Member-only story
The Hidden Wisdom of Contradicting Yourself
On the Unrecognized Virtue of Changing One’s Mind
I don’t tend to write about politics — especially not elections. But there are some things that take place in politics that represent a more general phenomenon in the human condition. This is a piece of writing about one such instance.
Specifically, there is a lurking fear in our society of being caught contradicting yourself. In an age where more and more of our words are captured on the public record, that fear has much more ammunition on which to feed. But this fear is misplaced. We shouldn’t be afraid to contradict ourselves. In fact, we should embrace contradiction, because (a) almost all of us do it at some point and (b) in many cases, contradicting yourself is a sign of intellectual development and humility.
The Fear of Flip-Flopping
In the debates leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Democratic candidate John Kerry faced a strand of criticism that was as relentless as it was insipid: he was a “flip-flopper”. The implication was that because of the different stances Kerry had taken on issues at different times, he was either (a) a slick, two-faced, sycophantic politician or (b) an indecisive, confused man, incapable of strong leadership. Neither was a flattering picture, and…
