Every good picture taker knows how important location is. Taking a picture from 20 feet away is not the same as taking a picture of the same subject from 40 feet away with a 2X lens. And sometimes moving just a couple of inches left or right changes the whole picture. So why do we have so much trouble understanding that our point of view is not and cannot be the same as someone else's? No one is exactly in the same place as we are.
I was appalled by a little sketch by Rush Limbaugh recently making fun of a speech by Chinese President Hu. After making a series of jibberish syllables, Rush admitted that he couldn't imagine how how anyone could understand such sounds. Unthinkingly, he has stated one of the most perplexing problems of this world. He can't understand Hu and can't imagine anyone can. He can't understand Obama and can't imagine anyone can. He can't understand liberals and can't imagine anyone can.
Of course there is something called education. If Rush learned Chinese maybe he could imagine how someone could understand what Hu was saying.
If we have been close to someone's viewpoint, we might be more able to imagine something close to what he is seeing.
No comments:
Post a Comment