Radical Truthtelling

When I say radical, I mean radical.

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

People often ask me what I mean by “radical moderation.” I think they assume I mean moderation that I just take really seriously. Or maybe that I’m trying to make moderation cool.

And I mean, I do think it sounds cool. But that’s not why I chose that particular phrase.

The reason for choosing the word “radical” is that I wanted to emphasize something crucial: the false binaries we’re given about the world don’t just cause conflict. They don’t just cause polarization or bad outcomes.

It’s a deeper kind of harm.

Being wrong about what kind of clothes are flattering on you is a kind of minimal error.

But being wrong about the fundamental shape of our shared lives is something else.

It means that we misunderstand each other, the causes of our shared challenges, how our values play out in the world, and possible solutions for the future.

In essence, it’s like building our lives around an inaccurate, wildly distorted map.

Not only do we not know how we’re getting from point A to point B, but we actually don’t know for sure if point B is a desirable goal in the first place.

Without an accurate map of our moral and political lives, our decisions are arbitrary and often even harmful.

False Choices and 1D Maps

Binary thinking creates false choices that undermine real solution-finding, including false choices like:

Pro-life vs. pro-choice

#blacklivesmatter vs. #bluelivesmatter

#OpenBorders vs. #BuildTheWall

Free range parents vs. helicopter parents

Republicans vs. Democrats

We don’t just build our personal lives on these distortions. We build our politics. We build the way we think about our neighbors and friends. We build the way we think about our votes, our adherence to social movements and even religious belief.

We build them all off an inaccurate representation of the true four-dimensional human landscape.

This really matters. This isn’t some weak-kneed call for civility, a “hey, it would be nicer if we all got along” kind of argument.

The reality is that when we think in binaries, when we think about the world in simplistic, one-dimensional ways, we get a skewed and ultimately false representation of the world that exists.

Notice what all those binaries above obscure: literally everything else.

Binary choices obscure the four dimensional complexity of human social life, including all the nonzero sum solutions, the bridge building and solution-finding, the cooperation and community building.

They ignore ways we can make marginal improvements and reduce friction points to make people’s lives better, even if we can’t solve the bigger problem - yet.

And even worse, they get us so distracted by choosing between two terrible and inaccurate choices that we stop trying to solve the bigger problem in the first place.

We’re so bound up in the false tribalism that false binaries create that we sometimes forget these bigger questions even exist.

There’s a very real sense in which we’re all living in a modern day version of Plato’s cave. We think the one dimensional shadows on the wall (or on our social media platform of choice) are real life when instead they’re just distracting us from the reality that’s waiting outside.

In the meantime, our incredible human ingenuity is squandered fighting over shadows.

And the people who could benefit from that ingenuity continue to suffer.

The Radically Moderate Mindset

Radical moderation is radical precisely because it’s a fundamental rejection of the one dimensional world we’re being fed by the media, by political parties, and by algorithms that prioritize binary choice.

It’s a rejection of the one dimensional map that makes it impossible for us to chart the course of our lives.

Once we see the human social world in all it’s four dimensions, a range of other things follow quickly:

We realize that human life is complex and that binary solutions almost never work.

We rediscover humility because that complexity means that we probably can’t solve all our problems without help from other people, often people we disagree with.

We learn that tradeoffs exist because a four dimensional world teaches us again and again that our values have value and that we have to pay for them with time, talent or treasure.

We become more optimistic as we realize that operating in four dimensions actually helps us solve problems that seemed utterly insoluble in 1D.

Because we’re operating with a better map, a more accurate representation of the human social world that we have to navigate daily, we make fewer mistakes and we can align our lives with our values.

We start to actually get somewhere.

We can make better decisions or at least less harmful ones. And we can feel reasonably sure (as sure as humans can be, anyway) that point B is where we want to go because we can finally trust that our map corresponds to the human world we’re trying to move through.

A Radically Moderate Revolution

The choice in front of us isn’t between left or right, conservative or progressive, red or blue.

And moderation isn’t a choice to find some arbitrary space in the middle of those false binaries.

Instead, radical moderation is radical precisely because it’s a choice between reality and illusion. Between building our lives on shadows or substance. Between wasting our collective genius on false battles or directing it toward actual solutions.

Yes, stepping out of the cave is harder; shredding the 1D map that we’ve built our tribal identities on is rough.

But it’s also the only way forward that doesn’t leave us fighting over shadows while real people suffer.

And here’s the good news: reality, for all its complexity, is actually more navigable than the 1D map we’ve been handed.

We just have to step outside and look around.

Your Turn

Let me know what you think! What’s your least favorite false binary? Why? What kinds of things can we build together if we reject binary choices? How are you thinking about avoiding false binaries in your own life? What challenges have you struggled with along the way? Do you have questions about the framework? Success stories? Objections? Fun stories to share? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments! And of course, share and subscribe if you found this helpful.