The Matter of Perspective

I read Canadian news when American news becomes too much handle. It works for me, since often American news still gets coverage in Canada as having a crazy neighbor means you pay them extra attention. One day a news article popped up titled something unmemorable, like "More People Opting Not to Own Cars" or to that effect.

"Oh ho, the dapper Canadians are forgoing cars now, how ecofriendly of them," I think and proceed to browse the article. Only to discover, after several paragraphs, that the number of car sales in Canada has actually increased over the past few years -- a large, headline-killing fact skipped over and only mentioned as an aside.

Why? Because the author of the article recently gave up their own car, and so did their son, and then their friend...and therefore from their perspective "Wow, look at all these people opting not to own cars anymore, this must be a trend!"

If that Canadian article had only been published in, say, a tight urban center with myriad public transit options it might have been received better. As it was, the comment section (which in national Canadian news cannot be anonymous) was not kind.

I've made this same mistake myself when I think back on my personal experiences and then erroneously extrapolate them as great truths of the world. I grew up in a small farming community of 6000ish people - all white - and hence my experiences were limited. I didn't see things like racism because there weren't other races around. Our small town never suffered from rising rents or gentrification. No one in my school planned on going to college as most came from blue-collar families, so free college didn't make much difference to us. My bubble of the world, all in all, was pretty isolated from the issues raged about on the news.

Then my father lost his job - a common occurance in Ohio during the last great recession - and we had to move to California. Then suddenly all these issues made way more sense. My perspective had changed - not the actual status of the world.

Perspective is a dangerous, because it colors everything we do and how we prioritize the world around us. Too often people disregard things which don't directly impact them or their neighbors. Not living in a ghetto? Oh well for crime rates. Not living on the border? Oh well for immigration. Not dealing with police shootings in your community? Oh well for racial profiling. Not living on an island or the coast? Oh well for rising sea levels.

Any facts which fall outside the purview of our own lens of experience will not have as great an impact as facts which we can validate ourselves. This means that in a giant melting pot of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, we lose common ground because we have forgotten the age old art of seeing things from a different perspective. What if you had to deal with this problem directly? What if you hadn't been born where you are now? What if you weren't the same sex/gender/race you are now? Would you have the same views? Would you feel the same way?

And honestly this call to arms should fall on us as writers because more than anything, we are the ones who present windows into the multifaceted perspectives across this planet. Ensuring that different perspectives are not only heard but brought to life and empathized with is the core of what good writing should do. Whether you write about your own perspective, or help someone who may not be gifted or confident enough to share their experiences with others, you should always strive to present not just facts but the perspectives behind them.

And if we want to ensure critical reading skills, we should always strive to identify the shortcomings in our own perspective lens - as well as the lens of those authors we read - and try to broaden it as much as possible.