First, a couple of definitions from Merriam-Webster:
RATIONALITY: the quality or state of being agreeable to reason
RATIONALIZATION: the attribution of (one's actions) to rational and creditable motives without analysis of true and especially unconscious motives
DOGMA: a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds
Are we agreed on those? Good. Moving on.
The article I included with my previous post became the jumping off point for a different discussion, so I decided to split this off into its own post rather than to tack it onto the previous post and thereby to dilute the focus of both discussions.
In case you haven't read the article, here it is again:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/2009
Not only does this article do a good job of characterizing the current situation regarding the "debate" over health care reform, but also it explains some of the other things I find so perplexing. The article itself cites the "justification" for the Iraq war, and I think the same principles can apply to another case I observed.
Recently on NBC's Today, they were doing a story on that 38 year old single mother who was apparently abducted in Georgia while talking on the phone to her boyfriend. This is a horrible, horrible thing to happen. Her boyfriend is a pastor, and in the interview he said he was sure . . . he was _certain_ . . . that her faith and the prayers of those close to her would bring her home safely. He did not say, "I trust that God will do His will" or anything along those lines. He said he's sure she's coming home safely. Now, I really do hope she does return safely, though sadly it seems unlikely. But here's what I imagine: in the event that she does not survive her abduction, her boyfriend would, despite his certainty now that she will come home, remain unshaken in his faith. I suspect he would take in that new information, despite its direct contradiction of his prior certainty, and then post-rationalize it with a statement such as, "This was God's will, and I trust His plan." That, to me, would be a feat of consummate rationalization that I can only explain in light of certain points from the article such as, "People get deeply attached to their beliefs . . . We form emotional attachments that get wrapped up in our personal identity and sense of morality, irrespective of the facts of the matter."
I find this human capacity to rationalize almost anything into our existing belief structures without changing those structures fascinating and maddening all at the same time. Whether it's the belief that we invaded Iraq because of Saddam Hussein's connection to 9/11 or the belief that the health care reform proposal includes "death panels" that will review which older Americans will live and which will die (for both of which definitive contradictory evidence exists), or belief that god will bring the abducted Georgia woman home safely (for which no definitive evidence yet exists), or belief in god at all, or belief in any of myriad other things, the old joke "My mind's made up; don't confuse me with the facts" appears to be an accurate depiction of human behavior. We are, it seems, creatures of dogma. I watch for it and avoid it in myself, and I'm certainly not immune to dogma either.
This doesn't mean that we as a species are incapable of moving past rationalization and dogma. To do so may be difficult and it may require us to grow past our limitations, but I’m confident we can do it if we so choose.
I think we can move past these flights of irrationality if we decide not to be guided solely by our preconceived notions. Personally, I think the best guide is a balance between logic and emotion; I think both ends of that spectrum lead to rationalization and dogma, and ultimately to disaster. Let's all have the courage to put our heads and our hearts to work in concert giving honest, critical consideration to all the things we think we know to be true--even in such realms of entrenched belief as politics and religion. Our minds may not change, but I think it would do us good at least to consider other viewpoints and to choose our beliefs and opinions consciously. A dog may be humanity's best friend, but dogma--in all its forms--most definitely is not.
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