Flip-Flops and Reptiles of the Mind

I subscribe to an e-mail service called "The Daily Curmudgeon," which delivers interesting curmudgeonly quotations to my mailbox each day. This morning's Daily Curmudgeon offered this quote from English poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827): "The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

I think that's a marvelous thought on many levels.

As we slog through another poisonous election season here in the States, we're continually bombarded with attack ads, in which the candidates attempt to make their opponents look bad while avoiding defining their own positions on the issues. One of the holy grails of the attack ad is the "flip-flop," in which the target is caught in an apparent inconsistency and lambasted for changing his or her opinion on an issue - "flip-flopping." George Bush used this to devastating effect against John Kerry during the last presidential campaign, accusing him of waffling inconsistency on key issues...changing his positions depending on the prevailing political winds.

Naturally, changing positions depending on the audience is a time-honored, if sleazy, political tactic. But where does one draw the line between shameless "flip-flopping" and principled change of opinion based on experience and new information? William Blake's quote addresses that question far better than I ever could. If we don't learn, don't change, don't adapt our opinions on issues when the relevant facts change, our positions become increasingly out of touch with reality - we suffer from Blake's "reptiles of the mind." At this point, "flip-flopping" isn't a political dodge...it's a necessary response to changing conditions.

President Bush has been, in my opinion, notoriously slow to change his opinions as the world situation has changed. What he views as principled consistency of position appears often to be less standing on principle than sinking in quicksand. The same might be said of our military leadership at the outset of the occupation of Iraq, and the refusal to recognize the onset and explosive growth of a deadly insurgency. Hardening of the mental arteries is never a good thing.

The moral of this windy story is the same one that I've been trying to hammer home since my first post back in March of last year: learn all you can, form your own opinions, and don't let anyone else do your thinking for you. If the world changes and you don't, you end up being at best irrelevant and at worst lost in a complicated environment for which you're not mentally prepared.

Something like our current executive and legislative leadership.

Have a good day. Drain your mental swamp and keep refreshing the water to keep those reptiles at bay. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - Many thanks go out to Sue G at La Chanson de Phoenix, who gave my blog a very nice plug and a little award yesterday:



I'm touched...even Agnes doesn't think I'm completely fabulous on most days. But having received this award, I can pass it on to a few other blogs worth your time in reading:

Captain Picard's Journal - some very imaginative, fun science fiction stories based on the characters of Star Trek.

The Milk Bar - Amanda's delightful adventures in child-rearing, always a feel-good experience.

Up In Alaska - Jill's adventures bicycling around the Alaskan wilderness, complete with some of the most wonderful landscape photography you'll ever see.

Out of My Hat - who couldn't enjoy the musings of a gentleman who represents the unlikely combination of air traffic controller, preacher, and magician?

and

Random Magus - interesting adventures and thoughts from a nice lady in the UAE.

There are lots more who are deserving of the "I'm Fabulous" award...I'll nominate a few more tomorrow. Please come back then.

B.