JER: “ The Line in the Sand” by Thao Lam

JER: “The Line in the Sand” by Thao Lam is a very thought-provoking book that manages to pack lots of meaning into every page with only pictures.

It brought to mind, for me, Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind”:

"People don't adopt their ideologies at random, or by soaking up whatever ideas are around them.  People whose genes gave them brains that get a special pleasure from novelty, variety, and diversity, while simultaneously being less sensitive to signs of threat, are predisposed (but not predestined) to become liberals.  They tend to develop certain 'characteristic adaptations' and 'life narratives' that make them resonate - unconsciously and intuitively - with the grand narratives told by political movements on the left (such as the liberal progress narrative). People whose genes give them brains with the opposite settings are predisposed, for the same reasons, to resonate with the grand narratives of the right (such as the Reagan narrative).

Once people join a political team, they get ensnared in its moral matrix.  They see confirmation of their grand narrative everywhere, and it's difficult - perhaps impossible - to convince them that they are wrong if you argue with them from outside of their matrix. . . .

Morality binds and blinds.  It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle.  It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.” - Haidt at Pgs. 365-366 

We draw lines to separate ourselves into different tribes or we come across pre-existing lines and determine “right” and “wrong” based simply on which side of the line we are on or which side has claimed a certain position or stance, and then we use our analytical brains to justify and defend our positions.

This framework helps me to investigate the lines and positions I find myself holding.  Do I really believe this or did I simply find myself behind a line drawn by a meandering monster dragging a stick?  Should the line exist or should I scuff it out with my heal? 

Perhaps I have a new friend on the other side of the line or perhaps I have more to learn.