I'd rather be wrong

I’d rather be wrong than right. When I’m wrong, I find out something I didn’t know or didn’t understand. Being right teaches me nothing. Being wrong forces me to think. Being right brings me nothing but a small feeling of triumph. I’d rather learn than always be right, because there is so much I don’t know. The only way, I know of, to learn is to take my ideas out for a spin in the real world and see what works and what doesn’t. And trying things out shows just how many of them come up short. A lot of my ideas come up short, sometimes embarrassingly so. But that means I get to replace them, and that’s always a good thing.

Another side of “right” is always winning the argument. Whatever it may be. I know how hard it is to say something, and then have to admit that I was wrong or that I simply don’t really know. I’m just repeating what I heard somewhere, without thinking. You can always “win” an argument, if you’re loud enough, or persistent enough, but what’s the point? Every argument is a loss, no matter what the topic or outcome, from the moment it starts. Disagreements can be settled, but an argument is a contest, a battle with a winner and a loser and the facts are frequently the first causality. I am all too familiar with the feeling that comes from realizing I was on the wrong side of the facts, but being unable to admit it.

Being wrong is the very essence of exploration and invention. You can’t explore without admitting that there is something you don’t know. Ah, I suppose that is different than admitting you are wrong, but I’ll justify my statement by saying that true exploration will not only increase your knowledge, it will also, if you allow it, challenge you to reconsider what you already know, in light of new facts. I am as guilty as anyone of “cherry picking” new information and accepting only what I already agree with and discarding might call into question my, often unexamined, opinions. I don’t learn much that way. Funny how that is.

Oh, adding new facts to my database is fine, but new insights only come from reexamining what you already know. You may see a rock on the ground. You may see it every day and figure you know all about that rock, until you try and pick it up and discover that it’s actually just the tip of a large boulder, buried deep in the ground. Or, perhaps, it not a rock at all but made of plastic or plaster. You never know until you look. You never know until you question.

I am also, all too familiar with that wonderful feeling of being “in the know.” You know what I mean: I’ve got it, I know what’s going on, I have my facts straight or have the inside dope, and everybody else is, well, wrong. How do I know they’re wrong? Easy, if they don’t agree with me they’re wrong (or just don’t know any better). And it’s perfectly obvious that, if they just knew the facts, then we’d all be on the same page and all disagreements would be over. Kinda doesn’t work that way, huh? Especially when their “facts” are better than mine. I mean, facts are facts, right? Well, that’s how I learned that being right, even having all my facts correct, doesn’t necessarily mean much.

Facts may be 100% correct, but still be “wrong” because they are incomplete or misinterpreted. There is not one disagreement that I know of, on the personal, national, or world stage, that is not mainly based on one or both sides willfully ignoring or distorting facts to suit their position. Have you ever been in the position of fighting for something you really didn’t want, because admitting you didn’t want it might undermine your position? I have, and I feel really stupid afterward, when I find myself stuck with something I never wanted in the first place. I can’t help but wonder how many people die every day because someone, somewhere, just can’t back down, even a little, from some position they really don’t care about?

I’d rather be wrong. I’d rather uncover something I didn’t know and discover an new point of view. I want to experience those profound insights that come from realizing that everything I know can be reinterpreted from a fresh perspective, one that brings new zest to what would otherwise be a same-o, same-o life. Invalidate the old! Question assumptions! Uncover mistakes! Show me the man behind the curtain! Don’t agree with me or tell me how smart or wise I am. Show me I’m wrong.