Kathryn: Inconvenient Truth: Fifty Percent Wrong
The focus of Kathryn’s original post was her process of coming to terms with the realization that people are always fifty percent wrong. After being introduced to the idea by her English teacher, Kathryn started thinking about how being fifty percent wrong all the time affected her life. She decided that this was not essentially a bad thing because it opened opportunities to learn. In the same way, after being introduced to the idea by Kathryn’s blog post, I started to think about how it affects mine.
Kathryn! Just like you were introduced to the idea of being fifty percent wrong by your English teacher, I have now been introduced to the idea by you, and begun to think about it myself.
Like you talked about, the idea of being fifty percent wrong all the time can be frustrating. There are tons of things everyday that I just assume I am right about; namely (like Kathryn mentioned) my beliefs. I do this every day and never really notice it; however, they have a profound affect on my life. If I can’t have confidence that even the things I believe in most strongly are fully accurate, how am I supposed to even have beliefs about anything? A belief (whether it be which religion you follow or which football team is superior) is something you believe in. How am I supposed to believe in anything if I already know I am half wrong all the time?
Like you, I have found a way to come to terms with it. I take being “fifty percent wrong” to mean that I am never correct about everything I know. However, this doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything, or am wrong about everything. I see this fact as an opportunity to have a constant learning experience throughout my life; to take what I don’t know yet fully and pursue it until I know as much as possible. In the same way, I don’t see it to mean that everything I believe is wrong, just in a constant state of philosophical evolution. Especially now, in adolescence, my ideas are changing and growing all the time; this doesn’t mean I didn’t know anything before, it just means that I know more now to change the way I think about something. Neither state of belief was necessarily incorrect, just incomplete, and now I am ok with accepting that my beliefs are still incomplete even now. Knowing that I am fifty percent wrong all the time doesn’t have to make me stop believing it anything, rather is makes me more open to ideas since I realize that I might not have the full picture yet.
Like you talked about, the idea of being fifty percent wrong all the time can be frustrating. There are tons of things everyday that I just assume I am right about; namely (like Kathryn mentioned) my beliefs. I do this every day and never really notice it; however, they have a profound affect on my life. If I can’t have confidence that even the things I believe in most strongly are fully accurate, how am I supposed to even have beliefs about anything? A belief (whether it be which religion you follow or which football team is superior) is something you believe in. How am I supposed to believe in anything if I already know I am half wrong all the time?
Like you, I have found a way to come to terms with it. I take being “fifty percent wrong” to mean that I am never correct about everything I know. However, this doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything, or am wrong about everything. I see this fact as an opportunity to have a constant learning experience throughout my life; to take what I don’t know yet fully and pursue it until I know as much as possible. In the same way, I don’t see it to mean that everything I believe is wrong, just in a constant state of philosophical evolution. Especially now, in adolescence, my ideas are changing and growing all the time; this doesn’t mean I didn’t know anything before, it just means that I know more now to change the way I think about something. Neither state of belief was necessarily incorrect, just incomplete, and now I am ok with accepting that my beliefs are still incomplete even now. Knowing that I am fifty percent wrong all the time doesn’t have to make me stop believing it anything, rather is makes me more open to ideas since I realize that I might not have the full picture yet.
Anya: Change of Mind: The Works of the Bard
Reading Anya’s post( the focus of which was her relationship with Shakespeare and his writing style) was particularly interesting, because our experiences have been profoundly similar. Like me, her initial response to Shakespearan langaueg was lukewarm at first. Then she described how eventually she came to appreciate Shakespeare's words because there was value to be gained even from lines she had to struggle through.
Anya! Like you, I initially saw Shakespeare’s use of language to be superfluous and confusing. If his ideas were so interesting, why couldn’t he just say them in plain English without any of this linguistic nonsense? I had trouble seeing through the words to get to the ideas they stood for. Even last year, during the reading of Romeo and Juliet, I had my doubts about the validity of using Shakespearean language to describe anything of importance.
However, this year, after reading Orlando, I have gained a profound sense of appreciation for the art of language and the art of conveying ideas. Something we explored while reading Orlando is the concept that there are ideas that cannot be communicated simply by stating them. It is truly an art and a science to convey abstract concepts to a reader, and it can only be done with the deliberate use of specific language. In this way, Shakespeare leads his readers to ideas like and artist paints on a canvas. By using poetic language and structure, he is able to convey beauty and significance in ways that would otherwise be lost by the use of simple or frank language. Like Anya, I have come to appreciate this talent more, and keep it in mind even when I am struggling to understand a Shakespearean novel, because I know there is meaning behind it.
However, this year, after reading Orlando, I have gained a profound sense of appreciation for the art of language and the art of conveying ideas. Something we explored while reading Orlando is the concept that there are ideas that cannot be communicated simply by stating them. It is truly an art and a science to convey abstract concepts to a reader, and it can only be done with the deliberate use of specific language. In this way, Shakespeare leads his readers to ideas like and artist paints on a canvas. By using poetic language and structure, he is able to convey beauty and significance in ways that would otherwise be lost by the use of simple or frank language. Like Anya, I have come to appreciate this talent more, and keep it in mind even when I am struggling to understand a Shakespearean novel, because I know there is meaning behind it.
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