The Comfort of Opinion Without the Discomfort of Thought

Are we enjoying the comfort of our opinions within familiar circles, free from disquieting thought? All too often, the answer is yes. After all, critical thinking can be unpleasant. Perhaps we should note that this concern is nothing new. Consider this excerpt from a commencement address delivered at Yale by President John F. Kennedy.

June 11, 1962

As every past generation has had to disenthrall itself from an inheritance of truisms and stereotypes, so in our time we must move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality.

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

Avoiding the Discomfort of Thought

We have some handy tools to avoid such discomfort of thought. With ad hominem arguments we can dismiss someone who has disturbing ideas. “He’s a shill for industry.” “She’s just selling her book.” Another technique is the straw man. “Let me tell you what he’s really trying to say. And he’s all wrong.”

These are just two examples. We can draw from a much bigger storehouse of logical fallacies. They can shield us. And thus, we don’t have to listen to people outside of our own tribes. Best of all, we don’t have to consider their ideas. We carve out a safe space. Dissonance may not intrude. Sadly, though, it’s a little sterile.

Unfortunately, it might also explain why we have seen so little progress after four decades of wrestling with obesity.

The Thought, painting by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis / WikiArt

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February 3, 2018