It's The Truth. Isn't It?

On August 14th, the television program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" did what I thought was a brilliant piece of political satire that has implications for conflict and collaboration in every facet of life.

Mitt Romney had just selected Paul Ryan to be his running mate. "The Daily Show" commentators demonstrated what this might mean to the Republicans and Democrats by running two mock political ads.

In the first ad, presented as though the Republicans had created it, we see a picture of Paul Ryan. A narrator with an upbeat voice says, "Paul Ryan favors cutting 70 billion dollars out of Medicare and supports a tax plan that would cut top taxes to 1%."  The mock advertisement ends with the same upbeat narrator reading the following tagline seen on the screen: "Paul Ryan. The Change America Wants."

In the second ad, presented as though the Democrats had created it, we see the same picture of Paul Ryan. A narrator, using a voice appropriate to a horror movie says, "Paul Ryan favors cutting 70 billion dollars out of Medicare and supports a tax plan that would cut top taxes to 1%." The mock advertisement ends with the narrator, using the same scary voice, reading the following tagline on the screen: "Paul Ryan. The Change America Wants?" (notice the question mark.)

Our reaction to these ads, of course, depends on our point of view. Cut Medicare by 70 billion dollars. That's a good thing. No wait. That's a bad thing. Would the top tax rate really go to 1%? Great. Or not. Are these numbers accurate? Depends on our point of view.

We are human and, therefore, inescapably have a point of view. We argue not because we have a point of view but because we believe our point of view is right and other points of view are wrong or, at best, misinformed.

When someone says, "I don't see a solution," they aren't kidding. From their point of view (that is, from their way of seeing), they literally can't see a solution.

We can tell we're speaking from a point of view when we use the words "are" or "is." For example, "My boss is..." "My spouse is..." My children are..." "The (other) political party is..."

Points of view are a truth but not the truth. Creative solutions to our problems emerge when we meld our different points of view into something unique, something that no one could have seen (literally) when viewing the world strictly from one point of view.

What can we do about this that will make a difference? Well, for starters we can recognize that what we call "the truth" is a point of view open to interpretation.

It's when we think our point of view is the truth and others' points of view are merely opinion that conflict goes from being a disagreement open to resolution to one in which no agreement is possible.