Why does everyone think in black&white when there are so many grey areas?

Question

Well, not everyone--but many people think to one extreme, and others to the opposite extreme--there is really middle-ground (grey areas).

Answer 1

Schooling. This is the training used to produce controllable, "yes" citizens.

In school you are taught right and wrong, not necessarily critical thinking or how to formulate you own ideas.

The result is a bunch of black and white thinkers ala republicans vs. democrats, blacks vs. whites, etc. See as long as we all think in terms of black and white, right an wrong us and them, we cannot free ourselves to be what we really are, Love.

Answer 2

I agree, and in some cultures it even is despicable to be a person that lingers over problems. I love it when I meet an intelligent person who is brave enough to admit that sometimes you can't say what the "truth" is because the issue is so complicated and an individual point of view is so limited, only based on information that is available - and most black/white opinions are not even based on all available information.
Why? It is easier. If you start thinking about all the implications you will spend quite a while in your thought process, that can be hard and bring you down, because there are bad things in a society. Finding a fast answer and keeping it to that will free you to think of choosing your outfit and cereal brand. If you are thorough and go all the way to the grey areas you will have to confront stuff you would rather forget.

Answer 3

I don't think people think in black and white, but I do think people communicate in black and white. The modern age of win/lose, and no compromise is getting somewhat old. Like the abortion issue. Liberals don't want late term abortions, and Conservatives don't want to sacrifice the mother in deliveries with complications. However, if either side gives an inch, then the "middle ground" moves and they both feel that is something that they cannot afford to happen. Every issue has a similar compromise point that is being ignored.
So, all we see is the same old rhetorical black and white of each issue.

Answer 4

that's a very good point. i was thinking the same thing a little while ago when i was watching a black and white movie. i thought, "if this really was all black and white, like every color was black and white then this would be really hard to see." ur very right, there is A LOT of grey in black and white pictures and movies, heck, most of the colors are a shade of grey! so why do people call it black and white then? I think it's because grey is just a mixture of black and white. It can only occur when a certain ammount of those two colors are combined. So just to be lazy, people just marked it up to being black and white cuz tht's all tht it rele is, various mixtures of black and white.

Answer 5

I will use the analogy of dirty and clean. If a clean person admitted that they were in the gray area, then that would mean that they might be closer to the dirty side. Some one who is on the black side doesn't want to admit that they are even near white. If they were in the grey area, they would be closer to white then they want to acknowledge.

Answer 6

Surprisingly, the trend now days is NOT to take a stand on any given subject and not to take responsibility for a decision....most people now days actually live in the "grey area"

Answer 7

Because instead of thinking things through all the way people tend to want to get what they want to quickly and they dont look at the issue from all sides.

Answer 8

That's what killed the immigration bill. You had all the right wingers saying, "IT'S AMNESTY!!! NOT IN MAH COUNTRY!!! GIT R' DONE!!!" and all the lefties saying, "No way bro, this is just a conspiracy from the corporations man. Dude, that was some dank stuff. I like doritios. hehe *snort*"

Answer 9

well I think B&W from time to time due to the fact that thing in life turn out one way or another Bad or good right or wrong yes they can have diff. levels of them but in the end bad is bad no matter how bad right is right no matter how right and light black and dark white dont exist

Answer 10

Amen!

Mostly I think people do that because it is easy. You pick a side and stick to it, and then you don't have to do any thinking. It is a combination of ignorance and laziness. What a shame.