Am I right?

One can always intentionally limit the scope of inquiry and inclusion of conflicting information in such a way as to appear, at least »in language… to be ‘correct’. Our modern media crisis has effectively weaponized this problem.

The deceptive appearance of ‘getting it right’ is addictive. It implies ‘putting something right’, but also ‘to rule’ and ‘to be the one who measures with success’. There’s a drug-like aspect to this behavior that easily becomes habitual in consciousness.

The urge has far older origins in the conflict intrinsic to our physical ‘sidedness’. This sidedness, for us, however, escapes its peculiar physical situation… to find expression in sorts of dangerous intrusions.

The ‘right’ side is a maker-ish. A tool-user. It is inclined to understand the world as raw manipulables. And convert it into them. It’s the aspect concerned with rectitude and ‘framing’ things (rectangles) to ‘account for’ of all that is outside the frame… by omission. A form that usually involves a strange trick. A subterfuge where the embodied, relational point of view would otherwise prevail.

The other aspect is (more) concerned with potential, possibility, imagination, and transformation in relationship. It’s not looking for a ‘correct’ response, it’s looking for a better one. And in this sense, better means many things. More degrees of freedom. Agency in creative relation. Wonder. Play. Discovery. Actual, foundational correctness… remains somewhat informal. Space for relation and growth is intentionally preserved. Space for »revolution is preserved.

Being correct can be deceptive. It looks powerful, but where it collapses the scope to produce its validity, we should pause. Maybe make a joke about it or something like…

“There was this guy who wrote a facebook post about how being right is essentially wrong, and there was this better position beyond that… I wonder if he realized that by pointing this out — he was trying to be right!”

Sure, but this description has to omit all kinds of actual features (and nuance) of the situation and those involved… to appear to be correct!

To pause. Observe transformations of scope that are otherwise invisible to us. Watch for the omissions. The frame. And, if we’re paying attention… travel in the direction of learning and insight… rather than declarations whose missing inclusivity and scope… are inclined to render them far more trivial than they may at first appear… in language.

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-rect- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning “guide; rule; right; … ” This meaning is found in such words as: correct, direct, erect, indirect, insurrection, misdirect, rectangle, rectify, rectitude, rector, rectum, resurrection