Who's your hero and who's your villain?
What I'm asking is if there are people who's word you take on an issue no matter what they say. And if there are people you won't listen to in any circumstance.
This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately and seems to be a sticking point in some of the arguments that are happening on this site as I write.
Do you support Obama no matter what he does? Or do you give Krugman the last word on anything having to do with economics? If Bill Moyers has it on his show - can you take it to the bank? (I know its a bad pun, but I just couldn't help myself)
Of course, we all can agree on one set of villains...the name Cheney comes to mind when I think of that word. But then I ask it a bit deeper. Is the fact that someone is a banker or works in the financial industry reason enough to dismiss anything they have to say?
I ask these questions because I think a democracy requires an informed citizenry. The problem is that with so many issues to stay on top of and the complexities involved - we often seem to need to have experts we can believe in to at least point us in the right direction if not give us a an opinion we can believe in. The truth is - we all do it. Whether we like to admit it or not.
But there's a danger in taking anyone's word on something without question...we're all fallible. Anyone can be mistaken or misguided. So it seems to me that the moment we accept ANYONE'S word as gospel and defend a position just because it is the opinion of our "hero," we're taking a risk.
I think we have to take that risk at times. We just can't know everything about every topic. But I've been reminded recently of the risk I'm taking by doing that. It's something to keep in mind and I need to recognize that when I believe in someone's opinions without learning about a topic myself, I'm asking for trouble.
Perhaps the best defense against this is to also listen to folks both you and your "hero" disagree with. Lately I've been trying to learn everything I can about the financial industry, the Obama administrations plans/proposals, and the alternatives proposed by the critics. If I only listen to the administration - I miss way too much information. But the same is true if I only listen to the critics. Its very easy to make my mind up (especially with help from a "hero") and then either not pay attention to conflicting views or dismiss them without really listening. The truth is, this is a very complicated situation and anyone who tells you there are either simple answers or a clear path to recovery should be suspect. If we're going to be informed citizens of a democracy, our choice is to either pick a hero or dig in and learn all we can from all sides of the discussion. Sometimes that even means listening to the view point of those we'd rather cast as the villains.
And on the villain part...I've never heard it expressed any better than with the words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?