B&W Vs. Gray

Do you see the world in black and white?

Or do you see the world in shades of gray?

People who see the world in black and white see absolutes.  Everything is a discrete, quantitative value.  It is digital, on or off, right or wrong.  Of course their way is the right way and all other ways are wrong.  This exclusive superiority leads to conflict when two different black and white worlds collide.

There is no middle ground.  There is no compromise.  You are friend or you are foe.  You are either obeying the law or you are breaking it.  You were pulled over for doing 56 mph in a 55 mph zone.  You are either a good person or you are a bad person.  Something is either good or evil.  There is no in between.

People who see the world in shades of gray see relativity.  Everything is a gradient, qualitative value.  It is analogue, quantum.  Most things are neither right nor wrong, but right or wrong for the person or group or culture or time; it's more a matter of what works best.  This inclusive humility leads to a growing cooperation when differences meet, except when hostility from the other demands defense. 

There is wide open space for negotiation and mutual win strategies.  You see that good people do bad things and bad people do good things, and you can be on good terms with anyone who is willing.  The law is there to guide the enforcers.  The police don't pull you over if you were going with the flow of traffic.  There is no universal good or evil, only some universally accepted standards, and many others that are not as standard (and therefore fought over in senseless wars of morality).

Now obviously no one truly only perceives the world in strictly black and white and no one truly only perceives the world in strictly shades of gray.  The irony is that claiming so would itself be a black and white statement.  However, most people do tend to see things more one way than the other.

Which way do you see the world?  Which outcome do you prefer?

Do you tend to see black and white, where your preferred perspective battles all other perspectives until they join or are eliminated?  Where your one and only monolithic perspective attempts to dominate, subjugate, and control all?

Or do you tend to see shades of gray, where a collage of perspectives band together, a tapestry of diversity, woven tightly together for freedom and sharing and to protect against oppressors?

"But, I see the world in color!"

"And through synesthesia I see the world through sound!"

Yeah, yeah.  We're just sticking with this analogy for now, 'k?  ‘K.