{"id":13968,"date":"2023-09-20T08:05:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T12:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=13968"},"modified":"2023-09-20T08:05:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T12:05:15","slug":"know-your-blindspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=13968","title":{"rendered":"know your blindspot?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWe all have blind spots in our knowledge and opinions. The bad news is that they can leave us blind to our blindness, which gives us false confidence in our judgment and prevents us from rethinking. The good news is that with the right kind of confidence, we can learn to see ourselves more clearly and update our views. In driver\u2019s training we were taught to identify our visual blind spots and eliminate them with the help of mirrors and sensors. In life, since our minds don\u2019t come equipped with those tools, we need to learn to recognize our cognitive blind spots and revise our thinking accordingly.\u201d<\/em> \u2015 Adam M. Grant in \u201cThink Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the challenges of current day culture is the ease we feel in identifying the blindspots of other people while simultaneously being comfortably oblivious of our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A blindspot, put as simply as possible, is an area unable to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inconvenient truth is that we all have them. Even though, yes, oft comfortably oblivious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciated the written words last week by self-described progressive, Nicholas Kristof. Kristof is an influential columnist for The New York Times, <\/em>a frequent CNN<\/em> contributor, and a one-time, would-be, Oregon gubernatorial candidate. He typically articulates his opinions respectfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week Kristof wrote a column last about poverty and inequality \u2014 two issues he is notably passionate about. The column was entitled \u201cThe One Privilege Liberals Ignore.\u201d Let us not fall prey to throwing stones in regard to who ignores what; let\u2019s examine Kristof\u2019s main point: \u201cWe can\u2019t have a serious conversation about poverty and inequality without contemplating the breakdown of marriage and family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breakdown is the blindspot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are often reluctant to acknowledge one of the significant drivers of child poverty \u2014 the widespread breakdown of family \u2014 for fear that to do so would be patronizing or racist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Substantiating his point, Kristof continued: “It\u2019s an issue largely for working-class Whites, Blacks and Hispanics, albeit most prevalent among African Americans. But just as you can\u2019t have a serious conversation about poverty without discussing race, you also can\u2019t engage unless you consider single-parent households\u2026 Families headed by single mothers are five times as likely to live in poverty as married-couple families. Children in single-mother homes are less likely to graduate from high school or earn a college degree. They are more likely to become single parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing the research of University of Maryland economist Melissa Kearney, Kristof averred, “Two-parent families are beneficial for children. Places that have more two-parent families have higher rates of upward mobility. Not talking about these facts is counterproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends, let there be no judgment for the ones who circumstances are different than the two-parent traditional household. None whatsoever. Some of my hardest-working, most diligent friends are single moms. Without a doubt, such person\u2019s families can still thrive and survive. The data simply shows the clear benefit of the family staying in tact. My primary point today is that marriage and family matter. Significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My secondary point is the acknowledgement of blindspot \u2014 how there are things we simply can\u2019t see. Again, no need to pick on progressives; conservatives too comfortably take their routine turn. The blindspot cited by Kristof is the unwillingness to even acknowledge the impact the breakdown of family has on poverty and inequality. \u201cEven today there is a deep discomfort in liberal circles about acknowledging these realities.\u201d Kristof then references an upcoming report by the Institute for Family Studies noting that “only 30 percent of college-educated liberals agree” that children are better off having married parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have blindspots, friends\u2026 areas that we simply cannot see. Hence, perhaps the bigger question is: why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What blinds us?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our passion? Conviction? What is it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And why do we ignore what\u2019s true? How is it that we don\u2019t even know we\u2019re ignoring it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago Kristof penned a different piece, albeit also about watching our blindspots. Near the end of his submission, he wrote this: \u201cAs a liberal, I mostly write about conservative blind spots. But on the left as well as the right, we can get so caught up in our narratives that we lose perspective; nobody has a monopoly on truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the challenge; is it not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our blindspots diminish the validity of our perspective. We then miss what may be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe all have blind spots in our knowledge and opinions. The bad news is that they can leave us blind to our blindness, which gives us false confidence in our judgment and prevents us from rethinking. The good news is that with the right kind of confidence, we can learn to see ourselves more clearly … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “know your blindspot?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13968"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13978,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13968\/revisions\/13978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}