Shades of Gray

I was sitting at the airport this morning waiting for my plane to board and happened to notice a book sitting on top of someone’s luggage. It was called Obama’s Diaries. As the person who owned the book began to gather his belongings, I asked, “In favor of or anti?” “Definitely anti,” he replied. “There is no middle ground, is there?” I said. “There sure isn’t,” he said (smiling, at least) and walked off.

I’ve been pondering this little exchange since it took place, not because of its subject—the president—but because of what those four short sentences conveyed. My interpretation:

Question: Is the author for or against Barach Obama?

Answer: Against, for sure.

Response: This seems to be s a black and white issue. No shades of gray?

Reply: Right. You’re either pro or con.

I know the president is controversial. I can’t remember a president since Eisenhower who wasn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is that everything is controversial these days. You’re either for or against, pro or con, black or white. No matter what the topic, there is no middle ground. No balanced discussion. No exploration of issues or perspectives. For every point of view expressed on TV news or radio talk shows, there is an equal and opposite view. In the name of balanced journalism, there are always two sides of every story, and they must be given equal airtime.

But here’s a thought. What if there is only one side of the story, and nothing else merits mentioning? Example: A Holocaust, in which 12 million people were brutally murdered, was perpetrated by Nazi regime in the 1940s. It happened. There is abundant documentation to prove it happened. End of discussion. There is not another side to this story.

On the other hand, what if there are several sides to the story, multiple perspectives instead of only two? Example: the Iraq war. There were many ways of perceiving this event, including the perspectives of the US president, the secretary of state, the American people (some pro, some con), the Iraqi people, other Middle East countries (some pro, some con), and countries all over the world. It's simplistic to say there are only two ways to look at this: for or against.

Life is complicated, way too complicated to reduce it to a face-off between black and white. There are far too many shades of gray to ignore.