Black and White, or Shades of Gray ?

[Starchild]

Shades of grey. There are no absolutes.

[The Templar]

Originally posted by Starchild
Shades of grey. There are no absolutes.

Why do otherwise intelligent people make statements like this

[SlowwHand]

People are lazy and won't look for the facts that let them make a decision.
I said that initially, and it's been proven throughout the thread.
Which is cool. That's fine.

[Kuciwalker]

No banana option?

[gsmoove23]

I see people who make black & white decisions as people who are not really willing to delve into the facts more often then not, or not willing to consider facts that might be contrary to the decision they have already made.

This isn't always the case, but for a large number of people it is, which makes me question your assumption that shades of grey people are lazy or not willing to consider all the facts. Often, if you consider ALL facts available to you, you'll find pros and cons for both sides = grey. I would think the shades of grey people are that way because they are willing to look at facts more objectively.

By the way, being a shade of grey person doesn't mean you're indecisive. It just means more often then not you've got to make decisions based on probable outcomes as opposed to certainties.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
People are lazy and won't look for the facts that let them make a decision.
I said that initially, and it's been proven throughout the thread.
Which is cool. That's fine.

Some people aren't full of them selves and can admit that they don't know everything, that they aren't omniscient.

[Giant_Squid]

The death penalty is an excellent example of black and white, if you have the facts. To the people insisting on gray, you're remembering to dig down to the lowest level, right?If you have the facts, there can be no gray; that's what I'm saying.

But neither option is absolutely wonderful and perfect (call it white) while the other is horribly evil (call it black). There are a lot of pros to keeping the death penalty and a lot of pros to abolishing it. If you study the issue in depth, maybe you can come out with the conclusion that the pros of keeping the death penalty slightly outweigh the cons of it, you can say that keeping is a slightly lighter shade of grey than getting rid of it, and make your decision on that basis.

When I think of "black and white", I think more of someone who would say "Keeping the death penalty is the only possibility, no one innocent ever gets murdered, anyone who supports getting rid of the death penalty must be either a lunatic who ought to be committed or a communist trying to destroy the country" or something. With the exception of some religions and "Lord of the Rings", you never get that kind of all-good vs. all-bad conflict, and you've got to choose between greys.

[Urban Ranger]

Grey. There is no absolute right or wrong in most if not all moral issues.

[Imran Siddiqui]

One might say that your position about this is extreme, no? "Everything is certain way" is black or white.

Not really... because I'm not saying that I'm 100% right. I could be wrong (ie, a shade of grey).

[monkspider]

yep, i agree with sloww. black and white without question.

[Lancer]

Black, white and liberal, no gray.

[Al B. Sure!]

Neither Black or White... the answer's Hispanic

for real though yall can probably guess what my position would be... some things are right and some things are wrong. enough said.

[st_swithin]

Can I still say 'United Negro College Fund'?

[DanielXY]

All it means by saying that you only see things in black or white is that you have actually bothered to make an informed opinion.

I would say its the other way round. Most ppl. who think about everything in terms of black and white, havent really informed themselves about the topic. Usually some statements from other persons/groups are taken for the ultimate truth. This is esspecially true for religious people. For example most Christians base their opinions on the bible or religous leaders, they dont go for facts.

Ultimatly there is always a up and downsite to all issues thus the world is grey. For example food-donation to poor ppl in Africa or somewhere. You have the upsite of ppl. beeing feed and not starving. But you have the downsite of discouraging them from doing something on their own to get out of this mess (like farming their own food). Same goes for any other issue, also they are sometimes very close to entirly black...

[Adagio]

I only see shades of Yellow... as in Banana