Paul McGowan:
We all love to wrap thoughts and conclusions in blankets. It’s our brain’s way of categorizing complex data into chunks that can be more easily managed. But there’s often a downside to this. It can hold us back from experiencing that which is new to us.
Silver is always bright, copper is always mellow, that group of people always think this way, servers are a pain in the ass, Subaru drivers are overly cautious, vinyl sounds like…, digital sounds like…, this amp sounds like…, and the list of generalities goes on forever. None of us are immune.
The problem with issuing blanket statements is at the heart of our personal biases. I was asked yesterday my opinion on the sound of silver cables. My first reaction’s probably like yours, bright and aggressive, tizzy. Yet my favorite speaker cables are pure silver. The guys at MG Audio use construction techniques that are very different from what others do – and these differences account for a musical cable so good, not one of you would argue with me when you hear it. But, does that mean I should change my opinion–my blanket statement–that silver is bright? I think not. I shall simply add a footnote to my drawer full of assumptions.
I do my best to be a liberal in my thinking process: open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values. Others characterize themselves as conservative in theirs: holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation.
Blanket statements, even those describing liberal and conservative in thinking, are necessary to forming our individual worldviews.
We cling to our statements not out of an absolute truth, but out of truth as it has applied to you.
