Rationality

As we rush pell-mell daily to embrace “progress”, we need to take time to smell the roses and assess what we are doing and what we are leaving behind. The last decade in particular has seen a progression of new assaults on our senses, our wallets and our psyches, aided and abetted by the media. Essentially nothing has been left untouched by major change, whether it be the world, our country or us, individually. Technology, terrorism, wars, politics, and the waning economy, have all taken their toll, literally and emotionally. And while it’s not all negative, it’s an impact anyway. Even positive impacts are, or can be, stressors. So, what is this doing for our capacity for rational thought?

ra-tion-al 1.  Having or exercising the ability to reason. 2. Of sound mind: sane. 3. Manifesting or based upon reason; logical.

rea-son 4. The capacity for rational thought, inference or discrimination. 5. Good judgment; sound sense; intelligence. 6. Normal mental state; sanity.

Many items of technology are proving to be significant increases in personal convenience. However, the exploding use of the internet is having a profound effect on our world and our lives. One program alone, Facebook, is said to have 750 MILLION worldwide users! That’s more than twice the entire population of the US, men, women and children combined, and more “friends” than most of us wish to have. E-mail messages probably number in the billions daily and texting messages may well exceed that. This usage has spawned a plethora of “gadgets” to connect and utilize this capability, computers we can carry and others we can’t, cell phones both smart and not so smart, the I-Pad and all its cousins. It’s possible today to carry an entire library around in your pocket. We are light years from cuneiform writings painstakingly scratched on clay tablets and even the more recent pony express delivery. Now, we have instant access to each other and to a world of information within arm’s reach continuously. This unprecedented access to information, and to each other in particular, is without parallel in history and impacts us all, sometimes favorably, sometimes not. It seems clear though that major impacts of this are higher dollar cost, higher emotional cost and a loss of continuity with our roots.

Technology has similarly exploded in the medical field. New treatments, new processes and equipment, new materials, and new medications have increased longevity and improved the quality of life for millions of people. Long term studies of the safety and efficacy of these new items, however, are not keeping pace. In the automotive field, technology is asserting itself in the form of improved passenger safety and convenience, improved gas consumption and incorporation of communications media like On-Star, internet and cell phone availability. While generally beneficial, these advancements have led to higher costs, some impacts to driver attention and a profound sense of nostalgia for the '56 Chevys, Barris customs and throaty Hollywood mufflers of our recent past (whatever happened to identifiable fenders and running boards?).     

Are these impacts/shortcomings of technology affecting our rational thought? I think yes. At least, it would seem that it gives rise to increased anxiety because of our extreme accessibility, overwhelming amounts of new information, ever increasing costs, and the losses of moving away from past lessons learned. The somewhat intrusive and always impersonal communication practices nowadays distance us from others and easily foster misinterpretation and misunderstanding when we’re not face to face. When was the last time you wrote an actual letter to someone? It’s easier and infinitely faster to simply bang out an e-mail instead. It’s almost a stigma today to be without e-mail. Does your cell phone ring at awkward or embarrassing times? When it does so with a loud ring or when you speak loudly in a crowd, do people around you look at you funny? Do you wonder about people wandering through the supermarket seeming to talk to themselves until you notice that odd-looking blue tooth “growth” on their ear? Excepting for some super sports cars, does the sameness of today’s automotive designs bore you? We might as well all be wearing the same uniform to go with them!  If a new technology permits an advancement, does that mean it should be pursued? Will it pass a “laugh test” or result in a higher price? When it’s recalled months or years in the future because of “unanticipated consequences” is there any responsibility for its defects? There’s no free lunch.     

Wars cost extraordinary amounts of money and cost many lives. Terrorism has created fears and mistrust. Both in recent years have given rise to a milieu of widespread financial impact, feelings of hate and aggression, racial tension, greed, and political and individual polarization. Fear mongering should not be taken for the truth of a matter. Blaming others is rampant. Fueled by copious amounts of money, responses to both war and terrorism have fostered greed and power grabs in institutions and individuals on a scale never before seen. At the same time, families and individuals are experiencing major economic downside repercussions and some have made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. Political institutions have reached a level of polarization that is bringing our nation to paralysis. These and other societal impacts have had the effect of creating an atmosphere of mistrust, lack of respect for our government, corporations and each other, and a diminished ability to think and act rationally or to identify truth. Are we so desperate for progress that we seize on mistruths and new “-ism’s” as gospel without taking an in-depth look at the whole problem? Change that is meaningful takes time and thought AND rational thinking.

The media have largely abandoned their reportorial role and are following sensationalism. Any pronouncement from a person in the current limelight is quoted verbatim, often out of context, with little or no regard to assessing the truth of what is being said. It’s enough if the utterance is from someone with a little prominence, no matter how harsh the rhetoric. Single issue extremists have center stage. Unflattering labels are used or invented to characterize situations or persons of opposing views, the critics proliferate, and superlatives exaggerate the realities. Non-controversial news is banished to the back of the bus.

Have we ceased to be rational human beings? Are we only capable of spontaneous reactions without thoughtful consideration of a situation? And, as Lee Iacoca famously asked in the title of his book, “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”. Iacoca asserted the following characteristics of leadership:

            Curiosity

            Creativity

            Communication

            Character

            Courage

            Conviction

            Charisma

            Competence

            Common Sense

Very few people exhibit all of these traits or have them in equal amounts. But they form a checklist against which leadership candidates may be measured. One does not have to be an attorney or a millionaire to be an effective leader. In fact, just the opposite may be true. Have we arrived where we are today because of a vacuum in leadership? I think so. And then, what about our personal responsibility? These and related questions bother me immensely, the more so because I have lived through this time of change and am therefore a participant.

If I were king, I would want to reinfuse the public with the values that we have long held individually and as a nation but that seem to be getting left behind by many. These values include honesty, trust, discipline, common sense, optimism, common courtesy/respect and rationality. In other words, let’s get back to basics and start the process of regaining our rationality. We need to get out of Dodge and start righting our ship at home. We need to reassert the separation of church and state and get on with the business of both separately. And we need the leadership at all levels to bring all this about both by policy and by example.