How Controversy Comes Of Age

Controversy comes of age when a topic has either of the following characteristics and is widely circulated:

1. Someone presents the complete or partially opposite view. For some reason, this creates doubt that is supposedly impossible to figure out. Doubt favors what is already being done.

2. One or more “expert” people somehow considered worthy of listening to, make statements that don't agree in part or in whole on a topic. This is usually accompanied by pieces of paper claiming testing, research and studies. This suggests objectivity. This creates uncertainty. Uncertainty favors more experts, more research and more money.

Treating a topic from an overriding perspective of controversy is like self-administering coercion. Believing something is a controversy predisposes us to believe things, against intuition and against reason. It makes us believe two alternatives have equal validity and therefore should be given equal consideration.

Treating a topic from an overriding perspective of controversy creates a midrange between truth and lies that expresses itself as “we don't know” or “we can't be sure” culture. This is a no man's land where no critical thinking or no spiritual listening takes place.

When a controversy is claimed to exist, it is being used as a tool to maintain that which is false or to get others to entertain that which is false. In the meantime, a few profit while many are harmed.

The word, “controversy” by itself does not imply drama nor does it mean a topic to avoid. Controversy simply means one viewpoint is different from another.

Sometimes differences are left alone as matters of personal choice while others are elevated to the level of dispute. Whether personal or not, some viewpoints are absolutely true or false. What makes controversy the counterproductive concept it is today is its emotional component that attaches us to the topic. Emotion tends to inhibit the chance for properly assessing alternatives. It tends to override the spirit mind. This excessive amount of emotion simply gets the blood racing and wants what it wants irrespective of personal and universal detriment.

Controversy comes of age when we don't.

Related: Financial Information Sources, Gaming The Economy & Our Education