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The Attitudes Towards Problems: Crisis and Problem Solving

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem” - Captain Jack Sparrow. When our attitude about the problem becomes part of the problem, the only appropriate step in the right direction is create a space for curiosity, understanding, imagination, and constructive disagreement. Humans tend to gravitate towards a sense of closure and certainty. Put differently, we like easy answers to complex problems. This is especially true in time of heightened anxiety. When a society experiences a crisis that is accompanied by complex problems, there emerges a number of easy answers - stock arguments that are satisfying on some level but ultimately fail to penetrate the real complexities of the problem. Many of these easy answers resonate with each person’s already incomplete understanding of the world, leading to many disagreements. However, all such easy answers, relate to a sense of safety and belonging. Opposite on the spectrum of closure and certainty are

A Pro-Evidence View on the 2020 Presidential Elections

  There are moments when I question a rumor, question my own assumptions, question aspects of how I see myself, or address something I’m anxious about.  In those moments I often ask myself this question:  “Are my beliefs informed primarily by empirical evidence or are they informed primarily by my imagination?”  My conviction for the importance of relying on empirical evidence, rather than on preconceived ideas, rumors, or hallucinations runs deeper than many of my moral intuitions, and my allegiance to fact and verification takes priority over any political party.  Therefore, when, on the early morning of November 4th, I heard President Trump say that he was winning states that he was not winning, saying “a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise” electors, and then continue, on November 5th, saying that he wins if the “legal votes” are counted, I was simply astounded.  He said these things with no evidence before him.  He simply assumed.  He did not give any details as t