The Fault with Reason in an Unreasonable World

The Chicken Who Couldn't Cross the Road

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

This quote rings persistently in my ears. A plethora of nuance reverberates throughout my soul by which I become unreasonably reasonable and thus useless as an agent for change. Never so simple are things which would cause a reasonable man to pick a side being left, right, black, or white. It would stand to reason that reason would be the best approach to any situation, and yet this seems not to be the case. In a world lacking reason for which attempted reason is reason enough to be outcast, it would seem that sensibilities ought to be ditched altogether. Reason, then, does little good but conflate the sorrow of the one yielding it for seeing what is there yet being powerless within reason to change it. Perhaps, then, it is reasonable at times to be unreasonable for the sake of reason, but it would seem hardly possible for a reasonable man to abandon what seems to be right. Can the ends truly justify the means to abandon reason as a reasonable resort?

Nuance is the enemy of those who perceive things to be simple. Folks of a particular pigment of skin are either held back by those of differing pigments or they are casting their own shadow and are the source of their own suffering. There is no room for something in between or both to be right in their own way. Each side has their logic built from sources of which are both right and wrong, but they are forever unwilling to see the truth of the other and the faults of their own. Speaking such things is quite nearly a crime for which some have lost their jobs. Through intolerance for hate, they themselves become hateful and rage at would-be persons of discourse. In matters of morality, dissent is evil due to the blinding light that clarity brings and words become but ruckus and deafening moans of demons. Tolerance begets intolerance to intolerance which, when precise, would be noble, but the err of humanity is to foible in our ways of judgement. Thus intolerance even for intolerance becomes equivalent to evil begetting evil. Humanity may never wield intolerance appropriately and would do better to err on the side of tolerating intolerance when manifest in words alone. But intolerance and indifference to another's pain is the way of the majority--especially when defending the pain of another.

The troubles of minorities are clearly seen through increased crime, arrests, poverty, and success, but what makes this so is the ire of all. Human behavior is known far too well for its inability to adequately judge. It is known for drawing false conclusions, making rash insinuations, and being altogether incompetent at judging the motives, understandings, beliefs, and perceptions of others. Humans project their own feelings and worries upon others assuming they might be of a same mind as themselves. This is rarely the case, however, and many people of all colors, shapes, sizes, and genders find themselves worrying over things that others never knew, saw, or intended. We might all have thousands of stories where we misunderstood someone's intentions and motives or were the recipients of such ill-perceived ideas. Even contemplating our means of bipedal motion inhibits our very ability to perform the task with ever-growing suspicion that someone else might notice the failure.

If anxiety gives rise to false assumptions of the motives of others and causes our own stumbling, it seems clear that this would be compounded greatly in a perceived scenario of life and death. If we believed we had to walk a certain way lest others judge us and kill us, we might find more often than not that we are ever-suspicious of those who see us as we traverse the earth. And being so suspicious, we may very well bring about our own destruction assuming the fact were true. Even if it were complete fabrication, we might still cause problems for ourselves through the building of anxiety that manifests itself in other pitfalls of behavior.

I have now said all one needs to hear from one side of the fence. Minds are made and judgement has been rendered through the perceived intentions of my writing. I am clearly of an intolerant mind and worthy of silence and death. I am but a depraved Nazi worthy of death for having the audacity to make such claims as I never even made. Such is reason in an unreasonable world. Having offended only half the unreasonable world, however, I am forced to continue. The reasonable man cannot stop until all are offended at his words and wish him dead.

Despite the story of self-inflicted over-anxious harm, this does not yield an immediate solution nor does it account for the full story. False assumptions may be made of one's supposed racially biased demeanor, and yet it ignores entirely that many people today are indeed still prejudiced. That itself also ignores that prejudice comes from perception of stereotypes and stereotypes come from experience or depiction derived from experience or stories and myths passed down. The oppression of the past becomes the cause of behaviors that become the experience for stereotype which become the cause for suspicion which become the cause for anxiety, the cause for reversed suspicion, the cause for anger and frustration, the cause for violence, the cause for being mistreated, the cause for more suspicion and anger. The cycle never ends and while one side claims racism the other side claims stats and both are entirely true. What, then, is the solution?

I have personally tried reasoning. If people could understand the nuance and the cyclical nature of the beast, if they could see their own involvement in the anxiety of the oppressed despite attempting to be an ally, if they could see the increased hatred they are engendering, if others could see the actual suffering that is withstood and find some compassion, if they could comprehend that their bubbles could never adequately reflect the bubbles of others, if all could learn not to project and to assume the best rather than jumping to inhospitable fountains of hatred spewing from their mouths, just maybe a solution could be found. Just maybe injustice could be rectified from all sides. Alas, there is no room for understanding. Lines have been drawn and pitchforks sharpened. The torches are lit and witches will be found. I could claim it is unnecessary, but in a world where human nature is to deny reason, then what other choice is there but to be unreasonable?

And so, I sit and watch. The battle commences and I couldn't hardly pick one side or another. The mass hysteria will lead to catastrophic pain, suffering, and even fatalities on either and both sides, but change will occur. Change that could have occurred through conversation and reasoning if it were within the competencies of the human race to conceive. Not being a skill to be possessed, however, I can do little but hide my face as the blood sheds and the cries ring out. It could commence until such time as reason becomes a more readily available skill or until one side crushes enough of the spirits of the other to dominate. And in so crushing, the history books will be written with the praises of the glorious battle against the oppressors. Those whose every fiber was racism or else whose every fiber was big brother. Our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, may forever go down in history as evil thwarted and in so doing restoring the rights of the innocent when indeed all were villains bent on hate and destruction. 

After such a war, whichever villainous side is claimed defeated will stew and grow and build until such time as the unreasonable war reignites itself unless humanity learns to value, promote, and teach reasonability from a young age. Such ability is the only potential for saving lives via courteous discourse. Until that skill is acquired, flaming tongues and witch hunts will be the norm for the progress of nations. I hope beyond hope that soon enough reason, logic, empathy, and introspection of the human condition will be taught as fundamental principles in our educational institutions. That we will fade out the inability to discourse through knee-jerk reactions of ineptitude and grow our future generations to value insight, knowledge, and kindly discourse as a means to solve disputes. This is our best hope at prolonging the human race. I just hope we find it in time.