(Political Color Blind

    As many of you know, I've gotten out of the political realm primarily because I think people are losing their mind. From time to time I run across someone who is rather intelligent, motivated to get somewhere in life, and yet believe in philosophies that are completely destructive in nature. No matter how much you debate with them or walk through fact-finding missions with them, they just refuse to see the obvious. I've struggled with this for a long time. I recently was given a revelation that I figured was good enough to share. Perhaps if someone else out there is living in the frustration that I do with these people, it will smooth some of the aggravation.

     Regardless if its politics or things of a religious or morality nature there seems to be two kinds of people. To simplify it I will try to put it in a metaphor.

     Take two groups of people and one is completely colorblind and the other is not. In everyday life they both seem to “function” the same. They both wake up, go to work, pay their bills, take care of their kids, buy toys, have hobbies, and seem to live life no different from each other. But there are some radical differences in the way they perceive life and deal with everyday decisions.

     Again, to keep this simple I will give a metaphoric example. When two people from each group are driving and come across a stoplight and it is red, they both know the stop. But not necessarily for the same reason. The non-colorblind person sees the red light and knows to stop. They don't think about the position of the light or its orientation, they see red and know to stop. However, a colorblind person would know to stop but not because they see red. The top light is always the red light. If the top light is on, they've been trained that the top light is the red one and therefore must stop. They personally don't see (and are unable to see) the direct correlation between red and stop. They work on trained or educated behavior.

     Again, this is all metaphorical but let's say life takes a twist. As a prank or the guy replacing the lights was a little too drunk and put the lights in backwards. Instantly the people who could see color would recognize a red light and would still stop. And if they actually paid attention they may even notice that light is in the wrong spot. Where-as a colorblind person, because of his trained behavior, would assume that the light that is currently on is the “green/go” spot. Because of this 9 times out of 10 they would just keep going. I'm sure I don't need to go into the details of the problems that would cause. Again, if the colorblind person was exceptionally prone to noticing details, they may notice that the tint of the “gray” seemed wrong or other cars were not behaving the way they should. Out of caution they may even slow down or stop because they were unsure. But the reality of it is, they are unsure! To them everything (when it comes to color) is a perception of training behavior, and interaction of what everyone else is doing, and assumptions. There is no absolution because they do not have the ability to use the sense of color. Ironically, it is impossible for a person who can see color to even describe to a colorblind person what that color looks like. It would be like trying to describe to a person who can see color what the color blue smells like. It's impossible. Sure, we can try to explain to a colorblind person that the color blue is much like the sky on a nice day but to the colorblind person that means blue is that particular shade of gray. There's no other way for them to perceive it.

     This lack of perception in the “color realm” would have a number of side effects. 1) the half of the people who were colorblind would have been instinctive need and desire for everything to be done in a particular way. And to a non-colorblind person, it would seem almost anal-retentive and ridiculous. To move out of the metaphor a little bit, the colorblind people would naturally see the need for massive regulation, rules, laws, because everything would have to be done in a particular way for them to function properly. But the person who sees color, all these particular rules, regulations, and laws would seem ridiculous with anyone that has, (by their perspective), common sense.

     To add to this, there is a certain amount of imbalance in this problem. A person who can see color can imagine a world without color. Because they are able to see gray and can imagine everything being gray. But a colorblind person cannot imagine a world with color. They have no concept of it. To throw some politics into this or even religion for that matter, if these two groups of people seriously try to have a debate as to why one group believes that particular law or belief is needed or not needed, the other group is never going to understand.

    I think most people would agree with everything up to this point. But when you start to look at “what do you do about it”, that's where it gets ugly. In my experience everything always comes down to two philosophies. Is it better for 10 innocent people to be locked up to prevent one guilty person from going free, or is it better for a guilty person to be let off to prevent 10 innocent people from suffering for something they did not do? I want you to really ponder that. Because that question, in my opinion, is the basis of how society will structure itself, define the definition of freedom, and how an individual will not only structured their own life but try to structure yours! Again, in my opinion, how a person answers that question normally answers every religious, political, and personality question you can ask someone. You will find that most people see everything in life one or two ways. It can be said that either answer is selfish or self-centered. One answer is based on the philosophy of safety, protection, and ones own well-being. The other is more based on overall justice, personal rights, and liberty. It really is.

     So let's go full circle. From what I can tell a colorblind person who is unsure when it comes to color believes the greater good is to be sure. Because naturally they can't be. So they believe the closest way to be sure is to regulate, mandate, take every precaution, and make the rule to cover any exception to any other rule. This translates in real life to telling everyone else how to do things. It will be their nature. And from their point of view it is first, “better for them”, and second, better for everyone else because they should be or are like them. The side effect of that is in real life which can be incredibly complicated it normally works out that it is better to step on 10 people who've done nothing to get the one that did.

     The other side of that stick is the people who are not colorblind. They do not feel the constant uncertainty (in the color realm) and don't understand the constant desire for doctrine, regulation, and intrusion. They spend most of their life focusing on completely different problems and their goals on how to get to certain places seem to follow completely different paths. (At least, what is needed to get there.) . More importantly, the chances of what will hinder them on their path is completely different. To keep the metaphor alive, a colorblind person is always afraid they may perceive the color wrong. The non-colorblind person is afraid they’ll be breaking some rule that goes against what seems common sense to them. <= (Going back to the red light being in the wrong place)

     All of this being the case, I see very little hope in these two groups of people living in the same society. It seems people who are colorblind are becoming more colorblind or at least believing everyone should live in a colorblind society and actually resenting people who do see color, *and now adays) just think they're wrong because there's no such thing as color. The people that do see color, are realizing that the excessive rules laws regulations and intrusions are not only getting out of control but the people that are pushing them are no longer doing this on the basis for all people. They're doing it for themselves and everyone else should just comply and live without color. It's insane. And there's no natural solution. As stated before you cannot explain color to someone who has no concept of it. In its own way, it's a gift. For those that believe in a higher power, I believe (to keep the metaphor alive), the GIFT of colored sight is really about the only solution. So I no longer find the frustration in debating and hearing some of the statements anymore. I just hope and pray they are healed.