Moral Letters for Modern Times
On Rumor and Fact (Stoic Wisdom 043)
When we look at others, our views of reality are shaded by the tint of our own minds: our prejudices, our fears, and our faults.
You are wondering how I have found out what you were planning when you did not tell me yourself.
Nature offers up many seemingly inexhaustible resources: water raining down to create lakes and oceans, fish to fill them, and sun and wind to keep the weather cycles streaming.
Another resource we will never run short of is rumor.
The tabloids at the checkout counter fill us in on the intimate details of the lives of the rich and famous. What would be trivial about any other, “He was spotted in Starbucks wearing an old sweater,” is consumed avidly and questioned rarely.
We don’t stop to question our prurient interest or our voyeuristic bent. So let me ask you, Deuteros, why do you think we cannot look away?
I suspect one reason is this: people are poor at determining the value of something that stands alone, but we are savants when it comes to comparing two things.
Ask a person, “Do you like fruit?” and you will elicit a lukewarm “I guess, yes.”…
