Black or White
- Thread starter Tempus35
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Tempus35
1
I ask because I was arguing with a friend about it. He believed that almost everything was black and white, with little gray. I believed that there was tons of gray with little black and white.
My argument is that there is way to many variables in any one thing and that even what seems black and white is murky and there is cross communication or leaks back and forth.
My argument is that there is way to many variables in any one thing and that even what seems black and white is murky and there is cross communication or leaks back and forth.
nopark
Well-known member
I don't think anything is black or white. That's what makes life so hard, isn't it? 
It's fun to read a book or watch a movie where there's such clear-cut choices. The hero always does The Right Thing and the villain always does The Wrong Thing. But it just never works that way...
It's fun to read a book or watch a movie where there's such clear-cut choices. The hero always does The Right Thing and the villain always does The Wrong Thing. But it just never works that way...
nopark
Well-known member
Hmm. I don't think that's a good analogy.
I'm sure you can think of even mundane cases where "wrong" things can be right under certain circumstances (Killing another human being is wrong, but what about in the defense of your own life?).
And there are many things that depend entirely on social custom and vary greatly between cultures or timeframes (there are periods in history where pedophiliac homosexual relations with young boys was normal and even expected--something we'd all agree is repulsive nowadays).
And there are even degrees of rightness. You can do The Right Thing, but what if you did more of The Right Thing? I can donate $10 to charity, or I can donate $20 (a simplistic example, I know).
Right and Wrong is an entirely man-made concept and is specific to everyone and is directed by context. I think it's impossible to say with certainty anything is right or wrong. We as a society agree on certain things (laws, social taboos etc), but there's always shades of gray we all consider.
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coyote
Well-known member
I tend to believe that it's all mostly grey...or at least try to see things that way.
We only create problems for ourselves when we restrict our thinking to absolutes.
"Always" and "never" can be your worst enemies when you are trying to make your way in a world as complicated as the one we live in.
I just noticed that this was in the "Off Topic" forum....and I'm wondering if that's appropriate.
My guess is that many of the irrational fears and self-criticisms that hold us back are rooted in such restrictive black-and-white thinking.
We only create problems for ourselves when we restrict our thinking to absolutes.
"Always" and "never" can be your worst enemies when you are trying to make your way in a world as complicated as the one we live in.
I just noticed that this was in the "Off Topic" forum....and I'm wondering if that's appropriate.
My guess is that many of the irrational fears and self-criticisms that hold us back are rooted in such restrictive black-and-white thinking.
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nopark
Well-known member
Ah, I see what you mean now. Sorry, I was thinking the op was referring to moral absolutism and was reading into it from that context and missed your point.
Though interesting you bring up the case of being dead or alive since there are some deep philosophical debates surrounding what exactly it means to be alive The Yale lectures on death are very very interesting!
Though interesting you bring up the case of being dead or alive since there are some deep philosophical debates surrounding what exactly it means to be alive
The Yale lectures on death are very very interesting!
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LadyWench
Well-known member
I think there are many, many grey areas in life. Not everything is certain or set in stone. I tend to have a black and white mindset when it comes to myself, though. Which does make me a hypocrite in some ways. But I'm a very self-deprecating kind of person. I see myself as either succeeding or failing. There's no inbetween for me. For other people, however, it's different. Very different, indeed.
It is or it is not.
Can be or cannot be.
First or Last.
Good or Evil.
Alive or dead.
I am that and more. Used to be black and white. Now, also realising potential to backfire, I am not.
Can be or cannot be.
First or Last.
Good or Evil.
Alive or dead.
I am that and more. Used to be black and white. Now, also realising potential to backfire, I am not.
Rembrandt Broam
Well-known member
Very few things truly are black or white, but I think we all have areas which we feel strongly or passionately about, and those are the ones that we personally see as black or white.