Such an
explanation we avoid, because it saps the very foundation of our own
assurance that we have seen life steadily and seen it whole. It is
only when we are in the habit of recognizing our opinions as a partial
experience seen through our stereotypes that we become truly tolerant
of an opponent. Without that habit, we believe in the absolutism of
our own vision, and consequently in the treacherous character of all
opposition. For while men are willing to admit that there are two
sides to a "question," they do not believe that there are two sides to
what they regard as a "fact." And they never do believe it until after
long critical education, they are fully conscious of how second-hand
and subjective is their apprehension of their social data.
So where two factions see vividly each its own aspect, and contrive
their own explanations of what they see, it is almost impossible for
them to credit each other with honesty. If the pattern fits their
experience at a crucial point, they no longer look upon it as an
interpretation. They look upon it as "reality." It may not resemble
the reality, except that it culminates in a conclusion which fits a
real experience. I may represent my trip from New York to Boston by a
straight line on a map, just as a man may regard his triumph as the
end of a straight and narrow path. The road by which I actually went
to Boston may have involved many detours, much turning and twisting,
just as his road may have involved much besides pure enterprise, labor
and thrift.
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