Oversimplification

We have made huge advances in our times. Advances in science, in technology, in transportation and space exploration, in medicine and education. Having worked in the arena of medical science for some years, I have been fascinated by the huge leaps as well as the uncovering of a vast unknown. David wrote, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well" (Psa 139:14), and he was right. From the previously unknown connection between gut health and brain function to the still undiscovered operations of memory and other brain functions up to the most recent concerns about the human immune system, we are a complicated and wonderful creation.

Since we know all this, and since it carries on into so much of life, why is it that we've become so oversimplified? Think about it. Racism was a complex concept explaining how some people come to regard their own race as superior to others, sometimes taking that perception to extremes. Now it is "white people," "white people only," and "all white people." With tendrils in so many other things. If you believe in the Bill of Rights, you're a racist. It is the cause for white supremacy, sure, but it's also the reason a black person might disagree with the current theory, becoming the impossible "black racist." It is the cause of capitalism and Christianity. It is the reason for all sorts of woes. Racism is blamed for deadly riots and poverty and hate (both ways). It is the reason that abortion is higher in black communities and the reason that some people oppose abortion. It is the reason why there are fewer blacks in high ranking business positions and why there are more blacks than whites in some professional sports. It has freed so many people from personal responsibility and accused so many others of hate who never gave a hint of it. Racism is one of the single most pervasive causes of evil in the world today. Simple.

Think about it. Think of the "phobes." If you have a reason to believe that fundamentalist Islamic followers represent a serious threat to America, you are an "Islamophobe." If you see in Scripture that homosexual behavior is classified as a sexual sin, you are a "homophobe." If you believe that males are males and females are females like science says they are, you are a "transphobe." (And, oh, by the way, that suffix, "phobe," is supposed to mean "fear," but we've translated that into "hate" and that without cause.) Thus, instead of having reasons to believe what you believe regarding one of these or another, your ideas are dismissed out of hand without consideration because you are a "phobe" -- a hater -- with incoherent bigotry not worthy of being heard. Simple.

I'm sure you can come up with your own examples in racism, "phobias," and even other areas. Sexism, the political labels of "Left" and "rightwing," "socialism," "Christian," and more are all oversimplifications of complex issues. They deny individuality within their area of influence and they expand that area of influence beyond any rational connection. They control (read "silence") discussion with sharp labels that seem to bear meaning without any actual support. No one is safe. Christians who deem it necessary to follow what the Bible says are labeled "evil" if they don't believe what is considered "proper." Supreme Court Justices who see their job as interpreting the Constitution and comparing a case to it are labeled as evil if they don't rule how some wanted them to rule. Reasoning has no part in it. We're oversimplifying ourselves to death, and that might end up a literal concept in too many cases when the precursor of discussion and dialog are disallowed.