In politics, simplicity is dishonest and dangerous!

We hear all the time don’t we, ‘just keep it simple!’ As though simplicity of solution to a problem is always best. The truth of course is that it depends on how complex the problem is. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Here’s the problem. Infants move through a developmental stage that Melanie Klein referred to as ‘Good Mother, Bad Mother’. At this stage, the child’s reactions are polarized. Very simple, black and white thinking.

If mother satisfies all desires in a timely manner, mother is deemed ‘good’.

If mother’s performance is compromised; say, she is delayed in the shower or has to take a phone call, then the infant thinks mother is ‘bad’!

We hope, in time, the child will outgrow a tendency for this black-and-white simplistic thinking. After all, mother – and everyone else – is good . . . and bad. Helpful . . . and flawed. Sometimes she gives you what you want; other times she will disappoint. Life is more complicated than the Queen lyric, ‘I want it all and I want it now’ – and I would also add it’s more complicated than – ‘and I deserve to get what I want and when I want it’.

The ability to understand the normality, indeed inevitability and humanity, of life’s complexity is one of the building blocks of maturity.

We live in a very complex society. Yet, in far too many adults, this maturity to understand and accept that important socio-political issues are not simple, not black & white, but rather have real and important  complexity to them, seems to be missing. 

Complexity both in defining the problem accurately (not just simplistically) and then deciding on the best mix of solutions to get the optimal, not perfect, outcome.

Why not insist on perfection? We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘the perfect is the enemy of the good’. So, by insisting on perfection, you either end up doing nothing because you can see that perfection can’t be achieved, OR, in striving for perfection, you take such drastic actions that untold problems are caused elsewhere; this is the law of unintended consequences.

Oh, and if you don’t think it’s true that many adults have decided that important societal issues can be defined simplistically and can be dealt with by simplistic solutions, just look at the number of one-sided, simplistic and utterly biased interviews on the TV or social media posts on important socio-political issues. 

So, people who only ever quote from The Guardian or The Telegraph or some other ideologically biased source of opinion, for example, with no acknowledgment of the bias or that any other viewpoint has any validity whatsoever. 

We see multiple times a day people who would find a way of criticising Johnson if he said 2+2 = 4 or would find a way of agreeing with him if he said 2+2 =7.

So many posts with no attempt at discussion; no attempt at seeing the other point of view or exploring to see if there is any common ground; just bald simplistic statements of tribal opinion almost daring you to disagree. 

Closed-minded virtue signalling to your ‘tribe’; a warning shot to any other.

So, what may be the reasons for this child-like over-simplification of societal problems and suggested solutions? This refusal to engage in any meaningful or useful way with differing viewpoints?

Well, as you would expect me to say, it’s complicated; or at least, it can be complicated. For some, it will be just one reason, but for most perhaps, a mix.

 

Here are some possibilities:

1. Lack of self-awareness

There are those who, almost literally, never think about their views or reactions to things. They have an auto-pilot point of view and an auto-pilot emotional response whenever a certain topic comes up or a certain person is being talked about … and that’s it!

Attempts to see the other point of view – 0; attempts to look at each new situation on its individual merits – 0; Likelihood of modifying, let alone completely changing their view – 0; number of times they wonder if they should find out a bit more before deciding what they think – and I see you’re ahead of me here – yes, 0

     2. Wishful thinking/ Self-delusion

This is my idea of Utopia; how things ‘ought’ to be. So I’ll ignore, shout-down or rubbish anything that doesn’t fit with that idea, irrespective of facts or the merit of the argument. Saves the bother of thinking doesn’t it?

   

     3. Analysis overload

This is akin to wishful thinking. ‘I can’t compute or decide between all these differing and competing views/facts/possibilities, so I’ll just plump for what I would like to be the case and go with that. In essence, I’ll rely on my emotional/gut instinct and then ignore or filter-out any contrary data or olpinions. Again, it’s just easier that way

     4. Simple laziness

This is akin to analysis overload. Engaging with complex subjects is just too much effort; OR it makes me feel stupid that I can’t analyse or prioritise the information; OR, it all takes too much time. I decided when I was in my teens what I thought about this or what my general political ideology was and, frankly, I can’t be arsed to give it any further thought.

     5. Bad-faith actors

Ideological zealots whose pride is so great that they can’t ever contemplate, let alone actually admit to, being wrong. Their self-worth is inextricably linked to their ideology; it’s a symbiotic relationship; there’s no escape!

They know society is complex but are willing to ignore that because they know for certain what the ‘greater good’ is; they know for certain the ‘right’ answer. So a form of ‘the ends justify the means’ thinking takes over.

The further you move into extreme or radicalised ways of thinking, the less you engage in reconciling any contradictions, either between you and others, or within yourself. i.e. you give yourself a pass to be dishonest, contradictory and hypocritical in the pursuance of your ‘righteous’ goals. 

You also give yourself a pass to ignore or shout-down people who disagree because they are, simply by dint of disagreeing, either stupid and/or evil. 

All identity politics activists are a heady & dangerous mix of all of these categories. Some aren’t bad-faith actors; they really are totally lacking in self-awareness etc but almost all ARE bad-faith actors & quite happy to be so, sadly.

     6. Sound bite news and social media

Sound-bite or short-form formats (like TV news interviews) are the enemy of reasonable & nuanced thinking. You are forced into over-simplification because you only have 20 seconds to get your point across OR you only have so many characters of type OR any post more than 8 sentences long gets ignored because our attention span now rivals that of a goldfish.

Thankfully, there are a lot of longer form podcasts and you tube videos on serious topics exploring important issues with good-faith and an open-mind but you have to go outside the mainstream self-regarding media to find it. I’ll put some examples for you at the end.

So in summary, simplistically defined problems (often ideological) with simplistic solutions (almost always ideological) are put forward by those who are either unaware of the unintended consequences inherent in what they propose to the point of being dangerous OR those who know full well that it’s far more complex than they are making out, but have an agenda that they think will be easier to achieve by the form of dishonesty inherent in deliberate silver-bullet-style over-simplification.

We can’t improve as a society until far more people engage with the complexities of society AND do so with an open-mind and in good faith.

Here are a selection of you tubers/podcasters that seem to want to discuss complex matters in the right way. I’m sure there are far more. You can find them via any search engine or on you tube.

Bret Weinstein – Dark Horse podcast and you tube

Joe Rogan – podcast and you tube. Wide-ranging topics for discussion. Non-partisan.

Triggernometry – podcast and you tube. Hosted by two left of centre comedians but non-partisan

Noel Plumb – you tube. NB he is an anti-theist but talks sensibly on non-religious topics also

Rebel Wisdom – podcast and you tube. Attempting non-partisan discussions & ways forward

Maajid Nawaz – LBC Radio – facebook & twitter. As objective a journalist as I can find.

Douglas Murray – author. No channel of his own but is interviewed widely and is a calm, intelligent and considerate Conservative

Bloggingheads TV – specifically Glenn Loury Show - you tube

Paul Vanderklay – Reformed Church Pastor  - a really good guy – not ‘preachy’

Tim Pool – non-partisan take on US politics