The Dangers of Either/Or

Ever since Saturday’s shooting in Tucson, discussions about the volatile nature of public discourse have ranged from right-wing and left-wing finger-pointing to speculations about the social consequences of reality TV and a flawed public mental health care system.

It’s all been fascinating, but what I’ve noticed is our need to define “either/or,” a concept that quickly defines things but will, in the worst circumstances, lead to an ultimatum.

Maybe it’s human need to find polar opposites: in times of grief and chaos, accessible explanations help. And it makes the discussion more interesting, and media outlets (as well as politicians) have found that “either/or” makes for more compelling pundit analyses (although, mercifully, in the past few years, CNN’s Anderson Cooper has been reminding his panelists to stop talking over one another because viewers simply switch channels at that point).

But why can’t public discourse include “this and that”? When Asian cultures devised “ying” and “yang” they weren’t talking about mortal enemies but two counterpoints achieving a whole, that result becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Opposing forces need one another for achieving the progress that everyone can then own—unless, of course, they kill each other in the process.

Are we Americans—best educated on the planet—so limited in our critical processing capabilities that we’re willing to squander the civility that fosters it? Is “compromise” still a dirty word that cheapens collaboration? Has “agreeing to disagree” ever resulted in massacre?

My guess is that the root causes of Saturday’s shooting are far more intricate than Sarah Palin’s rifle-scope antics or the disturbed ramblings of a kid who slipped through the cracks in all ways. Maybe it’s not one thing, but a bit of everything—which, of course, makes the better solutions harder to find.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not worth finding, and to do that, we must follow the example of little Christina Green who, on that day of bright sun and brighter hopes, went out with her neighbor to listen and learn, and maybe find a mentor.