black and blue (which may not be true). The shadowed back plus the sun may cause the camera to make an inaccurate view. (I believe a dress that was black and blue would not look that way to the eyes under any circumstances.)

    Some people have the colors change after they’ve seen a gif; that does not happen to me.

    JRM (de6363)

  13. I saw it as blue and gold/tan, so that makes me the compromise position in your scenario. Some would argue the compromise position is always the best option. Fortunately I’m not one of those people. Plus, the dress sucks no matter what color it is.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  14. If it were the actual thing, there would be no issue. If it were an honest print from 35mm color film it would not be an issue, unless someone chose print the negative and not the positive.

    nk, people disagree even when it is printed out.

    Patterico (9622fb)

  15. I see four lights.

    FOUR LIGHTS< DAMNIT!

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  16. So is this a new kind of color-blindness?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  17. nk, people disagree even when it is printed out.

    Hmm. Then it’s not (only) a computer screen thing. It’s something about this composition that makes some people see the complementary color.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. enuf with teh GD, ugly-ass dress!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  19. if Taylor wore this dress and Brucella wore the exact same dress and they both sat on a log picking nits out of each other’s hair everyone would still perceive each lady’s dress a little different I think

    because transphobia

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  20. Holder blames “racist llamas” and “the Dress” for criticisms…

    http://t.co/AoT7yeMFui

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  21. As black and blue as a bruise….a well deserved pummeling will ensure those compromising Republican weenies in Congress will also be wearing that same shade of blue and black if they don’t stop their mission of “comprise” and playing nice.

    Dana (d5d5ba)

  22. Ok, I asked someone who knows about these things. My brother. He says it’s like the clothes brightener you use for white clothes. It’s really a blue tint but it makes the clothes look whiter. Depending on your … perspective.

    I knew there was a reason I spend all my time on this blog instead of mine. That’s a compliment, Patterico.

    nk (dbc370)

  23. Maybe my brain works differently. I immediately perceived ‘hm, poor lighting’ so I started to adjust based on past experiences with shadow and color. Technically I thought it looked white and tan, not white and gold, but in my defense I would say gold coloring is hard to see without good lighting.

    I don’t see where they’re getting black. Light blue maybe. I’d love to see the dress under better lighting to be sure.

    Toastrider (4c0340)

  24. I saw….an ugly dress. H/T DRJ.
    nk, for a similar reason antacids like Tums are slightly aciduc: reduce the average acid level.

    kishnevi (adea75)

  25. *acidic*

    kishnevi (9c4b9c)

  26. R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy — He lived long, and prospered

    Icy (a924b6)

  27. There is no dress.

    CrustyB (69f730)

  28. He just beamed up.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  29. 14. DRJ (e80d46) — 2/27/2015 @ 8:07 am

    I saw it as blue and gold/tan, so that makes me the compromise position in your scenario.

    That’s what I say.

    Leonard Nimoy is dead?!!

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  30. “The Death of Spock” YouTube from the Wrath of Khan.

    Are you out of your Vulcan mind?

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  31. I think this dress business was a well executed test by either Russian or Chinese hackers to see how gullible Americans are with respect to clicking on goofy links and pictures. Well, OK. That, or everybody who played is now on the Hillary! Clinton mailing list.

    elissa (ff80b2)

  32. Amen, DRJ. And elissa. Did Obama, Harf, and Psaki make a hastag for the dress yet?

    JD (e2e4ef)

  33. If you are a regular ebay shopper, this sort of color confusion is a constant issue, with sellers sometimes pointing out how the actual color of an item differs from the pictorial representation.

    ThOR (a52560)

  34. I saw black and blue, then saw the voting that it was blue and gold. HUH, went back and looked again, this time it was blue and gold. There is something going on with the image, don’t know what, but it was different each time I looked.

    Dee (61ea8e)

  35. I don’t care about the color, I just want to know if it makes my butt look big.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  36. mr. daleyrocks breakin da internet

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  37. De gustibus non est disputandem

    Wayne M (314a43)

  38. It’s gold and white to me. I can force myself to see the blue in the white, but I *cannot* get to black, no matter how hard i try.

    aphrael (34edde)

  39. Thank you, Patterico … I needed to hear that on this day.

    Karen Ferris (616ae0)

  40. It kinda looks like something the Egyptians used to wear back when they were two dimensional

    steveg (794291)

  41. It kinda looks like something the Egyptians used to wear back when they were two dimensional… but who knew they invented clothes brightener?
    Now there is another thing Al Sharpton can claim Africans invented

    steveg (794291)

  42. Huh maybe I should try to finish my thoughts before hitting submit

    steveg (794291)

  43. Our strength lies in understanding that other ways of looking at things are not wrong; they are just unfamiliar.

    Patterico, that’s a skip and a hop away from moral relativism or moral equivalency. I hope you realize some of the sentiments at the core of your “differing perspective” idealism (or, quite simply, naivete) are what has incubated the politically-correct lunacy in no less than the US military and its dealings with extremists like Nidal Hassan. Again, this is occurring in the US military and NOT just in the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, NAACP, Greenpeace, the Nation magazine, etc.

    We’re doomed.

    Mark (c160ec)

  44. But that sort of “my way is the only way” attitude — discounting other viewpoints as wrong– is both callow and lazy. True maturity lies in realizing and accepting that people can honestly hold perspectives that are, quite simply, different from yours

    Actually, no.

    I AM right. Always. By definition.

    I mean, what kind of idiot would espouse an opinion that is wrong. So I’m right until you convince me otherwise.

    True maturity lies in two things:

    1) Keeping an open mind in the face of such idiocies (Yes, ha ha only serious… sort of)

    2) Realizing that 99.9% of differences of opinion don’t mean shit in this great big world, aka,
    The Chinese Relativity Axiom: No matter how great and amazing and astounding your triumphs, no matter how colossal and soul-deadening and despairing your failures, approximately 1 BILLION Chinese couldn’t care less.

    It really, really doesn’t matter all that much who is right or wrong, in the long haul.

    IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d)


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